Get back to nature and celebrate Earth Day by communing with this stately, century-old tree living in the heart of Brussels. EOS, a Belgian science and nature magazine, has given the tree social media savvy. Watch the video to the right, and learn how the tree was set up to transmit Internet data about air quality, weather, and wind. Then go to the talking tree site to see the data dashboard. Once you've bonded, you can friend it on Facebook. (How many people do you know with over 4700 friends?) Or you can follow it on Twitter or Flickr, where it frequently uploads leaf-eye view pictures of the sky--more than 3,000 to date.
After the tree transmits raw information to researchers, they analyze it and then translate it into updates on Facebook, such as "This sunshine feels good today," or on a bad day, "Won't be doing too much photosynthesis in this cloudy weather," and "This ozone concentration makes it difficult to do my job." It even advises locals to ride bikes during heavy air pollution. For better or worse, this tree sounds a little like a guilt-tripping earth mother. So, if you can't deal with the guilt, watch a California surf webcam.
Comments
This is great! Chenected is doing a wonderful service.