World's First Mechanical Tree 'Planted' In Arizona

The world's first mechanical "tree" has been planted in Arizona, reported the Phoenix New Times. The 33-foot-tall tree is nestled on the campus of Arizona State University.

The "tree" is made of a stainless steel drum "trunk" and 5-foot metallic discs as "leaves." The tree consumes carbon dioxide just as normal trees do. However, the mechanical tree consumes 1,000 times more carbon dioxide than its counterparts, according to its inventors.

Gary Dirks, senior director of the ASU Global Futures Laboratory, said, "Artificial trees are pretty wild. But they could be our only hope to fight the danger that we as a species face in the climate crisis due to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere."

The goal is to clean up the mess that humans have made, rather than cutting back on carbon emissions. Klaus Lackner, an engineering professor at ASU and director of the ASU Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, explained, "Carbon removal is now unavoidable. We cannot stop the problem anymore by pulling back. We need to clean up after ourselves."

So, Lackner took matters into his own hands. He said, "There was a desperate need for innovation and I had to figure out how to make it work."

Click here to learn more about ASU's mechanical tree.