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    The Sideshow

    Eiffel Tower could become world’s tallest tree

    The Eiffel TowerThe Eiffel Tower may soon become the world's tallest tree, after a proposed plan to cover the 1,063 foot (324 m) structure with plants.

    An engineering group called Ginger, which specializes in organic, "green" architecture has spent the past two years putting together a $98.8 million dollar project that would attach 600,000 plants weighing 378 tons to the famed Paris tower. They are currently conducting tests on smaller prototypes to see if the Eiffel Tower can sustain the extra weight. From the Ginger proposal:

    The plants would be placed in bags of soil hanging from hemp ropes attached to the tower's steel structure. Twelve tons of rubber piping would irrigate the vegetation.

    The plan is also environmentally sustainable. While the construction phase of the project would create 84.2 tons of carbon emissions, the plants themselves would absorb 87.8 tons of emissions, making the project "carbon negative," with more than 3 tons to spare.

    If the tests are successful, the plants would be grown from December to June of next year, then placed on the tower in January 2013. They would be on display until July 2016.

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    117 comments

    • Julia  •  5 mths ago
      If I wrap myself in plants, does it make me a tree?
      • OldDan 5 mths ago
        Julia, not too sure. Send a list of plant species.
      • You're No Fun 5 mths ago
        Depends on your height, might be a shrub.
      • Edwin 5 mths ago
        I think they are nuttier than a fruitcake!!
    • guess  •  5 mths ago
      Is the writer ignorant or just stupid? Apparently he doesn't know what a tree is.
    • Seirios  •  5 mths ago
      Oxidation.....plant life destroys man made structures.
      • Wildgraywolf 5 mths ago
        Well, at least it'll look good until it collapses.
    • none  •  Louisville, United States  •  5 mths ago
      hanging plants are not a tree!
    • Raleigh  •  5 mths ago
      "with hemp ropes"? You sure this story didn't start at the Onion?
      • Jason 5 mths ago
        hemp is one of the strongest and cheapest materials to make rope out of...almost everywhere else in the world realizes this except for the good ole USA where our gov't has confused us into thinking it is somehow the same as marijuana.
    • Richard F  •  Berkeley, United States  •  5 mths ago
      How does this make it a tree?
    • OldDan  •  5 mths ago
      Gray's Manual of Botany defines a tree as, "Perennial woody plant with an evident trunk."
      Using that definition, at most the Eiffel Tower could be classified as the world's largest plant hanger. LOL That is assuming the story is true.
    • Ballerina  •  5 mths ago
      Is nothing sacred to the "Greenie weenies"? M. Eiffel is spinning in his grave over this! Why don't they spend that outrageous amount of money on something useful like feeding people and helping the homeless......yes, these are problems in France as well as elsewhere!
      • adbrown 5 mths ago
        The Eiffel tower was originally intended as a temporary structure for the world's fair (and very controversial) ... it was going to be torn down. It was never meant to be "sacred".
      • BULLSHIRT 5 mths ago
        But it's sacred NOW. I think Pei's glass pyramid at the Louvre is completely out of place and was yet another foolish architectural decision, but I'm sure most visitors the last decade or two can't picture the museum without it. Thus, it has become an untouchable part of the building. That is to say, leave the Tower alone!
      • Ballerina 5 mths ago
        BULLSHIRT, I like your comment......thanks for the thumbs up!
    • M. L  •  Freeport, United States  •  5 mths ago
      um, why?
    • BULLSHIRT  •  Framingham, United States  •  5 mths ago
      Leave the #$%$ tower alone! For 3 1/2 years, every visitor to Paris will have to settle for photos of the thing strung with burlap and hose and plants??? I say pick another spot!
    • Darius  •  New York, United States  •  5 mths ago
      Maybe we should wrap our freedoms in a tree so they can't cut them down. XD I just couldn't resist. I wanted to say some dumb ass Occupy Wall Street stuff. XD
    • Lin  •  Terre Haute, United States  •  5 mths ago
      What a stupid idea.
    • stirring the pot  •  Wilmerding, United States  •  5 mths ago
      If pizza is a Vegetable then the Eiffel Tower can be the tallest tree
    • Momazilla  •  Houston, United States  •  5 mths ago
      World's largest planter maybe, but NOT a tree. Can you say "STUPID IDEA" ?
    • Sandra  •  5 mths ago
      So they are gonna spend 100 million for something that will last for 3 years-that makes since especially when the economy is going to crap!
    • EdwardG  •  5 mths ago
      Um...why?
    • siena  •  5 mths ago
      Do we really want to find out if a creaky old tower will withstand an additional weight of 378 tons?
    • Lucifer  •  5 mths ago
      Uhhh. why? Why not make a smaller scale replica somewhere else and do it there? Or just something new all together. I mean, I bet it would look cool and all but in all honesty it would so drastically alter the whole look of Paris (and I've been there myself), it would just destroy it. It's an old and iconic structure and the first thing people think of when they hear France or Paris. You don't just up and change something of that magnitude. I'm sick of everything having to be "green" these days. Figuratively as well as literally..

      Not to even mention the fact that hanging plants on something does not make it a tree.. I mean, what the hell?
    • Breadman  •  Chicago, United States  •  5 mths ago
      Worlds tallest trellis maybe.....
    • Jovan  •  Napa, United States  •  5 mths ago
      spending a 1/10 of a billion to destabilize an already unstable structure.
      classic
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