We need a trillion more indoor plants.

[Ganoderma]

turtle, when you say harvest, you mean cut?

i like the pot idea for bringing inside, but have you ever tried to grow an outdoor (the types that grow in the PNW) indoors? it's not easy....i am from the same area as you (BC) and my god it wasn't easy getting outdoor species indoors (you got bonsai right? you know. grow a cold bonsai inside all year...). It's not just light, but humidity and temperature etc... great idea, but the specie of tree would be SUPER important. Perhaps ficus for indoor chairs? they have the benefit of a banyan style growth habit aka support/braces lol.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Ganoderma

turtle, when you say harvest, you mean cut?

i like the pot idea for bringing inside, but have you ever tried to grow an outdoor (the types that grow in the PNW) indoors? it's not easy....i am from the same area as you (BC) and my god it wasn't easy getting outdoor species indoors (you got bonsai right? you know. grow a cold bonsai inside all year...). It's not just light, but humidity and temperature etc... great idea, but the specie of tree would be SUPER important. Perhaps ficus for indoor chairs? they have the benefit of a banyan style growth habit aka support/braces lol.

Yes; harvest = cut. You grow the furniture to the size and form you want, then cut the supporting trunks, dress & level the feet/legs and voila... Treat the piece as you would any household furnishing. The ground is now free to start growing another piece of furniture.

I agree that keeping them alive indoors is not practical; I took a flight of fancy there. Last year I was down to 1 bonsai from ~200, and bringing it inside last Winter is what killed it. For my chair, I allowed select side shoots to grow & tied them in place to form support braces, rungs, the seat, the arms, and to fill in the back. Because of the intergrowth, the bark is left intact as it's nearly imposssible to remove. Advantage furniture farmer however, as no wood finish is required.

[Michaelangelica]

Adjunct Professor Margaret Burchett at the University of Technology Sydney led a number of trials with plants placed inside large airtight glass containers or chambers.

. . .
In what Professor Burchett terms a “dungeon” (basement) or window-tight situation, there is a toxic mixture of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) found in indoor air. Although these compounds are present indoors in low individual concentrations, they are capable of producing toxic symptoms in humans — and the cocktail can be addictive, or even synergistic in its effects.

New paint, carpets, furniture and fittings radiate these VOCs, and Professor Burchett and her colleagues caution that “if you smell that new office smell, you are scenting the toxic VOCs”.
. . .
Dominant VOC toxicity symptoms are sore eyes, nose and throat; a feeling of dizziness; loss of concentration; headaches; mild nausea; faint disorientation; and mildly depersonalised feelings. These are the same symptoms present in “sick building syndrome” or “building-related illness”.

Professor Burchett’s research group has shown that a mixture of plant species — including:

*

Spathiphyllum (Peace Lily)
*

Howea forsteriana (Kentia Palm)
*

Dracaena marginata (Marginata)
*

Dracaena deremensis (Janet Craig)
*

Epipremnum aureum (Devil’s Ivy)

can achieve a complete removal of VOCs in 24 hours in a closed chamber with no ventilation, and a 10 to 20 per cent reduction in flow-through conditions.

These removal rates rise with increasing VOC concentrations, which have been tested from five to 1000 parts per million in the case of benzine (where the occupational maximum indoor concentration in Australia is five ppm, averaged over an eight-hour day).

Professor Burchett emphasises that one does not need a “rain forest” to detoxify basement or sealed office areas, and states that plants strategically placed in the workplace can achieve significant results.

Several large, shoulder-high plants from the recommended species could be placed on the floor, and smaller plants could be sited near computers and on desk surfaces.
. . .
. ..
In a British experiment, scientists claim that rats died after being released into small tanks with edge-to-edge new carpets. And in a study conducted for the housing department in the United Kingdom, it was found that pot plants reduced by one third the build-up of nitrogen oxides in houses with gas fires and stoves, which produce these compounds.

A recent Swedish study to improve the indoor environment in an x-ray unit situated in a hospital “dungeon”, demonstrated conclusively that pot plants not only achieved a substantial reduction in total VOCs in the indoor air but also reduced worker absenteeism by 60 per cent (!!!)
. . .The World Health Organisation report, The Right to Healthy Indoor Air, published in 2000, highlights increasing recognition of a legal obligation on the part of owners and managers to supply healthy air for the occupants

The Benefits of Indoor Plants - Sustainable Gardening Australia

Here is an interesting list of claims from an indoor plant hire company
Action Indoor Plant Hire - Benefits of Indoor Plants

and!!!
Cleaner Air - Healthier Environment with lower concentrations of VOCs

Plant-filled rooms contain 50% to 60% fewer airborne moulds and bacteria than rooms without plants. By cleaning workplace air with plants, you can significantly reduce sick leave expenses.


Indoor plants help to improve the quality of life indoors in many different ways, they are:

[Michaelangelica]

OK Everyone
I need some seriuos focused brainpower now.
I have found someone who can print the stickers to stick on the plastic plants
Safety Signs & Safety Labels from Seton Australia
The proble is what to sy

i liked the idea of the word "Please",as in:

Garden & Lawn Signs - Seton Australia
Or perhaps some initials NPP? as in


Then something more dramatic perhaps

or

Flammable Safety Signs - Seton Australia
or something abit ironic sarcastic?

There are so many
Safety Signs & Safety Labels from Seton Australia
Something educational

or

Another problem
What colour to print them
Green sounds good but it might just merge into the green plastic

O Dear so hard

[yellow]

I am a sticker enthusiast myself and would love to get my hand in this.
I would go with yellow or red stickers, or white, maybe.

caution:
this plant is dead

caution:
this plant is plastic

warning:
this plant is fake
please plant a live one

warning:
this plant is useless

attention:
clean air cannot come
from plastic leaves

attention:
real flowers smell better

I wish I were a real plant.

I wish I could breathe.

I wish I could grow.

attention:
This plant won't grow.
Please, plant a real one.

For better air replace me
with a real plant.


I'll come up with more.

[Ganoderma]

green and red fade badly....not good for car stickers

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by yellow

I am a sticker enthusiast myself and would love to get my hand in this.
I would go with yellow or red stickers, or white, maybe.

caution:
this plant is dead

caution:
this plant is plastic

warning:
this plant is fake
please plant a live one

warning:
this plant is useless

attention:
clean air cannot come
from plastic leaves

attention:
real flowers smell better

I wish I were a real plant.

I wish I could breathe.

I wish I could grow.

attention:
This plant won't grow.
Please, plant a real one.

For better air replace me
with a real plant.


I'll come up with more.

O WOW
I like them all
Perhaps a Hypography poll?
What is the maximum number you can vote for!

"I wish I were a real plant." is so heart-rending it needs a picture logo of some kind. Perhaps Bambi being squashed by Godzilla's foot?

Mostly Ganoderma the signs will being attached to plastic plants in Pubs, Clubs, Fast Food Outlets, Shopping Centres, Offices and Government Departments. All those too mean,too oblivious of Global Warming, too tired or stupid, or cheap to hire or buy a few plants. So colour- fading should not be a problem. We could always add some UV protection in the ink I think.
Hopefully we will have an earth friendly super glue that makes them impossible to remove.
I never thought of Car or bumper stickers. That is a whole new area for Terrorist Propaganda!1
They could be green.
What sort of slogan would work on a car/bike/bikie's jacket?

Stickers
Of course, we again have a problem.
Stickers will have to be made from recycled paper .
It there such a thing as recyclable ink?

1.
Footnote We need a snazzy, hip, ageless, all demographic but cool name for Our Terrorist Group. Perhaps exotic but pronounceable for the website (in tiny letters on stickers?)
eg
The Green Panthers?

Khmer Green?

Real Plant Patriotic Front (RPPF)?

National Plant Liberation Army (NPLA)?

Revolutionary Army Against Plastic Plants ( with the exception of Christmas trees)RAAPPWECT

Jihad Against Plastic Plants (JAPP)?(Ex Xmass trees)

Revolutionary People's Struggle against Plastic Plants (RPSAPP) (Ex Xmass trees)

Al-Umm ah don't like plastic ( a bit lame)

The Um Supreme Truth of Green Plants ( getting a bit quasi religions here, which is good for tax breaks)

H'sbat al-Ansar ( exotic but not very descriptive) (Ex Xmass trees)

Organization of the Oppressed on Earth ( A good one but unfortunately already taken by Hezbollah)

Green Volunteers (Sounds like an alternative to National Service- a bit lame)

Al' Green Martyrs Brigade (Implies self immolation-far too messy)


Democratic Front for the Liberation of Plastic. (Ex Xmass trees)(Sounds like we want to steal their stupid plastic plants & then they would go out and buy new ones.)

Army of the Righteous Plastic Plant Haters (Ex CT's)
Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (What's Kashmir for Plastic Plant?)

The Shining Path of Greenness (I like this one. Just the right a touch of religion, fanaticism and fundamentalism -ex. xMas trees)

My thanks to the CIA's list of terrorist organisations for inspirational ideas.
Terrorism - Terrorist Organizations
even more here
USCFL - Complete List of Terrorist and Insurgency Groups Worldwide
My head spins. So many decisions. Keep the ideas flowing!
This is the brainstorming period of Revolutionary Activity.

[Michaelangelica]

Hungry Microbes Share Out The Carbon In The Roots Of Plants

ScienceDaily (Oct. 21, 2007) — Sugars made by plants are rapidly used by microbes living in their roots, according to new research at the University of York, creating a short cut in the carbon cycle that is vital to life on earth.

The green leaves of plants use the energy of sunlight to make sugar by combining water with carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
. This sugar fuels the plant’s growth, but scientists in the University’s Department of Biology discovered that some of it goes straight to the roots to feed a surprising variety of microbes.

In the carbon cycle, plants remove carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) from the atmosphere.
Eventually, the carbon compounds that plants make are ‘eaten’ by microbes and animals, which release carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.
The rapid cycling demonstrated by the new research is an important link in this process.

Hungry Microbes Share Out The Carbon In The Roots Of Plants

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

"I wish I were a real plant." is so heart-rending it needs a picture logo of some kind. Perhaps Bambi being squashed by Godzilla's foot?

Stickers
Of course, we again have a problem.
Stickers will have to be made from recycled paper .
It there such a thing as recyclable ink?

No that I've ever heard of, but there is plant based ink such as soy ink. Seems appropriate, eh?

1.
Footnote We need a snazzy, hip, ageless, all demographic but cool name for Our Terrorist Group. Perhaps exotic but pronounceable for the website (in tiny letters on stickers?)

Sounds like a good idea. But perhaps it should be a "Inspirist group" rather than a "terrorist group". A little more PC ya know.

Real Plant Patriotic Front (RPPF)?

National Plant Liberation Army (NPLA)?

Those two are my favorites from the list.

[Michaelangelica]

Sounds like a good idea. But perhaps it should be a "Inspirist group" rather than a "terrorist group". A little more PC ya know.

"Terrorist gives it a sense of menace an In-your face, tough, street wise, feel. But I guess many are frightened by the word these days due to government fear mongering. Even my 90YO M-I-Law is terrified that an Arab will bomb her in the outer suburbs of Sydney
But Inspirist sounds a liitle mild mannered and Clark Kent rather than Superman?

Those two are my favorites from the list.

yes I think I agree.[EVIL]