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My issue is that it's pure speculation. Trees won't grow there because he says they won't. Except trees do grow under some of the most extreme conditions possib

My issue is that it's pure speculation. Trees won't grow there because he says they won't. Except trees do grow under some of the most extreme conditions possible. This is after all just a blog.

jerf 14y ago
No, they don't "grow under some of the most extreme conditions possible"; consider the meaning of the phrase "tree line". It is routine for conditions to be too extreme for trees to be feasible. Life is very adaptable, but it's a category error to then conclude that any given life form is very adaptable. Trees have limits. Ones based in physics.
- hahainternet 14y ago
  > No, they don't "grow under some of the most extreme conditions possible"; consider the meaning of the phrase "tree line". It is routine for conditions to be too extreme for trees to be feasible. 'Routine' is a strong word. You'll note that tree lines exist at significant altitudes commonly on mountains. Typically places that trees cannot grow are also places that humans find difficult. Demonstrating that trees are incapable of growing on buildings would of course shut me up, but the author didn't do that. What they did was to say 'trees wont grow on buildings'. A bare assertion. One counteracted by pictures in this very thread.
  - snowwrestler 14y ago
    > Typically places that trees cannot grow are also places that humans find difficult. The windows on tall buildings don't open, which is not a coincidence. Humans can't survive for very long 50+ stories in the air either.
    - hahainternet 14y ago
      > The windows on tall buildings don't open, which is not a coincidence. Humans can't survive for very long 50+ stories in the air either. 50+ stories is significantly less than the difference between my altitude and the altitude of many perfectly happy civilisations. The reason windows don't open is that there are significant issues with cooling and regulating air pressure in a building that large. It has little to do with anything like oxygen concentration or even temperature.
      - snowwrestler 14y ago
        The issue with tall buildings is not absolute altitude, the issue is elevation above the local boundary condition in the atmosphere.
- claudius 14y ago
  If I understand Wikipedia’s article on tree lines[0] correctly, the variant usually referred to is due to coldness and snowpack[1]. I have trouble imagining considerable snowpack on a building that would not also occur on the ground and cities (where you would most likely find skyscrapers) tend to be a little warmer than the surrounding countryside anyways. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_line https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_line [1] Alpine, ibid.

My issue is that it's pure speculation. Trees won't grow there because he says they won't. Except trees do grow under some of the most extreme conditions possible. This is after all just a blog.

jerf 14y ago

No, they don't "grow under some of the most extreme conditions possible"; consider the meaning of the phrase "tree line". It is routine for conditions to be too extreme for trees to be feasible. Life is very adaptable, but it's a category error to then conclude that any given life form is very adaptable. Trees have limits. Ones based in physics.

hahainternet 14y ago
> No, they don't "grow under some of the most extreme conditions possible"; consider the meaning of the phrase "tree line". It is routine for conditions to be too extreme for trees to be feasible. 'Routine' is a strong word. You'll note that tree lines exist at significant altitudes commonly on mountains. Typically places that trees cannot grow are also places that humans find difficult. Demonstrating that trees are incapable of growing on buildings would of course shut me up, but the author didn't do that. What they did was to say 'trees wont grow on buildings'. A bare assertion. One counteracted by pictures in this very thread.
- snowwrestler 14y ago
  > Typically places that trees cannot grow are also places that humans find difficult. The windows on tall buildings don't open, which is not a coincidence. Humans can't survive for very long 50+ stories in the air either.
  - hahainternet 14y ago
    > The windows on tall buildings don't open, which is not a coincidence. Humans can't survive for very long 50+ stories in the air either. 50+ stories is significantly less than the difference between my altitude and the altitude of many perfectly happy civilisations. The reason windows don't open is that there are significant issues with cooling and regulating air pressure in a building that large. It has little to do with anything like oxygen concentration or even temperature.
    - snowwrestler 14y ago
      The issue with tall buildings is not absolute altitude, the issue is elevation above the local boundary condition in the atmosphere.
claudius 14y ago
If I understand Wikipedia’s article on tree lines[0] correctly, the variant usually referred to is due to coldness and snowpack[1]. I have trouble imagining considerable snowpack on a building that would not also occur on the ground and cities (where you would most likely find skyscrapers) tend to be a little warmer than the surrounding countryside anyways. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_line https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_line [1] Alpine, ibid.