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Artificial Refugia
(slrpnk.net)
If this isn't the most dystopian thing you've read today I don't know what is.
Artificial Refugia (such as bat boxes) can be used to somewhat offset lost habitat, but it's like replacing a rainforest with a plastic plant and calling it conservation. Further, unless they are meticulously designed, they can act as traps (trap animals inside), snack plates for predators, or even 'cook' the animals inside them.
It's always felt funny to me how dumping things turning into the environment rehabilitation are often presented as feel good stories, like throwing subway cars to make coral reefs. Sure they help revitalize ecosystems in many cases but it's just a weird feeling to me.
Whelp, sorry about messing up your habitat. Here's some garbage... Looks like our job here is done.
To be fair, a metal subway car (provided they removed every piece of rubber, plastic and electronic component) is environmental quite neutral, as metal and glass are inert. In this case though, I'm pretty sure tennis ball contain plastic so it wouldn't be whise to just leave them in the open. If they were glass balls, it would be better.
Like when companies boast about how their clothing range is made from recycled plastic bottles. Yes, congrats, you've taken big bits of plastic, and now turned them into microplastic fibres that will make their way into the water system every time you wash them. Bravo.