Cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/21571852
Another example: https://lemm.ee/post/64307085
Clover typically takes less water to survive than turf grasses and puts out lovely flowers that are pollinator friendly for a pretty good portion of the year. The kind of clover that grows in my area (Tennessee, USA) is nearly evergreen too, starting earlier in the spring and staying green later than turf grasses.
Yet, we don't want the pollinators to get smashed by the trams. Thus, flowering plants probably aren't a good idea.
Eh, I'm not an expert but I think most trams move slow enough that they aren't going to take out pollinators. They won't crush them on the flowers, only risk would be when flying in the air. A decent aerodynamic deflector of some kind would probably help. The modern equivalent of a cattle guard on an old steam train.
I'm also not an expert, but I've seen a tram go slow enough that someone was trying to lick it as it passed. ... Yeah, that was pretty weird..
Makes sense.
FYI, grasses are flowering plants too. We just typically mow turfgrasses before they grow tall enough to produce them, and even when they do, the flowers themselves are typically very small.
For example, bermudagrass flowers:
Honestly, I doubt that it'd much of a problem to use things with bigger flowers -- bees and such can probably get out of the way of a tram.
Of course, grasses are neither a fern nor moss. I was thinking of flowering plants that do attract pollinators, not those that make use of wind for pollination.
If we run trams over grass for long enough, perhaps eventually a plant will evolve which uses the motion of a tram to spread its pollen.
Ooh that sounds nice!
I don't think it makes sense to criticize grass in areas where it's a native ground-cover plant. Green lawns are bad in North America because they require an absurd amount of resources to stay alive. European lawns stay green under heavy layers of snow and are never watered.
Still, (entirely) green lawns in Europe are a result of cutting the lawn all the time. If we give it more time to grow between each time it's cut it'll grow into a colourful oasis of all kinds of flowers that are both beautiful and allow insects to thrive. It doesn't always make sense - if you want to lay down on the grass for a nap you'd rather have an even surface of grass and relatively fewer insects - but there's too many green lawns around here as well.
My family started transforming the lawn in my childhood home into a field of flowers a few years ago, and the transformation is fantastic. Every year there are new flowers popping up. When cutting the lawn it helps to leave the cuttings a couple of days or so to dry, so that the seeds have a chance to fall off and enter the soil.
The tram track in the bottom picture looks like it's doing good. A bunch clovers, and they probably won't discourage other wildflowers as/if they appear. There seems to be some white flowers there already.
North America has all climates; not just desert. There are millions of hectares of land that require no effort to grow grass. Lots more than Europe.
Can be, we make sure we replant grass with mixtures that contain multiple species. There are those who go full "golf grass", we call them snobs here.
This is the big thing, monocropping is the big problem with lawns (outside of the literal desert.)
That makes sense that grass is a good option in some climates (especially with the diversity people have pointed out is in the 2nd picture). I guess I'm wondering what would be a good option for arid parts of North America, or other places where grass would be a poor choice?
class consciousness
Grass consciousness
Couldn’t we just sprinkle native seeds and let whatever grows grow. It’s not like it’ll grow to be a hazard anyways the tram will limit the growth to be very short simply by consistently passing and “cutting”.
Can't put anything too fancy, since it's ultimately being bonked by a vehicle.
Lawns and grass are dumb, but still better than asphalt, cement or fill gravel. There's at least some life, even if it's unhealthy monoculture.
Needs to be something that won't damage the vehicle if it grows too much or interferes with the tracks.
A lot of places have a low ground cover type plant that would probably work well. One that also has some little flowers would be fun, add some color and be nice.
My notion would be random wildflowers and ground cover, and then just let what happens happen. Cut it back as needed for safety and maintenance requirements, and otherwise it doesn't really matter what grows there, as long as it isn't "a tree".
A tree wouldn't even be able to grow, because the ground under the grass is super thin. There's a thick layer of concrete under that grass.
Ah, didn't know that. I guess they need to fertilize the soil occasionally to get some lost nutrients back in?
Most rail areas where I am have gravel except at road crossings, so I extended that to "if you don't have gravel, it must just be dirt". :)
the bones of billionaires?
sounds like the sort of compost we need to nourish a better society
I have thought about this for a long time. A plaque/tombstone can read:
"From here to the next marker along the track lies the following individuals:
elon musk, mark zuckerburg, the walton family, jeff bezos.
May they finally contribute something of value to society, rest in powder."
then from that marker to the next is a different selection.
The first image looks like recently cut grass.
Maybe Belgian people can tell use if Liège's grassy tracks are cut every week but it doesn't look so as it is a beautiful green and dense in herbs. It would probably be full of flowers in a few weeks.
The second image is already full of flowers and diverse plants. It is a bit hard to identified as the focus is not on them but the grasses are tall enough to make fruits which is very healthy compared to manicured lawn and common clover's flowers are everywhere. I saw also a kind of white flower I can't recognised.
I don't see any issue with the example you show and I have not seen issue with the ones I saw in real life. Maybe you can talk more of your experience to help us understand the limitation you see.
Maybe I'm seeing a problem where there wasn't one! I hadn't noticed the diversity in the second picture. Most of the tram tracks around me have gravel or concrete between them, I'm just dreaming about what could replace that.
Well the focus is well done which makes the grassy background almost disappeared. But from what I saw in Lyon and Strasbourg grassy tracks does have diversity but also the part that are recent are less pretty. They need to go through two or three cycles of season to bloom in all the meaning of the term.
Are grassy tracks around you new?
I mean that second picture looks pretty great. As long as it's a local grass species and is allowed to grow wildflowers then I don't really see an issue.
That's a helpful nuance! At first I just saw them both as grass = lame
Weed?
Local plants. Specifically something that feeds a local endangered species. Pollinators are the most obvious choice. Planting wild flowers for bees would bee nice.
Would the bees be injured by passing trams?
I didn't think of that. That would require scientific testing. Good point!
I'd guess less than by not having any flowers at all. Where I live, most (non metro) trams drive pretty slow, like 30km/h in long straight parts, so unless they get between the wheels and the rails I doubt anything would really hurt the bees.
Trams on average do not drive too fast. I would imagine that bees would easily be able to evade them or even be bumped out of the way.
I remember watching rollercoaster tycoon videos about a decade ago where players could pack their parks, then have a roller coaster just plunge off the tracks taking out most of the visitors. That's how I picture a bunch of pollinators drawn to a tram track.
Endemic / native ground covers will better support local fauna and insects.
Maybe moss?
I imagine a very swampy tram track would attract a lot of mosquitoes to urban spaces, so chances are it wouldn't be very popular. But I like the idea.
That could work, but moss doesn't do well with high levels of sunlight, so unless trains are moving a lot or the system is partially underground, I worry it might not work
Skinny solar panels, feeding back into the grid?
Why not larger solar panels above the electricity lines? I've seen some rather heavy-looking metal bars for holding up the electricity lines, maybe they could also support some panels, with minimal extra material use for mounting. Up there they would provide some shade (which should be good for the grass if there is any between the tracks, given that way too dry + hot summers are becoming the norm), and require much less cleaning to stay efficient.
Unlike solar roadways, this actually makes sense. Lots of tram systems also use DC, eliminating the need for inverters. And yes, panels are so cheap it's not too bad that they're horizontal; vandalism is a greater issue.
If you mean: grow more meadow plants, fewer lawn grasses, yes.
If you mean food, no.
And, no, farming bees isn't a good idea. We need wild pollinators most of all, and domestic bees compete with those and spread diseases.
Would be useful to plant a specie that attracts rats, so the trams can cut down the rat population.
Rats are intelligent and compassionate animals who do us the favor of consuming our unwanted food trash.
I’ve heard that as well; and claims that they are essential to keeping the sewer pipes clear. Not sure to what extent I would put stock into all that but they are certainly a pest. Disease, filth, destruction of homes.
My city ultimately considers them a pest considering there is a tax-funded public pest control office fighting rats year round. People can call them and they will come to the home and deploy rat control measures (usually poison) at no cost, just like a pro exterminator.
I haven't heard this about keeping sewer pipes clean, but I'm not sure I believe that either. They like to be clean, and wash themselves frequently, like cats. I don't think they're any worse about carrying diseases than the cute animals people like to see around. The worst rat diseases I'm aware of can't be spread to humans, but only to other rats. I know they can damage buildings and food supplies, but I think their negative impact in cities is exaggerated simply because many people find their appearance gross or creepy. Their behavior isn't that different from that of wild animals that people enjoy having around.
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