While creating a bunch of plastic trees may not sound like a great way to protect the environment that is the proposal being put forward by a Columbia University professor who is working with the U.S. Energy Secretary. The fake trees provide more than just an aesthetic though and like their real counterparts they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The difference is that these synthetic trees are 1,000 times faster at collecting CO2 than real trees. Plastic leaves trap the CO2 and compress it, storing it internally in the trunk as a liquid.

The cost is still unknown but it is likely to pretty high and they estimate it to be around the price of a car. The trees could be stored anywhere and moved around as needed and with carbon emissions constantly rising the need to combat this trend is immense and desperate according to many. Each tree would apparently be capable of pulling in a ton of CO2 every day.