These are Singapore’s supertrees. Designed and built back in 2012, these trees are one
of a kind and are a representation of singapore’s values towards the environment. While these
trees are incredible to catch sight of, what do they actually do, and what's their real
purpose? In 1992, Singapore issued their first formal
environmental plan to make the country significantly more environmentally friendly within the next
few decades. Plans slowly moved forward until 2012, when Singapore spent $1 billion dollars
to construct The Gardens by the Bay, and designed the Supertrees we see today. For comparison,
Central Park in New York City cost a total of $14 Million dollars to build. And is more
than double the size. Singapore is a very wealthy country, so they made this park one
of the most unique in the entire world. The supertrees they built behave as vertical gardens.
Using their wide branches to generate solar power large branches to generate solar power,
and their middle trunks as exhaust towers for nearby conservatories. The trees also
collect rainwater which can then be used to water plants and trees nearby. 12 Supertrees
were spread out in a large “grove” as itsit is called in the center of the park.
When the trees were being designed, Singapore was able to come up with an incredible way
to generate solar energy, that blows away the normal designs for solar energy, similar
to these panels here. American solar panels here.
While the trees look incredible on the walkways constructed connecting them, and at night
when they light up multicolored, what are they actually doing that makes them so important?
While normal trees clean the air by taking in carbon dioxide, these trees will act completely
different, handling many jobs at once. The trees will be able to absorb and disperse
heat, helping the plants in and around The Bay. SIngapore also constructed a massive
conservatory allowing them to bring in plants from all over the world. The Flower Dome and
Cloud Forest are some of the most incredible conservatories in the world. Tunnels run through
these conservatories to the top of the supertrees, which then vent into the open. Allowing air
flow for all the plants in the conservatory.
With the incredible 200 acre park completed, Singapore is now able to balance a thriving
economy and business empire while keeping the country environmentally friendly at the
same time. In just 20 years Singapore went from a smog filled industrial city, to a modernized
business hub balancing out the environment and new developments at the same time.
Singapore made the Gardens by the Bay become one of the most popular tourist destinations
in the entire country, and designed one of the most incredible natural landscapes in
the world. Building the supertrees ended up helping singapore in a way they never expected.
Because these trees are such incredible feats of engineering, they bring in millions of
tourists every year from all over the world. Which then helps singapore’s economy grow
even more. Singapore has seen its tourists number skyrocket since the completion of the
gardens by the bay and their gdp steadily rise during the same time period, which shows
that the going green mission they proposed in 1992 ended up helping their economy thrive
even more.
While the SUpertrees may just look like giant statues from the outside, they're doing many
more incredible things than anyone would ever believe, and helping save the planet everyday.
Singapore’s success story is hopefully a strategy that many other countries will follow
to try and help save the planet and have a thriving economy at the same time. With the
great success of singapore’s gagrdens by the bay, another country had tried to do something
very similar. Dubai is similar to singapore in terms of rapid development and they constructed
another incredible garden to help the environment. While Dubai’s miracle garden is no where
near the size of singapore’s gardens, they still invested over 10 million dollars into
the project. Dubai is a wealthy city similar to singapore
that created 3 man-made artificial islands. 20 years later, these islandare beginning
to sink back into the ocean, to learn more about this looming catastrophe, click the
video here. Thank you for watching and please consider subscribing if you enjoyed the video.