EOS Talking Tree – Making of from Tom on Vimeo.

Ever had a dream that you were in the Wizard of Oz and were pelted with apples by those pesky forest trees that could talk? Well even if they can’t throw fruit at you, it seems there’s now a way to make trees talk. A 100 year old tree near Brussels has been fitted with what could only be considered a rather oversized voice box, of sorts. The box is equipped with all sorts of meters including ones for dust, checking ozone and light. In addition to these the box also comes with a webcam, microphone, weather station and wireless internet. The data that is collect is the ‘translated’ and posted on a website called Talking-Tree.com. video recordings and even photos are posted form the tree’s perspective of course and obviously it’s got its own little social media thing going on on Twitter, Facebook, and even its own Flickr gallery. The system is designed to make us pay closer attention to the environment. Suffice to say environmentalists have tried everything so this was just one more desperate attempt. But seriously, do we really need a talking tree to tell us that we’re messing up the environment? Are we just that irresponsible that people have to come up with gimmicks to make us realize the planet’s plight? Seems like it. Go green guys, and if you are already, stay green!

OhGizmo