28/06/2026
Who has been burning the leaves?
I love how the oversized plane tree leaves show the ‘magic’ of biodegradation so clearly (once you understand what you’re seeing).
The leaves quickly take on a charred appearance. Similar to the effect of fire but in this case it is biologically mediated oxidation. You can see the culprit on the other side of the leaf.
Fire (or burning or pyrolysis or other thermal conversion) seems like a super efficient way to transform materials but it’s worth paying attention to the energy inputs, as well as the infrastructure or effort that is needed to control those methods.
Biology’s superpower involves subverting thermodynamics to get results from lower energy budgets. Yes, it’s slower, taking minutes rather than seconds but that also opens up opportunities to collect glorious intermediates.
