DREAMING OF A GREEN CHRISTMAS
When I was a little girl, our family always trekked onto the snow-blanketed farm at my Uncle Alfons’s and picked out the most beautiful tree we could find for Christmas. I loved bringing it home and decorating each and every branch with all things twinkley and bright. What I loved even more was the rich scent that filled every corner of our house.
In the last ten years or so, it seems that Christmas has instead become a time to pay hommage to Radiohead with a fake, plastic tree in our household.
My family isn’t the only one to take on the ideal that it’s better to have a fake, reusable tree rather than cutting down a real one each year. However, if we really get to the “root” of things, it doesn’t seem as though that’s the case.
Photo courtesy of Janet Moore-Call on Flickr
Dr. Faisal Moola of the David Suzuki Foundation supports an excellent case for trimming a real tree each Christmas rather than hauling that big box out of storage.
“Real trees are far, far more superior environmentally than a plastic tree that is non-biodegradable and can’t be recycled,” he notes. “Most cities have programs where they will collect Christmas trees and pulp them or chip them and then they’ll use them as a growing medium in our parks and natural areas so the nutrients the tree acquired while it was growing are then returned back to the earth.”
Still not convinced? Time for a breakdown.
1. Real trees are biodegradable; fake, plastic trees are not. (Just make sure you remove all scraps of tinsel and garland when disposing of the tree).
2. Local Christmas tree farms grow the trees for this very specific purpose, and you can rest assured that as soon as you hack your tree down, another seedling is planted in its place.
3. Growing trees, whether in nature or on a Christmas tree farm, produces oxygen and absorbs carbon dioxide – your lungs will thank you (and the trees smell grrrrrrreat!)
4. Sure you can use your fake, plastic tree for a dozen Christmases, but did you give much thought to the environmental pollution generated to have that tree shipped to you from China? And further, even though it’s fake, the tree will ultimately still reach the end of it’s life and will simply be another chunk of non-biodegradable plastic in the landfill.
5. Shop for your tree at a local, sustainable Christmas tree farm and you’ll be supporting your local economy.
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8 Comments
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Excellent points…maybe I shouldn’t donate my tree stand to the SallyAnn. Maybe next year we can get fresh. The only drawback it that is will only be in the house for two instead of the usual four weeks.
“2. Local Christmas tree farms grow the trees for this very specific purpose, and you can rest assured that as soon as you hack your tree down, another seedling is planted in its place.”
you hit the nail on the head. my sister was having an argument with someone at work that was chastising her for “chopping down a real tree”. she replied with just that. these trees are grown for this purpose and are replanted. her tree wouldn’t otherwise exist if not grown for the purpose of being a christmas tree.
I feel shame
I remember when i was a kid we used to haul our tree over to a big empty lot where it would get tossed onto a huge pile of other trees and then the fire department would put the torch to the pile.
Much to our glee.
I love real Christmas trees….never been a fan of the fake ones. Now I don’t have a choice.lol The other half is allergic, so he can’t be around the real ones. So unfortunately, it’s fake trees from here on out. I definitely encourage others to get real ones though. I don’t know many places nowadays that don’t have a tree pick up deal going. Down here in California, they do it within the first 5 days of January.
I’m afraid there will be no tree in this household, real or fake. I’ve got two cats. Cats and christmas trees do not mix very well. :p
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very interesting.
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