Are they real or are they fake?
This is a guest post written by me: Angie at www.AllAdither.com
I am a “Real Christmas Tree” kind of girl. When I was a wee child, my family would, more often than not, trek out to a tree farm, in three feet of snow, to hack down a Douglas Fir.
Now that I’m married with two very young children, my husband, the littles and I scurry to Home Depot, grab the cheapest shrub we can find (yeah, I’m not paying $80 for a dead Noble Fir), toss it in the back of our truck and race home before kids start screaming for juice boxes and string cheese.
Still, despite our decidedly unfestive method of obtaining our tree, I like the smell, the sensation of a real live (well, only recently deceased) evergreen in our living room.
Recently, though, J. and I have discussed buying a fake, pre-lit poseur. Our four-year-old son is pushing for it. He wants to erect our tree the day after Thanksgiving like all his faux-tree owning friends.
And, even I have to admit, there are certain aspects of a wannabe tree that are appealing: less mess, no watering, you get to keep the plastic thing (can you sense my disdain by now?) up from October through February, if you so desire, without any concern of the branches spontaneously combusting and burning down your house.
J. and I consider ourselves somewhat environmentally progressive (which basically means we recycle and mull global warming without necessarily owning a Prius or remembering to utilize our reusable shopping bags). So we decided to look into the environmental effects of Real Christmas Trees versus Artificial.
I found, in my research, that faux trees are made with PVC. Otherwise known as vinyl. Otherwise known as: Really Bad for the planet and possibly for our health too. And according to Umbra Fisk at Grist.org, lead is often used to stabilize PVC.
Fisk goes on to suggest that live, potted Christmas trees, an attractive option for those with the money and desire to treat Mother Earth kindly, isn’t an ideal option either if you lack the land or climate necessary to grow them.
The old fashioned, real, trees, he surmises are the earth’s best bet. Especially if you get yours from a sustainable, small scale grower (ie not Home Depot).
Hanukkah has its own version of Going Green, with a handful of environmental activists proposing that Jewish households light one less candle this year to curtail the (tiny amount of) carbon dioxide each candle emits. While I applaud these activists’ lofty efforts, I think they should concern themselves with mountains of crumpled wrapping paper tossed in landfills and houses lit up like mini constellations. Not these tiny flames.
Because I’m nice and because I’m excited to be IzzyMom’s blog-nanny for the day, I’ve included photographic evidence of MY idea for a Green Christmas: constructing Holiday Trees out of common household items:
This until someone starts making Christmas trees from recycled soda bottles and old tires.
Angie at www.AllAdither.com
I’m a real tree girl myself. Mine is a mixed marriage. Luckily, the hubs has adopted to our ways very nicely.
what…no juice box tree?
This is a tricky issue, and suprisingly (or maybe not), real trees are the better choice (ecologically). Virtually all trees that are sold on lots (even those at Home Depot) come from tree farm. While not all tree farms have caught onto the marketing angle of being sustainable, in reality they have to be. Otherwise they would not have any trees to sell. Much like any other farmer, they grow their “crop” (in this case the crop is trees) and then plant new ones to sell. This is an ongoing cycle, so in order for them to have trees to sell, they MUST replant new trees.
The arguements for plastic trees is that you can keep it and use it over and over again and thus “saving” a tree, but in reality you are not “losing” any trees, you are helping to keep a tree farmer in business, and much like supporting your local farmers market, you are helping keep these farmers in business.
Of course you have that whole “ball of flames” issue that really cannot be addressed by a natural tree, and the problem of keeping it alive if you bring it in too early. Plastic has to have SOME advantage I guess, otherwise why would anyone have bothered.
Love the pictures of your “recyled” Christmas trees. You had me rolling.
The tree question can be tough. I agree that a live tree is the best way to go if you recycle it when you are done. It can be chipped or placed on dunes to prevent erosion.
And don’t you just love that tree smell? :)