It’s the holiday season again – albeit a warmer one – and for those of you who purchase xmas trees you’re probably wondering which is best, real or fake?
The one year I had a tree, we bought one and planted it. About 6 years later, it’s growing into a beautiful tree. I feel good seeing it grow and the precious memories it brings forth.
I’ve always felt uncomfortable about the idea of a “throw-away” tree – yet another ‘product’ for us to consume – but now with our new knowledge of carbon sequestration, it looks as though they’re not a bad option.
According to AFreshSqueeze.com, a Chicago e-newsletter on green lifestyles, live trees are a better choice than fake trees, which are usually made from PVC, a hazardous plastic that’s hard to recycle. Yes, they’re reusable, but we imported 9 million fake trees from China last year – the energy it takes to get them here probably cancels out their reusability.
There’s over 500,000 acres planted with Christmas trees in the U.S., providing oxygen for 9 million people a day! Since younger trees produce the most oxygen, continuously planting young trees soaks up the most CO2.
Dawn Peterson, co-owner of Oney’s Christmas Tree Farm in Woodstock, Illinois, says her cut-your-own tree farm plants seven to ten tree seedlings for every tree that’s harvested. That adds up to 20,000-30,000 seedlings a year on sales of 3,000 trees.
Christmas trees can grow in soil that doesn’t support other crops. Oney’s is located on a hilly, glacial moraine, which is good growing farmland for Christmas trees, but not for other crops. Thus, growing Xmas tress keep the area agriculturally based.
Many municipalities now offer free Xmas tree pick-up after the holidays. They compost the trees and often turn them into mulch. You can also check out Earth 911 to find out where to recycle trees locally, based on zip codes.
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