Does having a real Christmas tree actually help the environment?

Question

Real or fake christmas tree? Tough choice, but which is better for the environment? I'm interested to know what people think on this.

A fake tree will be reused every year, but is made of plastic (derived from oil) and probably imported from China. There is a huge market for Christmas trees throughout Europe and the US, and while they are growing they are getting rid of CO2 all the time. Those trees wouldn't exist unless the demand was there.

Answer 1

Real is the way to go because it is 100% biodegradable. If you even want to go greener make sure you buy an organic one.

Answer 2

every year you buy a real christmas tree4 you are cutting down a tree.

afake christmas tree may be better because you will use it for many years. but it is not envormentally friendly made. niter really helps the envorment.

Answer 3

I get around this by having a Yule Log which I bring in and decorate each year. When the season is over the decorations (all plant based) get added to my compost heap and the log goes down to a corner at the end of my garden where it slowly decomposes and provides shelter for wildlife. I add one log to the pile each year.

I feel I'm avoiding the use of petrochemicals in fake trees and avoiding contributing to the monoculture of Christmas tree farms where boidiversity is threatened.

Answer 4

with a fake one you can pick one up at any rummage sale, don't have to buy new..or if you have your own place, you can plant a evergreen tree in your yard and decorate that every yule season. or as the person who uses a yule log,that is a wonderful idea, returning it back to the earth after the holiday. The is a question that has good points for either, but the less we cut down the better.

Answer 5

In a nut shell, a real Christmas tree is better for the environment, but as usual most of the general public will go for the convenience of a fake tree without considering the environment

Answer 6

no it does not but it is only for your own intertament. but it up to you so you can save the right things you want to save. by saveing one thing you can save many thing in life.

Answer 7

On the plus side, you can reuse the tree each year and not have to cut down threes.  On the downside, the manufacturing could be producing pollution.  I personally like the idea of an artificial tree because tree framing kills the biodiversity of our forests by stripping the current trees to plant pines.

Answer 8

I use fake Christmas trees because you CAN reuse them every year. And what's the point of real ones? You chop down a tree, our source of air, just to put boxes under for a day. No a big use. So I prefer fake over real because I think it's alot better.

Answer 9

no,assuming the tree is soused from plantations growing the tree uses fuel and energy (fertilizers trucking etc) and it needs to be replaced each year so any CO2 removed from the atmosphere will return as the tree rots. on the other hand a fake tree is reusable and although it may look a little worse it is allot better for the environment.

Answer 10

nope

jane

Answer 11

i have a live one in the garden it makes oxygen and breaths co2.

Answer 12

I found this article on Care2.com, hope it helps!

Fresh Cut Trees

In the early 1900s as the result of the craze for Christmas trees, the natural supply of evergreens began to dwindle.

Conservationists became alarmed and began to encourage people to use artificial trees, the early versions consisting of branches of deciduous trees wrapped in cotton. In 1901, Theodore Roosevelt requested no fresh cut trees in the White House out of concern for the forests. But the same year, a wise farmer started the first Christmas tree farm and the rest is history.

Nowadays almost all of the nearly 30 million Christmas trees Americans use for decoration are grown on farms—like flowers, or vegetables. But when you realize that a Christmas tree takes six to 12 years to grow, it seems like a lot of effort involved for a few weeks of holiday spirit. Not to be the Grinch here, but when you consider the use of water, pesticides and herbicides, in combination with soil erosion and the energy used to maintain the crop and transport the trees, well….I don’t know. On the other hand, the trees are renewable, provide habitat for wild animals, absorb carbon dioxide and create oxygen, and the industry provides many jobs. Still mass agriculture is mass agriculture, so if you decide on a fresh cut tree follow these tips.

Try to buy an organic Christmas tree.

Buy from smaller, local farms to reduce transportation miles and support a small, sustainable operation.

Recycle your tree! Check your local municipality to see if there is Christmas tree recycling near you, or read here for tips on how to recycle on your own.

Don’t use tinsel or fake snow spray; they are hard to remove and make your tree ineligible for recycling.

Artificial Trees

So is there any green logic behind using an artificial tree? They save a real tree and they can be reused, it’s true. However…well, where should we start? Three out of four fake trees are made in China under less than favorable labor conditions. Fake trees made in China are required by California Proposition 65 to carry a scary warning label for lead content. The potential for lead poisoning is serious and frightening.

If the threat of lead isn’t bad enough, there is the PVC issue. Most artificial Christmas trees are made of PVC (polyvinyl chloride)—often referred to as vinyl, as well as “the poison plastic.” According to the Campaign for Safe, Healthy Consumer Products, PVC is dangerous to human health and the environment throughout its entire life cycle, at the factory, in our homes, and in the trash. Our bodies are contaminated with poisonous chemicals released during the PVC lifecycle, such as mercury, dioxins, and phthalates, which may pose irreversible lifelong health threats. When produced or burned, PVC plastic releases dioxins, a group of the most potent synthetic chemicals ever tested, which can cause cancer and harm the immune and reproductive systems. That is so not festive.

Live Trees

It would seem that the greenest way to enjoy a Christmas tree is to buy a live tree to replant when the holiday has passed. However, there are numerous things to consider when exploring this option. Since trees are dormant in the winter, live trees can stay no more than a week indoors or they will wake up and begin to grow again in the warmth. If this happens there is a good chance the tree will not survive once it is returned to the cold winter outdoors. It also needs gradual transition to the interior climate, and then again when it goes back outside. If you live in a climate where the ground will be frozen, you need to pre-dig a hole for the tree before the ground freezes. You also need to research what type of tree will do well with your soil and climate. See these tips for buying and caring for a live tree.

Alternative Trees

It was a puppy-shredded down pillow that inspired the crafting of my feather tree (oh my goodness, all these feathers, what to do?!). And although it falls firmly into the Charlie Brown class of Christmas trees, it is sweet and has become a tradition in our home. If you don’t have an old down pillow in need of re-use, you can buy a feather tree kit here.

Some people swear by ornament trees—sculptural arboreal forms to hang ornaments from--and some of those trees are really pretty! Ornament trees can be decorated seasonally and thus used all year, and can be used to clip photos and mementos to as well—visit this site for a huge selection of ornament trees. You can also make a natural ornament tree by gathering some dramatic dormant branches from outdoors and setting them in a large, weighted vase.

And of course, you can always decorate a houseplant. I have seen some fabulous ornament-bedecked, twinkling cacti, or how about a giant rosemary bush that can be planted outside when the weather turns?

Answer 13

Like many "do I do A or B?" questions, it just doesn't matter that much.  Christmas trees are often evergreens grown in colder climates.  Their impact on global warming is relatively small.  For one thing, their dark leaves absorb heat, which might otherwise be reflected by snow.

Get the kind of tree you like personally.  There are many much clearer ways to help the environment.

Answer 14

the better choice would be to not have a tree of any kind...

real trees should be shredding rather than put in the landfill

did you know that "Christmas" trees are actually PAGAN traditions?? yup.. bringing trees into our homes actaully predates Christianity - pagans used to bring evergreens inside in winter because they are mysticall in nature becuase they dont appear to die - and pretty much every thing else dies in the winter - often people too...

anyhow my answer is NO tree is better than a tree of either kind.