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Should the Christmas Tree Company be cutting down trees?

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Should the Christmas Tree Company be cutting down trees?

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Throughout the generations, the issue whether or not we should be cutting down Christmas trees has been a controversial topic and has been debated throughout the years.

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Fresh-cut real Christmas trees, holiday wreaths, and fresh garland shipped FREE from our North Carolina farm to your home or business.

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Source 1: Did I do the right thing by cutting down a Christmas tree?

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Source 1: Did I do the right thing by cutting down a Christmas tree?

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This question is almost as old as "paper or plastic?" and has provoked spirited debates between Christmas traditionalists and enviro-optimist believers in modernization and the Idea of Progress. Should we zealously shun the taking of a tree's life, even if it is purpose-grown at a locally owned Christmas tree farm, or is that in fact the better choice?

What is the impact of a fake tree?

According to the National Christmas Tree Association, 85 percent of fake Christmas trees are made in China and almost 10 million were sold worldwide in 2003. Let's assume that the average fake tree weighs about 35 kilograms (kg), about 25 kg of that being the steel structure. The remaining weight consists of about 3 kg small molded plastic parts made from high-density polyethylene, and the "needles," which are made from polyethylene foil and also weighing about 2 kg.

Many trees come pre-strung with lights which consist of 2 kg of PVC, 2 kg of copper wire and 1 kg of glass bulbs (or plastic lenses in the case of LEDs). Using data from a life cycle assessment database I determined the amount of embodied CO ₂ emissions to be about 57 kilograms:

Shipping the 35 kg "tree" from China (10,000 km), mostly by container ship, but also by truck, causes an additional 5-10 kg of CO ₂ emissions, depending on the destination, and picking it up from the store can add another 5-10 kg. So the estimated total CO ₂ emissions for the fake tree are over 70 kg. According to the National Christmas Tree Association 27 million real Christmas trees and 8.2 million fake tree were sold in 2010 but there are over 50 million fake trees in use. Greenhouse gas emissions from fake trees purchased this year total over 600,000 tons of CO ₂, that's how much CO ₂ is absorbed by 300 square miles of forest.

Fake Christmas trees contain enough lead and other dangerous substances that they come with Proposition 65 warning labels in California. While this is dangerous enough for adults handling the trees as well as children and pets that may come into contact with them, the impact is even greater in China, where workers are paid around $100 per month to manufacture these trees.

What is the impact of a real tree?

Christmas trees are grown on tree farms, not in actual forests. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)One study found that a 5-foot Douglas fir Christmas tree contains 7 pounds of carbon (that's the atom), which would turn into about 11.6 kg of CO2 (that's the molecule) if it were to combust or decay completely. Because this carbon was originally removed from the air (sequestered), the real tree can be considered "carbon neutral" because it does not add more greenhouse gasses than it removes. In fact, during its growth, the tree will deposit some of that carbon in the soil where it will remain, making the growing of each tree a net carbon sink.

Christmas trees are grown on tree farms and not in actual forests. These tree farms sequester CO2 constantly, especially during the young trees' period of vigorous growth. Because they are grown for harvest, we are not actually decreasing the amount of CO2 sequestration capacity, but increasing it by making space for new trees to sequester greenhouse gasses. When you throw your tree to the curb after the holidays it is most likely taken to a composting facility where it is turned into soil. This takes the carbon that the tree sequestered from the atmosphere and stores it in the soil. Instead of kicking it to the curb you can compost it at your house and turn it into nutrients for your other plants, or you can consider a potted tree that you can plant after the holidays are over.

The production of Christmas trees creates domestic jobs and the minimal ground-application of fertilizers and biocides has much less of an impact than the production of their artificial counterparts. Real trees do not require any health warnings and they are fully biodegradable/compostable. In many locations the real trees are trucked in from hundreds of miles away, and like the artificial trees, you typically have to drive somewhere to get them. Even if we assume that the emissions from transporting both real and fake trees are about the same, and that they are covered in comparable strings of lights, the fake tree still has a larger impact than the real tree. This is because the fake tree causes a net increase of greenhouse gas emissions, while the real tree actually absorbs more CO2 than it returns to the atmosphere.

What's the bottom line? Real or fake?

The real tree is the clear winner from an environmental perspective. Of course, the fake tree only needs to be picked up from the store once so, for each year you keep the fake tree, the relative greenhouse gas emissions impact decreases. Depending on many variables, the fake tree could be even with the real tree in as little as two or three years, but that is without taking into consideration the fact that fake trees are made with non-renewable resources, in questionable working conditions, contain potentially harmful materials, and are not biodegradable nor easily recyclable.

If you choose a real tree this year, be sure to look for a locally-owned Christmas tree farm that grows its trees on-site. Of course, if you're in a city, it's probably best to get your tree from a Christmas tree lot, even though it has been trucked in; otherwise you will have to drive out to the suburbs. If you're feeling creative and crafty you can create your own Christmas "tree" with materials that you would otherwise discard, like beer bottles or computer parts.
Copyright Treehugger 2011

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Did I do the right thing by cutting down a Christmas tree?

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This question is almost as old as "paper or plastic?" and has provoked spirited debates between Christmas traditionalists and enviro-optimist believers in modernization and the Idea of Progress. Should we zealously shun the taking of a tree's life, even if it is purpose-grown at a locally owned Christmas tree farm, or is that in fact the better choice?

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Source 2: What’s the most environmentally friendly Christmas tree you can get?

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Source 2: What’s the most environmentally friendly Christmas tree you can get?

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For the first time in my life, on the day after Thanksgiving, I went to a tree farm in Waterford, Pennsylvania. As I walked through rows and rows of Fraser firs, looking for the perfect seven-foot-tall Christmas tree for my boyfriend's family, I couldn't help but feel pangs of guilt. I love nature, and I feel bad about cutting down an eight-year-old tree just to use it as a decoration for a few weeks.

My family, like most Italians I know, always used a fake tree for Christmas; the same 11-foot plastic fir has decorated our living room since I was a kid. At first, I thought that was better for the environment, since it didn't kill a tree yearly for decor. But my European sense of superiority took a hit as I did a little bit of research.

Real Christmas trees are probably better for the environment than fake trees, at least from the perspective of their carbon footprints, says Clint Springer, a botanist and professor of biology at Saint Joseph's University. If you want to get yourself the most environmentally friendly Christmas tree, you should choose one that still has its root ball attached, so you can replant it after the holidays.

Here's the thing I had never thought of when weighing the pros and cons: Christmas trees are a crop in the US, so they're grown on farms for the purpose of being cut down. "It's different than deforesting a tropical rainforest for example," Springer tells The Verge. For every tree that's cut, farmers are likely replanting four or five new ones, to up their odds that a good, healthy tree will grow for a few years before being cut down again. Tree farms also provide a habitat for wildlife like birds, help preserve open spaces, and contribute to the local economy, Springer says.

Fake trees, on the other hand, are made of plastic and metal, which take up a lot of energy and resources to produce. Artificial Christmas trees can also contain polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, which often uses lead as a stabilizer - not exactly what you want in your house if you have children. If the fake tree is also made in China, you have to calculate the carbon footprint of transporting it all the way to the US. So, to minimize the environmental impacts, you should reuse a fake tree for more than 10 or 20 years, according to the The New York Times.

"I know American consumers," Springer says, "we don't keep much for 10 years anymore." My parents in Italy, on the other hand, are still putting up the same fake Christmas tree we bought in 1995. (One point back for European superiority!)

If you really want to do the planet a favor, you should probably buy a real tree with the roots still attached, Springer says. That way, after the holidays, it can be replanted and the tree can continue sucking up heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, as well as provide a home for birds. But, so-called balled and burlapped trees come with some catches. First of all, they're heavier, more expensive, and messier than your regular cut tree, says Emily Renshaw, a certified arborist at the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA). That's because the roots need soil and soil needs water.

In fact, you don't want your live tree to dry up, or die because of the changes in temperature between the indoors and outdoors. Before placing the tree in your living room, you should acclimate it in your garage for one or two days, and you should keep it indoors for five to seven days max, according to ISA. You should also know in advance what exactly you're going to do with the tree after the holidays: if you have a backyard where you can replant the tree, you should dig the hole before the ground freezes, and make sure the species you bought is suitable for your area. You can also check if local nurseries, city parks, or schools accept live trees for donation. "You really have to do your homework ahead of time," Renshaw tells The Verge. "It's kind of like getting a pet for Christmas."

Scott Bilmar, of Bilmar Nurseries in Pleasant Valley, New York, said that his nursery used to sell balled and burlapped Christmas trees in the past, but it stopped because he heard too many stories of trees dying. "It's not a wonderful idea," he tells The Verge. Still, it's not impossible. Springer, the botanist, says his backyard in North Central West Virginia still hosts a Christmas tree he planted 35 years ago.

Every year, he buys a cut Christmas tree from a tree farm nearby so he doesn't have to drive far, thus pumping less CO2 into the atmosphere. After the holidays, he mulches it. In the spring, he uses that mulch as fertilizer for his garden. "It's a closed-loop system," he says.

That puts him at peace with the planet - and it puts me at peace with my boyfriend's family. As far as my parents in Italy are concerned, I'll tell them to keep using that fake Christmas tree from 1995 until the needles fall off. After that, real Christmas trees only!

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Real Christmas trees are probably better for the environment than fake trees

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For the first time in my life, on the day after Thanksgiving, I went to a tree farm in Waterford, Pennsylvania. As I walked through rows and rows of Fraser firs, looking for the perfect seven-foot-tall Christmas tree for my boyfriend's family, I couldn't help but feel pangs of guilt.

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Source 3: Why I'll Never Buy a Freshly-Cut Christmas Tree Again

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Source 3: Why I'll Never Buy a Freshly-Cut Christmas Tree Again

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My family's love affair with freshly-cut Christmas trees ended in 1996. The abrupt end was all thanks to a tree so unbalanced that it fell over three times. It functioned less as a festive tribute to the holiday season and more like a performance art piece. No matter how many times we adjusted the stand or tried to attractively stabilize it, we'd inevitably come home to the extremely distressing sight of a fully-decorated tree spread out against the living room floor. (I can still hear my mom's horrified gasp, which sounded much like the stunned reaction of a film noir starlet encountering a victim of a crime spree.) After spending the day before Christmas Eve trying to replace broken ornaments at a packed department store, our family officially became an Artificial Tree Family.

Despite the "fainting tree" episode, I was initially very against the idea of a fake Christmas tree. It seemed inauthentic, like something that Charlie Brown would monologue against in A Charlie Brown Christmas. I mean, how could you resist the heavenly scent of a real evergreen? But our first year in artificial-tree ownership quickly made clear one upside: I no longer had to crawl under the tree, enduring scratchy needles and rogue branches, to water the thing.

I've never looked back since.

Today, I've become such a convert for faux trees that I'm not even sure why we still cut down fresh ones. Sure, a Christmas tree farm is to winter Instagram photos what apple orchards are to fall Instagram photos, and yes, we still can't ignore that fresh-cut scent. But here are just a few reasons why artificial wins out over the real deal in our household:

1. The question of flammability.

Since being given the task of tree-waterer at a young age, I had been told that my actions would have grave repercussions if I failed to carry out my sacred duties. Namely: Fire. Forget to water the tree and the Yule Log wouldn't be the only roaring blaze on Christmas. And it wouldn't be on TV, it would be our lives. Most artificial trees are safety-checked, which isn't perfect, but at least it doesn't put your fate in the hands of an increasingly anxious child/your designated tree waterer.

2. Artificial trees can be more affordable than the real thing.

Plus, you only buy them once. Yes, you can get super-fancy and buy a 15'-tall, highly-detailed stunner crafted using state-of-the-art Christmas tree replication technology, but you can also find a passable version at Target for well under $100.

3. Predictability.

You don't have to worry that you got the surprise tree that'll fall down, or has a huge unsightly hole, or will expire a week before the holiday despite your best efforts.

4. Customizability.

You can indulge your whimsical fantasies with a bright pink tree that makes you feel as if you're on a 1960s variety show. If you stay with traditional green, you can still buy the exact size or shape that'll best fit your room.

5. Easy upkeep.

Again, not just about watering here: You don't have to worry about cleaning up fallen needles.

6. Control over your own holiday schedule.

Don't want to spend a precious December Saturday battling other families at the tree lot? You don't have to! Want to put your tree up almost inappropriately early? Be my guest!

7. It's just weird to grow trees, just to cut them down.

Look, I understand we do this with many flowers and plants. But it still just seems odd to me to allow a tree to grow to 6', just to cut it down, place it in a room, and toss it out in two weeks. Sure, your town might chip the old trees and use the remains for town landscaping. That's certainly nice of your town to recycle the tree. It just feels like a sad fate for the gorgeous trees growing at the tree farm.

8. It's not like we can't find acceptable pine-scented candles these days.

Gone are the days when pine candles evoked cleaning fluid rather than a crisp morning in a forest. You can find scented diffusers, candles, and sprays that are just as good as the real thing.

So while you might think that a real tree makes Christmas extra-authentic, I think that it's more about the thought behind the tradition. A faux tree is no less festive than a fresh tree, as long as we have the Christmas spirit to begin with. After all, Santa seems to approve of all kinds of trees.

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Artificial Trees Are So Much Better Than Real Ones - Here's Why

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My family's love affair with freshly-cut Christmas trees ended in 1996. The abrupt end was all thanks to a tree so unbalanced that it fell over three times. It functioned less as a festive tribute to the holiday season and more like a performance art piece.

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Source 4: Don't fake it: Getting a real Christmas tree is the only way to go

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Source 4: Don't fake it: Getting a real Christmas tree is the only way to go

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As a kid, I always grew up with a real tree in the corner of my home at Christmas. Now that I have my own family, we continue the tradition. While a fake tree might do the job for some folks, to me, it just wouldn't feel like Christmas without the real thing.

Every December, my family takes our yearly trek from the Baltimore city line to the Maryland countryside. We travel just a few miles north, where the roads get long and meandering and farm life abounds. We are going to get our Christmas tree and the car ride is filled with carol singing and excitement - soon we will be bringing home the "perfect" one.

Related story: Why my fake Christmas tree is better than your real one

Sarah Bregel

Of course, after we cut it down ourselves with a rusty old saw supplied by the owners of the tree farm, wrap it in rope and slap it on top of our Subaru, it won't be quite perfect, but we'll love it just the same. In fact, we'll all be a little mud-covered and cold after an event that never goes quite as smoothly as we'd hoped. But to us, having the real thing and a little slice of nature - or usually, a big fat one - is always worth the effort.

Once our tree is secured (sort of) onto the roof of the car, we'll grab seats by the outdoor woodstove, drink hot cider and eat gingerbread cookies. We'll chat to other bundled tree-shoppers. But when we get home, there'll be an even bigger reward - getting our perfect tree nestled in its stand and watching our home transform from its normal, day-to-day vibe to having that Christmastime feel.

Suddenly everything smells like pine, more than any scented candle or fake tree spray could offer. We'll spend the rest of the day adorning our tree with lights, bulbs and cherished ornaments from years past. The kids are enthusiastic and in love with the tree they helped pick out and they'll go about decorating it with great care, even if all the ornaments seem to end up congregated in one section on the lower half (they always do, but I'll sneakily disperse them later on). We'll drink hot cocoa and too much eggnog. And if I wasn't in the Christmas spirit before, I surely will be by nightfall.

Sarah Bregel

It might be easier to put up the same fake tree year after year. It would definitely save money and a lot of vacuuming up needles and rotating it perfectly to shove the bald(ish) spots into the corner. It would probably be nice never to have to climb underneath it to give it water, or more often, yell at everyone not to touch a single branch because I forgot to water it and a mountain of needles falls off every time someone walks by. But we love our real tree anyway, maybe more because it took our time and energy to retrieve it and because of its imperfections.

Sarah Bregel

This tradition has become special to our family, and now our kids love it, too. For us, it's about the whole experience. And we know that, like the season, our tree won't last, and will eventually wither and die and be left out front with the trash.

But each year, our tradition will be renewed again. Here's to muddy shoes, pine needles and all - because it wouldn't be Christmas without a little mess.

Sarah Bregel is a mom of two who blogs at The Mediocre Mama.

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Don't fake it: Getting a real Christmas tree is the only way to go

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As a kid, I always grew up with a real tree in the corner of my home at Christmas. Now that I have my own family, we continue the tradition. While a fake tree might do the job for some folks, to me, it just wouldn't feel like Christmas without the real thing.

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PROS: Creates domestic jobs, fertilizers and biocides (does less damage than artificial ingredients), no health warnings, compostable, and it's overall better for the environment
CONS: Flammability, expensive, cleaning up fallen needles, noncustomizable, and takes time to find the perfect tree.