With this Thanksgiving done and over with, many people move on to the next coming holiday. In my house, as soon as Thanksgiving was over I helped my mom put up our artificial Christmas tree and when I came back to my apartment I decorated my own artificial tree. This got me thinking, what is better for the environment? My aritifical tree was probably made is a large production plant with all sorts of chemicals. It probably took a lot of gas to ship the tree up to Minnesota from where it was made. Yet, an artificial tree can be used year after year. Is mass farming of Christmas trees any better than mass production of fake ones?
I provided some links about information about artificial vs real Christmas trees:
The Great Debate
National Christmas Tree Association
I ask your opinion:
Do you think an artificial tree or a real tree better for the environment?
This is a great article to share, I've never really put much thought into how much buying/chopping down trees every year around this time of year is affecting us (it's been a tradition for SO long!). In my opinion, I would have to say that buying a real tree is better for the environment. Even though it is wasting some fuel to transfer them, and lowering the amount of trees that omit oxygen, the pine trees take several years to grow before they can be harvested, so in that amount of time the CO2 levels will decrease by a lot. Plus, there are sites that plant pine trees SPECIFICALLY for the christmas holiday, so they can plan around such type of incidence.
ReplyDeleteI would think that a real tree would be better for the environment, because I feel like artificial trees are made out of plastics and leaves a carbon footprint. Looking at the National xmas tree association website, I thought right. They are not biodegradable, renewable, and made with petroleum and plastics. It flat out says at the bottom No to eco-friendly. So we should all look into real trees this christmas, artificial looks all over bad.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great question. I think a real tree is always better. It can be used and recycled back into the environment safely when done. My family and I have used our fake tree for as long as when I was a toddler till three years ago. We reused it so much that the tree really did become weak looking. I think we still have it too. Makes me wonder as well.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great thought! I believe that real trees would be better since I'm sure most materials used to make the artificial trees are not-so-friendly on the environment. Judging by the articles you provided I would say they would agree with me. I should admit, however, I grew up having a real Christmas tree each year so I am probably a little biased about the situation as well! :) I have been trying to convince my roommates to purchase a real tree this year - we did last year and it wasn't the most convenient process - and so I could inform them getting a real tree would be more beneficial to the environment! Thanks for the thought and the articles, they were very informative!
ReplyDeleteAfter reading our articles, it seems that real trees are the way to go. Fake trees are made of so many chemicals and plastic. Even though we might go through a lot of trees before we would throw out a fake one, real trees are biodegradable, and throwing out just one fake can do a lot of harm to the environment!
ReplyDeleteI would agree with the girls above that real trees would be more environmentally friendly! Also, if tree farmers are replanting trees ever year the cutting down of these trees may not be so terrible for the environment!
ReplyDelete