http://www.care2.com/greenliving/green-christmas-trees.html
Eco-Friendly Christmas Trees: How-To
By Hilary Stamper, Care2 Staff
In the early 20th century, around 98 percent of Christmas trees came from the forest. Today, most Christmas trees are grown on tree farms, which can benefit and harm the environment.
Below you will learn:
Eco-benefits of tree recycling.
Why buying a live Christmas tree with roots is an eco-friendly Christmas tradition.
How Christmas tree farms benefit the environment.
When Christmas trees are not eco-friendly.
RECYCLE YOUR TREE!
To avoid discarding old Christmas trees in landfills, where they consume much needed space, consider composting or mulching your tree.>An old Christmas tree…
* Can be ground up and used as mulch in gardens, on trails, or in animal stalls.
* Can be used as sand and erosion barriers on beaches, streambeds, and lakes.
* Can be sunk into private lakes and ponds, where it provides refuge for fish.
** For more information on recycling your tree, click here!
BUY A TREE WITH ROOTS AND PLANT!
Planting a new Christmas tree after is a great way to leave an eco-friendly legacy. After only a few years, you will have a living reminder of fun and enjoyment in Christmas Past. American Forests provides detailed information about tree planting.
* To potentially reduce air conditioning and heating bill, plant trees strategically near your house to provide cooling shade in the summer and an insulating wind break in the winter.
* Trees clean the air and provide pure oxygen in return.
Planting 30 trees can offset your home and car’s annual contribution to global warming.
* Tree root systems hold in place soil that, if washed away by heavy rains, flow into streams and rivers, making them shallower and causing flooding.
* The EPA claims that planting trees is the best way to reverse the global warming effect.
ECO-BENEFITS OF CHRISTMAS TREE FARMS
* While Christmas trees grow, they replenish the air with oxygen; just one acre of Christmas trees produces enough oxygen to support eighteen people.
* Tree farms provide habitat for birds and other wildlife (However, pesticide use on Christmas tree farms could be decreased for even greater environmental benefits.
* Due to their hardiness, Christmas trees are often planted where few other plants grow, thereby increasing soil stability.
* For each Christmas tree cut on tree farms, 2 or 3 new seedlings are planted.
CHRISTMAS TREES ARE NOT ECO-FRIENDLY WHEN:
* They are discarded with regular trash and end up landfilled or incinerated. Landfilling takes up space, and incineration pollutes the air.
* They are burned in your trash, causing air pollution and creosote buildup.
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6 comments
add your comment »I just can't cut down a tree. We don't have Christmas trees. That sounds really untraditional, but I actually don't know what a Christmas tree has to do with Christmas. (Seriously, I don't know... can someone please enlighten me?) I don't think it's good for families/people right now to buy presents and trees because the economy is so poor right now.
It's so cliche, but what about just the spirit of Christmas? I'm not saying do absolute nothing, but I do feel a lot of this holiday is so consumer based. People are giving up their dogs due to economics (2008), but they still buy presents and trees?
Hmm, what are we going to do for Christmas? Just hang out. I think a vacation should be a vacation, not a frantic time of cooking and wrapping. I sound so Un-Christmas like. Oh well.
Some ideas:
Purchase from Jonsteen's: the plant a Christmas tree kit. (They are TINY.)
Have kids do other Christmas related activities (these are obviously endless, ranging from drawing to etc...)
Call the National Arbor Day Foundation and honor someone with a tree being *planted.*
Buy the miniature Christmas tree plants.
Take up an instrument (I mean learn one) to play Christmas songs.
Try making a Christmas vegan dish.
The lighting (the strings): consider solar powered ones (luminaries).
Give to the mail person (put card in mailbox).
Make/ give recyclable and/or utility cards - make a book (find the project instructions on line); the first page can double as the c
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FYI: CC Jones must be working with Alan Gordman to link to Gordon Companies' artificial tree site.
It really irks me when people are pimping their wares while pretending to be innocent users.
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Hi,
Thanks for the great article. I've referenced it on our We Can Solve It blog for Western NC.
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It's interesting that people are finally starting to consider how Christmas trees impact the environment. We have always used Artificial Christmas Trees. They are just so much easier to handle. Hopefully more people will make the switch. Thanks for a great article!
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Some of your points might need some modification. To uptake and lock away carbon via trees, they cannot be exposed to the atmosphere. If your landfill buries debris, send them there. If you have enough land, bury yours after the holidays. The aim here is uptake as much carbon as we can, and then lock it away from the atmosphere. It's too bad and too, too sad that EPA is losing credibility since the Bush Admin took office. Billions of new trees, particularly those in the Evergreen Family, would truly have a miraculous effect on the global climates. My old artifical Xmas tree is in the attic and it will stay there until the end of time -- God, how I missed the smell of Evergreen in the house. Aaahhhh!
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