Fresh Greens

O Christmas Tree! Fresh or Fake?

By Maura Judkis

Posted: December 5, 2008

'Tis the weekend for holiday decorating, and with it comes a flurry of articles about how Christmas trees are good or bad for the environment. The discussion is similar to the perpetually unsettled argument about paper versus plastic: the former is biodegradable but involves cutting down trees, while the latter is reusable but also made of PVC and other harmful plastics that don't biodegrade.

Plastic trees, says Grist's eco-expert Umbra, are bad because of their ingredients: "Polyvinyl chloride is the monoculture of the artificial forest." The decidedly biased National Christmas Tree Association agrees.

So, how to green your holiday decorations?

--Buy your Christmas tree from a local farm. Many trees are grown on massive farms and are trucked across the country. Support local tree farms, where you can ask farmers how the trees were raised, and can even chop them down yourself.

--Buy an organic tree. The New York Times writes about the prevalence of organic trees, though the jury's out on how much the pesticides on a Christmas tree can affect you. Says the Times:

“Many of the pesticides, particularly the organophosphates and pyrethroids, will break down in rain and UV light,” said Dr. Thomas Arcury, a professor and research director for the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, in Winston-Salem, N.C., who is studying the effects of these chemicals on farm workers. “Some residues would probably remain, just as they remain on the food we eat. How much that is — how dangerous that is — nobody knows.”

--Make all-natural decorations. Kids can string cranberries, popcorn or paper links to make garlands that can be composted after New Year's.

--Light your tree, and the outside of your home with LEDs. They save energy (especially if you go all out, Clark Griswold-style) and will last you much longer than your old strands of lights.

--If you're concerned about cutting down a tree, start a new holiday tradition and plant a new tree every year.

RE: Yes, but....

I bought my artificial tree in 1997 and I am still using it with no plans to buy another. When the plastic stand broke, I made another out of scrap 2x4 lumber. I light it with LEDs and only have cloth ribbons - no ornaments. I grew up in a house that had an artificial tree that we used as long as I can remember and never bought a real tree until I was maybe 17 years old and worked at a local nursery & tree farm. I'm sure we aren't the exception keeping them for so long.

Thomas of GA @ Dec 18, 2008 15:01:24 PM

Natural product grown on a farm ALWAYS better than more plastic junk made in a Chinese factory

Nice article. Like so many other pro-environmental writers, you are correct to tell your readers that a farm-grown Christmas tree is a much better eco-choice than a plastic, manufactured tree which is non-biodegradable.

However, I find it intriguing that you inform your readers that buying a tree from an "organic" tree farm is a better choice than a tree grown on any other tree farm. I’ve been looking into this issue since consumers ask us about it sometimes and based on the legitimate scientific research out there, no evidence exists to suggest that your assertion is correct. Do you know of any scientific research showing that organic trees are better somehow than non-organic ones? I recently read a fascinating book as part of my research called The Truth About Organic Foods by Alex Avery.

One of the most enlightening things I learned was that the common belief that organic farms don’t use pesticides is utterly and completely untrue. Copper Sulfate, Nicotine Sulfate, Bt, pyrethrum, Spinosad...the list of fungicides, insecticides and herbicides approved for use by the National Organic Standards Board reads like a toxicology report. Yet, curiously, I never see any mention of these pesticides in mainstream articles blithely telling readers that organic agricultural products are better for the environment. I think you owe it to your readers to tell them that organic farms do indeed use pesticides, they just come from different sources. But they are just as poisonous as man-made chemicals, and in some cases, much more toxic. And in many cases, the application rates of organic approved pesticides is much higher because they are not as effective at eliminating pests. So the environmental burden can actually be higher.

I also have a philosophical dilemma with your assertion that buying a tree from a local farm only is a good environmental choice. Would you suggest the same thing about all agricultural products? I mean, here in the Midwest, if I want a banana or an orange or many other farm-products, I have to get them from a long way away. Is this a bad environmental choice? Should I only eat peanuts if I live in Georgia? Should I only eat blueberries if I live in Maine or Michigan? Should I only wear cotton T-shirts if I live in Alabama or Mississippi? Personally, I’m glad I live in a country where I can buy agricultural products from all over the country (and even some imported) all year long. I don’t think that’s bad for the environment, I think it’s good for people.

To be clear, buying a Christmas tree from a local farm or even an organic farm are perfectly fine options. It’s not better or worse...just different. I just think it’s misleading to your readers to suggest that if they don’t do that, they are making a bad environmental choice. But it's certainly bad to buy more plastic junk made in China.

Thanks for supporting American Christmas Tree farmers.

Christmas Tree Guy of MO @ Dec 11, 2008 17:40:11 PM

"study"

I read somewhere that study was just a sham, paid for by a fake tree company out of California. And that post was clearly just a copy and paste job by some PR hack. I wonder if they feel the same way about people who drive out to an orchard to pick their own apples or peaches (a popular late summer activity here in the Midwest). Maybe we should all just completely isolate ourselves from agriculture so we know even less about it than we do now. The less we visit with and know about our neighboring farmers the better, huh?

What a joke of a comment Jami. I feel just the opposite. I think people should visit farms MORE often and buy the products they grow directly from them. Maybe we'll all learn a little about where our food and fiber comes from.

of MO @ Dec 11, 2008 17:30:10 PM

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Fresh Greens

Fresh Greens

Maura Judkis is a producer at U.S. News. She writes about the green movement and looks for ways to be an ecofriendly consumer without breaking the bank. Send her your green tips.

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