Real Christmas Trees 'Greener' than Fake

[WriteDown]

Source: Yahoo

It may not sound like "tree-hugging," but cutting down a real tree for Christmas is actually greener than going with the artificial kind, one scientist says.

"It is a little counterintuitive to people," said Clint Springer, a biologist at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia.

Because of concerns over deforestation around the world, many people naturally worry that buying a real tree might contribute to that problem, Springer says. But most Christmas trees for sale these days are grown not in the forest but on tree farms, for the express purpose of being cut.

Moreover, from a greenhouse gas perspective, real trees are "the obvious choice," Springer told LiveScience.

Live trees actively photosynthesize as they grow from saplings, which removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. After they have been cut and Christmas is over, they're usually chipped for mulch. As mulch, the bits of tree very slowly decompose, releasing carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. So in the end, a real Christmas tree is carbon neutral, putting the same amount of carbon dioxide back into the air as it took out (albeit much more slowly).

The tree farms that grew the trees also replant after the trees are cut.

Artificial trees, on the other hand, don't come out even in the carbon balance. Petroleum is used to make the plastics in the trees and lots of carbon dioxide-creating energy is required to make and transport them.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/realchristmastreesgreenerthanfake

---

Buy a live tree every year so not a problem for me.

[Jennicut]

1. We have an artificial one because my husband is allergic to pine.

He literally cannot breathe in the house with a real tree. I once burned a Yankee Candle without thinking about it, it was called Christmas Wreath or something like that and we could not figure out what was making him so sick. It was the candle, had pine in it. We have had our tree for 10 years so far so at least we are using it for a long time.

[WriteDown]

2. NEVER move to the Carolinas....

:)

[marshall]

37. Ditto--artificial trees were a godsend to my family

My mother got pneumonia yearly as a child because my grandparents dragged a dead tree into the house for Christmas. When I was little we started with an artificial tree and suddenly her holiday health problems were gone. Then after my parents got a divorce and my father's new wife insisted on a "real" tree, the same health problems started on me.

I've lived in North Carolina and Georgia--it's not the same walking outside among pine and cedar trees and bringing one into a house that is closed up for the winter and no ventilation.

[Botany]

3. North Carolina Fraser Fir the best Xmas tree in the world

[WriteDown]

4. You bet,,,,

My favorite too.

[Botany]

6. the Canaan strain does better in other areas but I still think the N.C. ones ...

... are the best. I used to work in a nursery and when the truck w/ the cut Fraser Firs from
North Carolina came in we would all go and get one for our homes. The smelled of citrus,
held up like a champ, and were uniformly beautiful.




Canaan Fir

[Hissyspit]

16. That's what I have this year.

Wish it had more scent, but it was easy to handle and decorate.

[Pab Sungenis]

5. We've had the same artificial tree for 13 years.

It's seen better days, but I think we've more than balanced out the equation.

[LiberalFighter]

10. I would think it would more than balance it out.

But then again there may be more positive effects down the chain with real trees.

[thereismore]

13. Exactly. 1 artificial tree in 14 years cannot be worse than 14 live ones. nt

[WriteDown]

20. And yet it is.

It is strange.

[tabasco]

38. No, it's not.

You're very gullible.

[liberal N proud]

7. We have an artificial tree that is 15 years old

We do not use real for a couple of reasons.

1. Allergies.
   
2. Duration our tree is on display. day after Thanksgiving to New Years day.
   
3. We build a large Christmas scene with a christmas village, electric train and sorted other holiday decorations under the tree. This all makes it very difficult to water the tree.
   

[Strelnikov_]

14. 1. Fire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNjO3wZDVlA

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7723421500841104465#

[GreenPartyVoter]

34. Yep. We live in a trialer. No way I would ever let a real tree in here, as much as I love them.

[Arctic Dave]

8. One huge flaw to this the cost of shipping them to their destinations

year after year. Does he acount for that? Also, does he take into account the clearing natural vegetation to " farm" the trees. Watering, pestacides, etc.
It seem that by buying a fake tree, once the original purchase is taken into account it is a carbon bank because you don't have to worry about farming, shipping, etc.

[mopinko]

12. doesn't seem to.

this article is not science- it is consolation for the author.
he does not take into account that an artificial tree is used for several years. transported once.
and as you say, does not address the land use issues at all.
a real comparison would be interesting. this guy's musings, not so much.

[happyslug]

15. Do you know what type of land Christmas trees are grown in???

Generally it is land unfit for anything else, Pine trees do NOT need anything more then some soil, being naturally acidic no need for herbicides. Pines can survive most droughts so do NOT need watering (In fact most evergreen thrive BEST without ANY watering). The Pests that affect Pine trees do NOT kill them before the tree is cut for use, so pesticides are NOT needed. The only real work involved with Christmas Tree is to trim them once a year to make sure the grow in a even pattern and that has to be done by people not chemicals (And generally in the Summer by Summer help). Thus GROWING Christmas trees add little to Carbon expenditures while being grown and given the land the trees are grown may be bare without them (In my area of Western Pa, the Christmas trees farms tend to be on abandoned strip mines or boney piles from long closed deep mines for example, all areas without any growth and the damage was done BEFORE the adoption of modern environmental rules).

As to Transport, the trees are transported by Truck and do to how they were trimmed squeezed into the truck to go to their destination. On a per tree basis, given the number of trees on these flatbeds, the carbon used is minimized by the sheer volume of trees transported. Thus the carbon used to make an artificial tree, to transport to the store where you bought it and then transported to your home probably does exceed the carbon of growing that tree, cutting it, transporting to a place to be sold and then to your home (and that is ignoring the carbon absorbed by the tree as it grows).

[jberryhill]

17. Mulch Much?

Solar powered wood chipper, eh?

[Arctic Dave]

23. Yes I do know what kind of land they grow in, I used to drive by a farm in California

It was a cleared lot that was once natural vegatation and habitat.

[happyslug]

39. In my area, those Trees tend to be on old strip mines and other marginal lands

You can often see the rocks sticking out of the ground in places where the tree grower decided NOT to plant Christmas Trees. Maybe because I am in Western Pennsylvania (I often joke about outsiders when they ask if they home was ever undermined? I tell people don't worry about that, this is western Pa, it is all undermined, there may be records, there may not any, but it has been undermined). Boney piles are over the place (Boney piles is where the mines dumped the coal they could NOT sell for it was junk, we called it "Slack", which lead to the old joke "She was only a coal miner's daughter, you can tell by the slack in her pants" (i.e. the wasn't any). Slack was to sooty to be used as slate (as in Slate Roofs) but did not have enough carbon to burn decently.

In addition to Boney Piles we have a lot a abandoned Strip mines, mines were abandoned before modern surface reclamation laws were passed. One of the Cheapest way to reclaim such wasteland is to plant Evergreens and leave them slowly build up pine needles waste so soil will slowly build up (and then the pines will be replaced by better trees). A third factor is the slag dumps from the old Steel Mills. These tend to be more concentrated then the Boney piles, like tall black hill with few of anything growing on them. Throw a foot or so of sod of them Evergreens can grow.

Yes we in Western Pa have a lot of Christmas Tree Farms for the above reasons in addition to the general poor soil in these mountains. Now in the valleys you rarely see Christmas Trees, the land is to useful for other purposes, but in marginal lands christmas trees are the norm (if not abandoned to general forest and run by private forest owners or the State Forestry Commission).

[wtmusic]

21. Amen. Shipping them, cutting them down, picking them up, mulching them,

all require energy, every year. We've had our artifical tree for 16 years.

More guilt-salve from Yahoo News. Next: "Why Driving Your SUV is Actually Good for the Environment"

[Kolesar]

9. Nothing brings out the wild in a house kitty like bringing in a live tree

Smells like outside--it's time to climb!

[kestrel91316]

19. Tell me about it. I gave up on Christmas trees 20 years ago after getting tired of coming home from

work and finding the tree on the living room floor and ornaments broken and scattered everywhere.

[jberryhill]

11. What A Bizarre Comparison

Interesting how a real tree is "carbon neutral", but artificial trees require fuel to "transport them."

Do the real trees just freaking WALK TO YOUR HOUSE?

Real trees are substantially heavier, require fuel to transport, and something tells me they aren't cut down by beavers.

So, let me figure this...

Real tree - requires transporting a tree every year.

Artificial tree - requires transportation once a decade or so.

Someone has been smoking pine sap.

Oh... and real trees are "mulched".... by some non-energy-consuming process.

[Sentath]

18. And who gets a new artificial tree every year?

I admit we're in the market for a new one, but the old one is approaching a decade old!

[onehandle]

22. Artificial trees are made in a highly poisonous process in China.

Then transported through China, then across the ocean, then to Wal-Mart's warehouses, then to the distribution center, then to an actual Wal-Mart, then finally to your living room.

In your home it leaks toxins for x amount of years. Then it is transported to a landfill where it leaks poison for decades.

We have an artificial tree. Now I will be rethinking its existance.

Mostly, I like the idea of depriving China of a few bucks.

I would say Wal-Mart too, but we ironically bought ours at a nursery center. For 50% off after a Christmas five years ago.

[WriteDown]

24. One correction..

It probably leaks poison for centuries in that landfill. Can't imagine those things degrade quickly.

[jberryhill]

27. If you already have an artificial tree...

Then you don't gain any carbon advantage by discontinuing to use it and switching to something else.

[onehandle]

32. Thus, I will be rethinking. The fake goes up tomorrow. nt

[pipi_k]

28. And something that wasn't even mentioned...

How many gallons of water does the average Christmas tree need while on display in the home?

I've had real trees in the past, and all I can say is, having a permanent hose from faucet to tree is probably a good idea if you don't want them to dry out and become dangerous.

In areas where water is a precious commodity these days, just one community watering its trees during a season can put a huge bite into an already dwindling water supply.

Me...I'm a tree lover. Haven't had a real Christmas tree in years, and would not do so now. I had one of those little fake fiberoptic ones for a while but gave it away.

People who grow evergreens for that purpose...why not just leave them alone to grow? Oh, wait...money. Trees are good...trees clean the air and give us shade and provide shelter for wildlife. Let's cut them down and sell them for the sake of a few weeks' holiday.

Bah. All my Christmas trees are alive and well in my own yard.


:)

[bergie321]

25. Buy a live tree

And plant it when you are done with it.

[joeybee12]

26. Yeah but if you buy a fake one and keep it for 20 years...

...I think that's pretty good...this assumes all people dispose of thier rela trees responsibly...I doubt this happens in the reddest of states.

[Texasgal]

35. Reddest states?

Really?


We have a mulching program for our trees that is used to fertilize our public parks after the season. IN TEXAS.

Can that brush get any wider?

[TwilightGardener]

29. Meh. Had my fake for 15 years, it's "paid off", environment-wise.

Some years we do put up a real tree, but my husband has increasingly come out against the cutting down of a tree for one week's worth of decoration, even if it was farmed for that purpose.

[azmouse]

30. I don't like live trees.

I've always used an artificial tree. I don't want to have to spend the money for a new tree every year, I don't want to have to tie the tree to my car (it scratches the paint) to get it home, I don't want the fire risk and I don't want pine needles all over the carpet for weeks.

I've only ever owned 2 trees and the current one still looks good after 12 years.


Merry Christmas!

[City of Mills]

31. I don't put up a tree (real or fake), so I'm the carbon-neutralist of all!

Ha! }(

[LeftyMom]

33. The shit you put under it is a much greater concern than the tree.

:shrug:

I can't breathe around the real ones, so the kid and I have an itty bitty fake tree.

[Deja Q]

36. Better to let it live and engage in photosynthesis for far longer,

this "neutral" chicanery is just that.

Keep the trees. They like CO2.

[XemaSab]

40. For the last few years I have gone up to the forest and cut down my own tree

Am I the greenest one of all?