GOING GREEN
O Christmas Tree. If you want to be as eco- savvy as possible this holiday season, get a real tree-then replant it.
BY BRYAN WALSH
EVERY DECEMBER......
Throughout my childhood, my father would rise from the couch an a Sunday afternoon and tell us that it was time to chop down the Christmas tree.
But the Walsh men are not outdoorsmen; firmly suburban, we're at most screened-in-porch men.
So by cutting down the yule tree, my dad meant climbing into the attic and bringing down the tinsel-covered bits of plastic and tubing, then assembling them into something resembling Tannenbaum form.
Yes, though it shames me to say it now, we were a faux-fir family.
But is an artificial tree so bad? A new study by the well-regarded sustainability firm PE Americas found that owning an artificial tree-as do an estimated 50 million house hold in the U.S.-caused lower carbon emissions over a decade than did buying real trees 10 years in a row, chiefly because of the gasoline used to get a cut tree from farm to living room.
The big caveats, however, are that the study focused on carbon and was sponsored by the American Christmas Tree Association, which works with artificial tree makers.
Ask environmentalists the which-is-greener question, and most will side with the National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA), which represents live-tree growers.
"Even if you use a fake tree for 10 years, when you throw it away, it's not biodegradable," says the NCTA's communications director, Rick Dungey.
"It's always better to use a natural product over an artificial one".
Though more than 30 million live Christmas trees are sold in the U.S. every year, almost all Christmas trees are raised on commercial farms-which makes them a renewable resource more a kind to a stalk of corn than to a wild Douglas fir in the forest.
When a yule tree is chopped down and sold, farms will plant another one in its place, making that part of the process carbon-neutral.
The fossil fuel burned to transport the trees from farm to hearth is another matter.
But given that most artificial trees are manufactured and shipped from China, fakes have their fuel costs too.
Then there's the stuff that artificial trees are made of.
One ingredient in most fake first is polyvinyl chloride (PVC) a plastic that is difficult to recycle.
And while new artificial trees pose little threat to children's health, Mike Schade, the pvc-campaign coordinator for the activist group Center for Healt, Environment and Justice, notes that older plastic trees tend to have higher levels of lead, a potent neurotoxin.
But just buying a live tree doesn't guarantee a green Christmas.
Instead of simply tossing your tree in the trash on Dec.26, recycle it.
Thousands of municipalities across the U.S. offer Christmas-tree-recycling programs; Americans can look them up on earth911.com.
The U.S. Army Corps of Enineers will even collect discarded trees and use them to create underwater forest in man-made lakes, sprucing up the habitats of fish and other aquatic critters.
Extreme greens opt to get a real tree with root-ball intact, keep it alive through the stressful holiday season-then find a place to replant it.
That might be easy if you have a green thumb and a backyard big enough to absorb a Douglas fir; lug the potted tree inside for the holidays, then outside once your New Year's hangover has cleared.
If you keep the tree in a planter, you can reuse it every year and save on gas.
Alas, those who can't garden to save their lives are out of luck-unless they happen to live in or near Portland,Ore.
There the Original Living Christmas Tree Co. delivers potted trees for a holiday rental.
A little after New Year's, workers pick them up and deliver them to parks, schools and other institutions that pay $10 to have a tree planted on their property.
"We're set to do over 400 trees this year," says founder John Fogel.
"I want people to feel good about (live) trees".
Perhaps that's the real benefit of having a fresh tree in your home.
"Kids today are so out of touch with nature," says Bob Schildgen, the Sierra Club's environmental-advice columnist.
"Just having a living thing in the house can enhance environmental values in a way you can't measure in dollars and cents".
So may your days be merry and bright, but may all your Christmases (and any other holidays) be green.
O Christmas Tree. If you want to be as eco- savvy as possible this holiday season, get a real tree-then replant it.
BY BRYAN WALSH
EVERY DECEMBER......
Throughout my childhood, my father would rise from the couch an a Sunday afternoon and tell us that it was time to chop down the Christmas tree.
But the Walsh men are not outdoorsmen; firmly suburban, we're at most screened-in-porch men.
So by cutting down the yule tree, my dad meant climbing into the attic and bringing down the tinsel-covered bits of plastic and tubing, then assembling them into something resembling Tannenbaum form.
Yes, though it shames me to say it now, we were a faux-fir family.
But is an artificial tree so bad? A new study by the well-regarded sustainability firm PE Americas found that owning an artificial tree-as do an estimated 50 million house hold in the U.S.-caused lower carbon emissions over a decade than did buying real trees 10 years in a row, chiefly because of the gasoline used to get a cut tree from farm to living room.
The big caveats, however, are that the study focused on carbon and was sponsored by the American Christmas Tree Association, which works with artificial tree makers.
Ask environmentalists the which-is-greener question, and most will side with the National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA), which represents live-tree growers.
"Even if you use a fake tree for 10 years, when you throw it away, it's not biodegradable," says the NCTA's communications director, Rick Dungey.
"It's always better to use a natural product over an artificial one".
Though more than 30 million live Christmas trees are sold in the U.S. every year, almost all Christmas trees are raised on commercial farms-which makes them a renewable resource more a kind to a stalk of corn than to a wild Douglas fir in the forest.
When a yule tree is chopped down and sold, farms will plant another one in its place, making that part of the process carbon-neutral.
The fossil fuel burned to transport the trees from farm to hearth is another matter.
But given that most artificial trees are manufactured and shipped from China, fakes have their fuel costs too.
Then there's the stuff that artificial trees are made of.
One ingredient in most fake first is polyvinyl chloride (PVC) a plastic that is difficult to recycle.
And while new artificial trees pose little threat to children's health, Mike Schade, the pvc-campaign coordinator for the activist group Center for Healt, Environment and Justice, notes that older plastic trees tend to have higher levels of lead, a potent neurotoxin.
But just buying a live tree doesn't guarantee a green Christmas.
Instead of simply tossing your tree in the trash on Dec.26, recycle it.
Thousands of municipalities across the U.S. offer Christmas-tree-recycling programs; Americans can look them up on earth911.com.
The U.S. Army Corps of Enineers will even collect discarded trees and use them to create underwater forest in man-made lakes, sprucing up the habitats of fish and other aquatic critters.
Extreme greens opt to get a real tree with root-ball intact, keep it alive through the stressful holiday season-then find a place to replant it.
That might be easy if you have a green thumb and a backyard big enough to absorb a Douglas fir; lug the potted tree inside for the holidays, then outside once your New Year's hangover has cleared.
If you keep the tree in a planter, you can reuse it every year and save on gas.
Alas, those who can't garden to save their lives are out of luck-unless they happen to live in or near Portland,Ore.
There the Original Living Christmas Tree Co. delivers potted trees for a holiday rental.
A little after New Year's, workers pick them up and deliver them to parks, schools and other institutions that pay $10 to have a tree planted on their property.
"We're set to do over 400 trees this year," says founder John Fogel.
"I want people to feel good about (live) trees".
Perhaps that's the real benefit of having a fresh tree in your home.
"Kids today are so out of touch with nature," says Bob Schildgen, the Sierra Club's environmental-advice columnist.
"Just having a living thing in the house can enhance environmental values in a way you can't measure in dollars and cents".
So may your days be merry and bright, but may all your Christmases (and any other holidays) be green.
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