http://climateprogress.org/2010/12/24/myth-vs-fact-sustainability-and-the-holidays/

true according to the New York times article this website quotes.

The living trees generate oxygen, help fix carbon in their branches and in the soil and provide habitat for birds and animals, Mr. Springer said.

Christmas tree farms also help preserve farmland and green space, particularly near densely populated urban areas where pressure for development is intense.

I had an fake tree for many years-and every year I put it up I HATED it. It was my ex's idea to buy it. After my marriage ended, I still used it. Why I put it up I have no idea. When I moved in with Carlos, I got rid of it and was so happy to. Now, if we have a tree, it is a real one and I am so happy with it. We only get a tree when we have Christmas here (like we did this year). Carlos & our son-in-law picked out a really nice tree and my step-daughter & I got to decorate it. But, I get to undecorate it myself.  :-\\ But Carlos will help me take it out.




Cat

I have a fake one.  It is fiber optic...I don't like to deal with the lights.  I also think real trees are too expensive and feel bad about them cutting them down every year just to keep in the living room for less than a month.  It seems wasteful to me. 

As for the environment, the trees would be putting out just as much oxygen not being cut down as they are being replanted every year.  Not sure how to deal with development, though.

I have a fake one.  It is fiber optic...I don't like to deal with the lights.  I also think real trees are too expensive and feel bad about them cutting them down every year just to keep in the living room for less than a month.  It seems wasteful to me. 


oddly younger trees absorb more CO than older trees. It seems like that shouldn't be the case, but it is. plus when you're done with the tree most towns collect them and mulch them.  best to view it as a crop like lettuce or something similar.

we used to go out and cut our own with a hand saw from a tree farm.  not a big fan of buying them pre-cut at lots.  Most of those trees get shipped in from out of state and sit along time before they are sold.

I'm not ready to throw out my $20 artificial tree, but I think a real one is going to be on the menu for the next year.

I have a fake one.  It is fiber optic...I don't like to deal with the lights.  I also think real trees are too expensive and feel bad about them cutting them down every year just to keep in the living room for less than a month.  It seems wasteful to me. 

As for the environment, the trees would be putting out just as much oxygen not being cut down as they are being replanted every year.  Not sure how to deal with development, though.



Most Christmas trees come from tree farms now-they were grown specifically to be cut. It is not like everyone goes out into the woods and clear cut swatches of land just for Christmas trees. Most farms stagger their cutting (every other tree or every third tree each year) and it is replaced with a baby.

Like Chucky said, afterwords, many towns/cities will mulch them (or burn them-I think Tulsa does this). When you dispose of an artificial tree, who knows what chemicals are going into the landfills/atmosphere. 




Cat

I am terribly allergic to Christmas trees, so fake it will be.

It's expensive to buy a real tree every year.  I think the best bet is cutting one yourself.  In colorado you could get a permit to cut one -- or the top of a larger tree, which would still leave a good bit of tree in the woods .  That's a nice and environmentally friendly tradition.

Most people buy xmas trees from xmas tree farms, right?  Most evergreens don't have the splendid proportions of hybrid xmas trees, which are seven feet high and perfectly rounded.  One year my father, being the Clarke W. Griswold guy he was, decided we should cut our own tree from our own land!

Dad, you're nuts!
What in the hell do you kids want, some kind of plastic Bing Crosby Christmas?
Yes.

Too damn bad for us kids.  Dad went out and cut the finest candidate he could find.  Then he spent hours cursing and hacking away at it until it could fit in the house.  It looked a lot scrawnier in the house than it did in the woods...soooo...he went and cut another one, repeated the cursing and hacking process and bound the second tree to the first tree.  In the end, Dad got his olde yuletide Christmas tree, and we hid the embarrassing mess from our friends like a sweet sixteen zit!
:D

Whacky Smart household anecdotes aside, I think the environmental costs of Christmas trees are negligible. 

Most people buy xmas trees from xmas tree farms, right?  Most evergreens don't have the splendid proportions of hybrid xmas trees, which are seven feet high and perfectly rounded.  One year my father, being the Clarke W. Griswold guy he was, decided we should cut our own tree from our own land!

Dad, you're nuts!
What in the hell do you kids want, some kind of plastic Bing Crosby Christmas?
Yes.

Too damn bad for us kids.  Dad went out and cut the finest candidate he could find.  Then he spent hours cursing and hacking away at it until it could fit in the house.  It looked a lot scrawnier in the house than it did in the woods...soooo...he went and cut another one, repeated the cursing and hacking process and bound the second tree to the first tree.  In the end, Dad got his olde yuletide Christmas tree, and we hid the embarrassing mess from our friends like a sweet sixteen zit!
:D

Whacky Smart household anecdotes aside, I think the environmental costs of Christmas trees are negligible.   


That reminds me of the Christmas right before I moved in with Carlos. He went out and found a tree on the side of the road. It was your basic Charlie Brown Christmas tree-every scrawny with few branches. It didn't even have any branches in back because it grew up against something. That worked out because that side was up against the windows in the living room.  :D ;D ;D ;D But, we decorated anyway and still laugh about it.



Cat