It’s a holiday tradition that is rooted deep in many ancient cultures: The Christmas Tree. And for many, deciding between a real Christmas tree or a fake Christmas tree is a real debate. The traditionalist will say venturing out and chopping down your own tree (or picking it up from the nearest tree lot for most city dwellers) captures the holiday spirit, while others side with the cost-efficiency and ease of reusing the same tree year after year.
American families remain divided, with roughly 12.9 million U.S. households choosing evergreen-like trees over 21.6 million choosing natural trees, according to new data from Neilsen Research. Nielsen surveyed nearly 30,000 U.S. households on behalf of the American Christmas Tree Association, also found that the average cost of a real tree was $46 and the average cost of an artificial tree was $78.
And that costly decision is impacting our ecosystem.
Most fake trees are usually made from a kind of plastic, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is derived from petroleum. In order to make the trees, electricity is needed to melt the plastic, which impacts air and water pollution, along with energy usage. Roughly 85 percent of the fake trees in the U.S. are imported from China, where they are manufactured – China’s electric grid predominately runs on coal, which is the dirtiest source of electricity.
Since 2003, almost 10 million fake trees were sold worldwide, according to the National Christmas Tree Association. And how did they get shipped from China? Usually by way of a diesel-fuel powered ship.
Therefore, environmentalists continue to say it’s better to cut down a holiday tree than buy an artificial one. Their argument: Buying a real Christmas tree reduces your carbon footprint, helps keep the ecosystem healthy and supports local tree farms, said Frank Lowenstein, director of climate adaptation for The Nature Conservancy, in a news video release.
In the United States, there are close to 15,000 farms growing Christmas trees. That equates to about 350 million real Christmas trees growing on U.S. farms in all 50 states, including Hawaii and Alaska. And for every Christmas tree cut down, one to three seedlings are planted the following spring.
For best climate impact, find a local tree farm to buy from. The National Christmas Tree Association allows you to search by zip code. If you plan to buy an artificial tree, still try to think local and support small businesses.
And when the holiday season is over, remember to recycle your Christmas tree, if you have a real tree, or properly box and store any artificial tree.
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