While Christmas without a real tree might seem crazy to some, you can’t help but stop and wonder as a “treehugger” how sustainable of a tradition is it?
Before revealing which practice is greener for wear, I am going to outline a few true tree facts.
For the most part Christmas trees are grown are specialized tree farms, these trees are generally allowed to grow for about 10-15 years before being cut and in that time provide a valuable service to outlying and nearby communities by providing oxygen and processing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
It is estimated that approximately one acre of Christmas trees provides enough oxygen for 18 people every day. If you consider how many acres of these trees there are in the United States alone, which is around 500 000 acres, they could probably supply enough oxygen for around 9-10 million people everyday!
Now back to the carbon dioxide, forests and oceans are two of our major carbon sinks in the world and pretty much critical to our existence. In the case of forests the growth rate of a tree is directly related to the amount of carbon dioxide in its surrounding atmosphere; the more a tree is pruned and cut, Christmas trees are trimmed quite frequently, the more it grows and consequently processes excess carbon in the atmosphere.
Now you if you’ll excuse me I have to go help with the decoration of our _______ Christmas tree and if you want to know what kind it is check back for part two of this series!
