the 'green' dilema: fake or real tree - Page 2

[kennedy444]

Originally Posted by Mrs-Mama

Fortunately, our city collects Christmas trees after the holidays and they are recycled into (very inexpensive) mulch for purchase by residents!

Ours too!
The transfer station lets you drop the tree off for free - even if you don't have a dump sticker.

[memiles]

We do real. We are supporting a family owned business (we know the growers and the families that do the sales), we have looked into their farming practices and trust them, and the trees are turned into mulch by our city to be used in the parks.

I can't see the advantage of a fake tree from an environmental standpoint. The only upside for us would be the fake ones would be cheaper long term, but it's not worth a houseful of plastic.

[Mrs-Mama]

Originally Posted by kennedy444

Ours too!
The transfer station lets you drop the tree off for free - even if you don't have a dump sticker.

We are even lazier...all we have to do is drag the tree out to the street, and the city picks it up on a day that they designate. Easy peasy!!

[zaner'smama]

We like the plant-able ones. We buy smaller trees, but they look really nice in our yard. And they'll grow with our family. The one we got this year is about 4-5 feet tall and cost $40.
Betsy

[zonapellucida]

Real tree here. We will be planting it after the holiday so I can finally get my son's placenta into the ground. He will be 3 right after Christmas. I can't imagine what it is going to look like. Anyone see a freezer burnt placenta before?

[Thalia]

Originally Posted by Mrs-Mama

We'll get a real tree. Fortunately, our city collects Christmas trees after the holidays and they are recycled into (very inexpensive) mulch for purchase by residents!

Our city does this, too. It's great!

[columbusmomma]

Our city recycles them too! We'll get a real one. I love the smell of fresh pine, especially during the holiday season. Growing up we would usually get a fresh, living pine, and then plant it after Christmas. Those trees are sooo tall now and I take a peak at them whenever I go to my parent's. I always think, where has the time gone?? It's nice now too, that Ds delights in picking out "the best".

[jempd]

While I love real trees and we always get one, in spite of the shedding needles, it just struck me yesterday that our kitten, who is just hitting the age at which he's in hyper teen wilding mode, will think that we've put up a tree just for him to ambush, attack, climb on, bat down the ornaments and who knows what else. I'm not kidding, the other day I came home to find that he had unrolled the entire roll of toilet paper on to the floor.

So I think we're looking at maybe a table-top tree, perhaps fake, or a wreath for the front door.

[jennica]

I just read in a magazine that you can go here and find an organic tree farm in your area. That means you wont have a pesticide-laden tree in your house. (unfortunately we got our tree before reading this). And then you can go here to find out where to take it in your area to get it turned into wood chips or mulch if your city doesn't do it.

I agree that real trees are the greener option. They come from farms and they are grown just to be cut down. While they are alive they help the environment, and they can be recycled very easily. Fake trees release chemicals into your home, and can not be recycled at all. They will just fill up a landfill one day.

[jdedmom]

We have a fake tree.: It was handed down to us from my mother. It should last us a long time. I hate real trees because the needles get everywhere. I like the idea of them but not the mess.

[sunshinesister]

Originally Posted by Laggie

I've never understood why people think having a real tree isn't environmentally friendly. It's not as if they go and chop the trees down from old-growth forests - they grow them on farms. In rows. Like carrots. Or roses. So, if you think buying veggies and flowers is bad, then I guess it makes sense. Otherwise, I don't get it.

the problem with tree farms..."we plant two trees for every one we cut down" is that they are typically planting in rows and without diversity and they mow between them. So the outcome is a very productive tree farm but essentially no biodiversity. not so environmentally friendly.

[allgirls]

I have a fake tree. I thought I was doing the right thing at the time, bought a great, pre-lit with the bulbs that are energy efficient, regular price was over $700 and got it for $199 after Christmas.

Since I already have it I will keep it forever but we always used real. I am really allergic to them and at the time when I bought my fake I had a cat who always peed under the real tree. He never peed under the fake one: After Christmas last year though we had him put down(he was 17 and sick)

So too late for me but if I were to make the choice now I would buy a real tree every year from a local farm. I think that would be the right choice. I just wouldn't touch the tree and let the kids decorate it etc.

[Ravin]

I would have no qualms about using a cut tree. They're grown on farms for that purpose, after all. It's not like we're clear-cutting untouched wilderland for our holiday trees, plus I could use it for firewood when we camp in February.

That said, DH is allergic to pretty much any kind of live evergreen, plus we live in the desert and they tend to get dried out no matter HOW MUCH water you feed them because humidity is pretty low this time of year.

I have a fake one that's maybe 4-5 yr.s old that I got at Target. We'll keep using it for a while. No one's allowed to chew on it and I vacuum thoroughly after I take it down.

Once we own a home, I hope to be able to plant a live tree in the backyard that we can decorate year after year.

[KermitMissesJim]

While we have all these little ones, we're going to stick to fake. Once we determine that no one is allergic and everyone is old enough to respect the tree and help us with it, we may go real. Ours has LED lights but didn't cost a fortune. I need the low maintenance right now.

[queendom lady]

I don't know where you live but here in Vermont going out and chopping down your own tree is as big a ritual as opening presents. Ok, so I'm exaggerating but it's really, really fun. IMO. Try it out, it's a great way to get out in the cold and do something festive. At the end of the season we put our trees in our lawn-compost pile in the back corner of the yard and sometimes burn them on the summer solstice in a big bonfire!

[BlueStateMama]

I just read the green way to go in Newsweek (in order of environmental friendliness)

1) Decorate an existing tree outside
2) get a live tree in a container - you'd need to learn how to care for and transition it outside after Christmas
3) real tree from a tree farm
4) fake tree is least desirable - petroleum based and they end up in landfills

I used it to steer DH away from a fake tree - I grew up with real ones and he had an artificial one.

[boingo82]

Originally Posted by Laggie

I've never understood why people think having a real tree isn't environmentally friendly. It's not as if they go and chop the trees down from old-growth forests - they grow them on farms. In rows. Like carrots. Or roses. So, if you think buying veggies and flowers is bad, then I guess it makes sense. Otherwise, I don't get it.

And I LOOOVE the smell of a real tree. If I had to get a fake one, it would have to be one of those ridiculous fiber optic trees or something, so I wouldn't feel cheated.

Because they mostly get thrown out after the holiday? It seems murderous and wasteful somehow.

That said, we are getting a "real" tree this year. For one, we have a big front window w/ no furniture in front of it. We HAVE to put some sort of tree there. And two is that there is nowhere we could store a fake tree in this house. Three is that fake trees cost more.

[wonderwahine]

i like fake, its not christmas unless its fake. We never did real in new zealand, why start now.

plus, a pine tree isnt my natural christmas tree, a pohutukawa tree is, and theres no way I'm going to see one here. Also, cutting down a tree every year just for christmas squigs me out, i dont like doing that. and pine is stinky, and sticky, and the needles! way to much work.

[Aufilia]

We always buy a real tree. It's from a tree farm anyhow -- it's not like someone's actually cut it down out of the forest. Our garbage/recycling/yard waste company picks up real trees after Christmas and mulches them for compost.

We did try a potted tree one year but really, how many years' worth of Christmas trees do you have room for in your yard? And it died anyhow, so it also got turned into compost.

My only problem with real trees is spiders. Once a few years ago a spider crawled out of our tree and eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek. But still, it's not Christmas without a nice pine-smelling tree in the house, and I think DD is going to love going out to the tree farm this year.

[gottaknit]

I think the only time a fake tree (or no tree) is the more "green" option is when you live somewhere like the desert and the trees are trucked in. Since we live in the Christmas tree capitol of the US, I have no problem with farmed trees. They're right outside our door practically. The land is zoned agricultural use, so it's either trees or grass seed, and I'm allergic to the grasses.

Even better is getting a permit to cut a tree in the forest on public lands (which are essentially giant tree farms anyway). We make a day of it, go for a hike, have a picnic in the car, cut down a tree.... It's fun.

Most of the trees grown here end up being shipped to California, Arizona, New Mexico... Buying Christmas trees that have travelled from another state just seems wrong to me. :