The age old debate, Fake V.S. Real trees.... Cut down V.S. Tree lot bought!!!!

Pre-Cut Trees
 Now for me personally I have always thought that if you are going to have a tree buying from a lot from the millions of trees already cut down was your best bet.  Wouldn't that be worse for planet cutting more when there are already so many...  Little did I know how many are being cut for no reason, they never get sold they just die on a Christmas tree lot..  I am pretty sure that is not a good thing..  The obvious advantage of a pre-cut tree is convenience. There are always hundreds to choose from. The retailer will make a clean cut on the trunk for you and they will usually wrap the tree in plastic mesh, making it easier to get into the house and to set up in the stand.

"But at a place like a Christmas tree farm where many trees of the same species are competing for space, thinning them by cutting one here and there is good for the rest,"It's like thinning a row of carrots in a garden so the ones left will grow better."

The down side to pre-cut trees is that they were probably cut weeks before they appear at nurseries in your area, which is often weeks before Christmas. You are also usually limited as to variety of tree, the bulk of pre-cut trees being some type of balsam. If you are set on a particular variety of evergreen, such as a Douglas Fir, you may have to pay top dollar.

Finally, the draw back to both pre-cut and cut your own trees is that they are dead and so they are slowing drying out and dropping needles all over your floor and your presents. And the drier they get, the more of a fire hazard they are.

Cutting Your Own

I am now a believer that if everyone cut their own tree each year, it would be better for the planet...  Taking what we need (instead of the norm for Americans in every aspect of our lives)  take to much and waste...  Cutting your own Christmas tree means your tree will be fresh. It should retain its needles longer than a pre-cut tree and will probably even add more evergreen scent to your home. Most tree farm specialize in tree varieties that grow well in their area and can be sheared into the classic Christmas tree conical shape. This means you might not have a vast choice of tree types, but your tree should be healthy and well cared for.

 There are other benefits to cutting your own tree for Christmas. By making it a family event, for example, parents have an opportunity to teach their children about how trees grow and why they are valuable for everyone. Then a Christmas tree can be something to cherish for its own sake, not just a prop for ornaments and presents.

 This year was our first year cutting our own and I am amazed at how many of my preconceived notions about the activity were false..  I was not aware that most of the tree farms use Eco Friendly Harvesting! "Stump culturing" which allows a new tree to grow from the same base you cut your tree from. Branches left on the stump are nurtured all year long, turning upward to form new trees. The McGee family takes great pride in this labor intensive process - your Christmas Tree is a RENEWABLE resource!  If you are in the Sacramento area this is such a adorable place to take the kids, it borders a great apple hill orchard and a winery, (a winery that lets you buy a glass of wine to drink when you are roughing it on the farm) I know it made my time a tad funner ;)

http://mcgeechristmastreefarm.com/

Fakers

While there is no crystal clear answer to the age-old “real versus fake” Christmas tree debate, most environmentalists, “tree huggers” among them, would agree that real trees are the better choice, at least from a personal and public health standpoint. Some might make a case for fake trees, because they are re-used every year and thus don’t generate the waste of their real counterparts. But fake trees are made with polyvinyl chloride (or PVC, otherwise known as vinyl), one of the most environmentally offensive forms of non-renewable, petroleum-derived plastic. 

Here are some more facts :

PVC itself is a dangerous chemical, 85% of the trees are made in China,  All of the accumulated fake trees are a burden to the environment indefinitely, Manufacture of PVC creates and disperses dioxins, the most toxic man-made chemical known, Released into air or water, dioxins enter the food chain, where they accumulate in fatty tissues of animals and humans, a potential risk for causing cancer, damaging immune functions and impairing children's development....

 So although I myself was begging and pleading to my husband last year that I want a fake tree, now I am not as sure...  I know I would be using it for a pretty long time, but then what would happen to it?   Will it every smell as delectable as a real one?  Of course not!!!!   ;)....

To sum it up I feel that if more of us just cut our own trees then less tree lots would be around.....  Ya know the whole supply and demand thing.....  So we might as well make small strides and go cut our own if we are going to have a real tree...  The carbon foot print for millions of Christmas trees being cut and then hauled around the country is far worse then if we just drove ourselves and cut down what we could afford and needed.....   Now I realize that  probably won't happen because we are overworked Americans and what is more convenient always seems to win out over what might be right for the planet so I should just surrender the fantasy...   But a girl could dream...

More info about the debate........

 http://www.care2.com/greenliving/green-christmas-trees.html

Great place to get the facts !!!!!   http://www.christmastree.org/debate.cfm

 If you have any questions or more thought provoking facts please comment below..... And tread lightly!!!!