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What's the environmentally preferable choice: A real Christmas tree or a faux one?

Sure, you can use a fake tree over and over again, but do you really want something made of PVC in your home over and over again? Matt Hickman investigates.

By Matt HickmanMon, Dec 07 2009 at 6:20 AM EST
 8

Q: My wife and I finally bought the (foreclosed) home of our dreams and moved out of our cramped studio apartment in the city. Then, two months later, we welcomed our first child into the world, a beautiful baby boy. It’s been a busy year, to say the least. In our old place, which was about the size of a freight elevator, there was no room for a Christmas tree (let alone a baby) as much as we wanted one. Now, with the space to spare and the little one, we want to do the holidays right and get a tree. My wife grew up with an artificial one, and I grew up with the real deal. We’re both stubborn holiday traditionalists and have been butting heads over the issue. So we compromised and decided that we’re going to go with the choice that’s better for the planet and healthier for our new addition. Any thoughts? Are there such things as organic Christmas trees?
 
A: Ah, the evergreen (in more ways than one) dead vs. fake Christmas tree conundrum. First off, while there are eco perks and drawbacks to both artificial and live Christmas trees, it looks like your wish may come true this Christmas … I suggest going with the real deal.
 
But hold on to your holiday horses. Before jumping in the car and venturing out to a cut-your-own tree farm (the preference of about 23 percent of Americans) or to a pop-up tree shoppe in a supermarket parking lot, I want to share a few thoughts on “keeping it real.”
 
The downsides to real Christmas trees revolve mostly around, as you may have guessed, conventional, pesticide-based agriculture. Despite the trees’ seasonality, Christmas tree farming is a massive operation and to keep the trees healthy, beautiful and pest-free, agricultural chemicals are employed. Since they’re dosed in chemicals during their lifespan, watershed pollution from contaminated runoff and erosion is a legitimate concern.
 
But, to answer your question, yes, there are indeed organic tree farms out there that eschew the use of agrichemicals and observe sustainable tree farming methods. Many are even USDA-certified. I recommend perusing LocalHarvest or Green Promise to see if there’s one near you. It might be trickier finding an intown tree lot that specializes in sustainable spruces, but they are out there. I know that in my neck of the woods in Brooklyn, a Vermont-based organic tree farm called Green in Vermont has a popular seasonal presence.
 
I should also point out that during their short lifespan, Christmas trees (remember, they’re farmed as a crop, not plucked from the wild, so don’t let your wife give you grief about that) do a bang-up job of sucking up air pollution. It’s estimated that each tree — between 40 million and 45 million were planted in 2008 — sequesters anywhere from 30 to 400 pounds of CO2 annually. Not too shabby even though a lifecycle analysis report — commissioned, unsurprisingly, by an artificial Christmas tree industry trade group, the American Christmas Tree Association — concluded that an average artificial tree has a smaller carbon footprint than an average farm-grown tree.
 
Before I move on to why real trees are preferable to faux ones, the issue of waste should be addressed. As you know with fake trees, messy, temporary, wastefulness just doesn’t exist unless, god forbid, you’re switching up new ones every year. To ease the pressure on overwhelmed municipality waste collection services, you can actually recycle a discarded real tree. Not sure if you’re compost savvy in your new digs yet but that’s the best way (you need to mulch it first; don’t just throw a whole tree into your compost pile) to avoid hauling it the curb. If the tree is dry, you can also use it for firewood.
 
OK, so here’s the reason why real trees are better (pay attention so you can recite this to your wife): Artificial trees, the more popular choice for Americans in recent years, are usually made from PVC, the most eco-egregious type of non-renewable, petroleum-based plastic. PVC, from an environmental standpoint, is the pits. Most are also made in Chinese factories; in 2006, an estimated 13 million fake plastic trees were shipped from China to the U.S. 
 
And since you’re looking out for the well-being of your new addition, it’s worth noting that vinyl trees are treated with all sorts of chemical additives that aren’t exactly kid- or pet-friendly. Concern is particularly strong over the fact that artificial trees can shed a lead-based dust … not exactly something you want Junior to inhale as he crawls under the tree on his first Xmas.
 
So there you go, Clark. In defense of vinyl trees, your wife might go for the “they’re less wasteful, easier to store and handle, and cleaner” argument … all good points and all true. But remember, organic Christmas trees do exist, they can be recycled, they support American agriculture instead of Chinese industrialism, and they won’t knock a few points off of Junior’s IQ if he sniffs one. With a little foresight, you can’t go wrong with the real thing. Merry Merry.
 
Also on MNN:
 
Got a question? Submit a question to Mother Nature and one of our many experts will track down the answer. Plus: Visit our advice archives to see if your question has already been tackled.
 
Photo: DNY59/iStockphoto
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Related Topics: Christmas, Forests & Trees, Organic Farming, Organic Products, Plastics, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

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anonymous
highlandhen 12/07/2011 19:22 PM

I live in the mountains of NC, where Fraser Fir farming is an important local farming business. I'm all for going natural for the same reasons @Matt Hickman outlines but I have a couple more positive points. There is nothing like the smell of a live tree to lift your spirits in the dark days of winter. Recycling trees is, at least here, very easy to accomplish. Recycled tree mulch is excellent. There are negatives to going with plantable trees with roots. The mountains where these trees grow.... More

catherineturley
catherineturley 12/07/2011 16:00 PM

yes anna! no more mindless destruction of valuable, living gifts of nature. rent a living tree. in southern california, you can get delivery and pick up from livingchristmas.com there are many other companies around the country, so do a quick search.

aucklandecofarm
aucklandecofarm 12/07/2011 15:01 PM

Yes, I also like the idea of a live tree which you could plant out after Christmas. You'd have to watch it receives enough light while it was inside though! In NZ we are fortunate to have our ["self-decorating"] as-I-call-them !! Christmas tree...the Pohutukawa, with their vibrant red flowers. They are already in-bloom. (it is summer down here!!). We have a huge one which was planted by my husband's mother when she first came to our farm in 1922. (We sprinkled her.... More

anonymous
htinnaro 12/07/2011 11:21 AM

i also have a tiny house, so we get an organic rosemary topiary and decorate with tiny origami cranes and ribbons and other little things. it is very cute and makes the house smell almost as lovely as pine.

anonymous
htinnaro 12/07/2011 11:19 AM

please don't burn that christmas tree in your fireplace or wood stove. they are VERY full of sap that becomes a lot of flammable creosote in the chimney. too much creosote and a good hot fire are a recipe for a chimney fire that can take the house down. no christmas trees in indoor fires, please. (outdoors, they are fine.)

anonymous
Anna 12/06/2011 17:55 PM

What about getting a live tree that you can plant in your new yard after the holidays instead of cutting one down? You will always look back and remember that first Christmas in your new house not to mention you won't be killing a tree! Seems to me that could possibly be the best thing for the plant (especially if it comes from an organic farm) which makes me wonder why it wasn't mentioned in the article?

anonymous
James McCarthy 12/07/2009 12:23 PM

Sorry about my lapse in linking skills. Let me do that one more time.
Recycled cardboard x-mas tree: http://bit.ly/7TfLdx

anonymous
James McCarthy 12/07/2009 12:20 PM

I saw a how-to video demonstrating how to create a spiral Christmas tree out of recycled cardboard at the bottom of this post http://bit.ly/7TfLdx...I like the idea of repurposing something that's already out in the world of consumerism rather than killing a tree to use for just a few weeks time. Repurposing tomato cages as x-mas trees is also a cool idea .... More

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