By Kaylee Gabalis ‘27
The Christmas Season is typically characterized by big, bushy Christmas trees covered in colorful ornaments. However, people seem split over whether real trees or fake trees are the way to go. Even though in many ways it can seem worse for the environment to cut a real tree down, is this necessarily true? Is buying a fake tree made of plastic actually better for the environment? What is the benefit of either of these trees and do the cons sometimes outway the pros?
For real trees, there are many notable pros to discuss, such as how real tree farms take up space that would otherwise be used for things like factories or parking lots. Using this space to grow these trees already makes the amount of oxygen needed for 18 people everyday from just one acre.
Additionally, all these trees are biodegradable and can be used for other purposes after being cut down, such as kindling. Not to mention buying your own Christmas tree helps to support the small farms in your area instead of giving more money to big corporations.
Even cutting down your tree doesn’t have much of an effect as when one tree is cut down, it’s immediately replaced by another. Christmas trees are capable of growing in extremely acidic soil, giving purpose to plots of land that would normally not be usable for other plants. On its own, one tree can take out about one ton of carbon from the atmosphere in its lifetime and with over 350 million trees growing at any time, you can imagine the benefits. Christmas tree farms also help employ about 100,000 people each year which greatly supports our economy.
There is also the fact that Christmas trees just make it feel like Christmas. They fill the house with their earthy scent and create long lasting memories of picking out trees each year.
Along with these pros, there is also a notable amount of cons for having a real tree as well. To start, real trees–especially when dried out– present a high risk for fires within the home. These trees also drop a lot of pine needles and add allergens to the air that can give some people allergies. There might be some environmental benefits to buying your own tree, but there is also the factor that the pesticides used to grow such trees can be very harmful to the environment if they flow into oceans and lakes. They can also be a very big burden to bring home and set up, especially depending on how far the tree farm is from your house. Even with all of this, the most notable inconvenience is the cost. Real trees must be repurchased every year and in many ways it can feel like throwing money into the trash can. With the price of these trees increasing every year, only about 21% of Americans still purchase real trees, dropping from the prior amount of 45 %. This leaves a significant chunk of Americans who celebrate Christmas with fake trees instead.
Artificial trees aren’t all bad though, and there can be many upsides to having a fake tree. Such examples include the fact that they can save you a lot of money over time. If an artificial tree lasts about 7-9 years, they rack up a much smaller bill than buying a real tree every single year as it’s a one time cost. These trees are also substantially easier to set up and don’t make a mess of pine needles all over the house. There is no watering necessary for these trees which can get tedious at times and they dont require you to have to worry about fires or bugs. These trees are also an option for people who are highly sensitive to tree allergins as they dont let off any.
Just the same as real trees, artificial trees also have their cons, most noticeably involving the environment. Fake trees let off copious amounts of carbon into the air during manufacturing and their production consumes vast amounts of oil and fuel both of which are a fleeting recourse. These trees are made with many very harmful products that can take 500+ years to degrade in the environment. Buying these trees also puts more money into the pockets of big corporations. Instead of supporting a small business, you’re supporting a company that is already drowning in money. These trees are also a hassle to store and take up a lot of space.
There are pros and cons to both kinds of trees, so in the end, it’s really your choice on what you think is a better fit for your family. Whatever kind of tree you decide to embrace this season, it will certainly bring the warm feeling of Holiday joy along with it!
Image credit: Inforum
