Environmental Issues

Why Buy A Real Christmas Tree

About forty million real Christmas trees are sold in North America every year. Of these, five to six million are grown in Canada. A real Christmas tree is part of the Christmas tradition and contributes to making Christmas a real and meaningful experience.

Many are said to be using artificial trees to save our forests. The truth is, however, that almost all trees harvested in Canada are grown on Christmas tree farms. Thanks to the annual demand for Christmas trees, thousands of acres of otherwise unfarmed land is being farmed. Indeed, Christmas tree farms are most often located on land which could not be used to grow other farm products (these farms are on barren slopes or under power lines). In addition, for each tree harvested, about ten others are being grown on farms to prepare for the next ten harvest seasons.

Most Christmas trees in Canada are produced from tree seeds put in seed beds for a period of two years before they are moved to transplant beds. The transplants remain in the transplant bed for a period of three years. They are then moved into Christmas tree farms. It will then take between 7 and 10 years before the trees reach 2 metres and are therefore ready to be harvested.

In some regions, mostly in Nova Scotia, Christmas trees are cultivated in natural stands; « Mother » trees continually replenish seedlings where mature trees have been harvested.

Christmas trees have positive effects on the environment:

  1. they produce oxygen and rid the air of carbon dioxide, thereby reducing the earth-warming greenhouse effect;(1)

  2. they improve soil stability;

  3. they provide an aesthetically pleasing improvement to the land and bring value to portions of land which could not be used to grow other crops;

  4. they serve as wildlife habitat;(2)

  5. they are naturally biodegradable; and

  6. they are a renewable resource.
(1) Christmas trees eliminate the carbon dioxide created by the use of fossil fuels. Indeed, a one acre Christmas tree plantation can remove up to 13,000 kg of airborne pollutants per year.

(2) Christmas tree farms are havens for a wide variety of birds and other animals.

For their part, artificial trees are manufactured from PVC, plastic and metal - i.e. environmentally damaging and non-renewable resources. Further, upon their disposal, artificial Christmas trees pollute our landfill sites for centuries to come as they are not biodegradable (i.e. cannot be broken down naturally). Considering that the average life span of an artificial tree is only six years, one can imagine the enormous damage to the environment done by artificial Christmas trees.

Further, real Christmas trees are grown at home and have a positive effect on Canada's employment and economy.



People's Concern

Many people wrongly believe that a Christmas tree can be the cause of a fire. Of course, this can't be true. A Christmas tree which is well cared for will remain fresh and will not catch fire unless a strong flame supported by inflamable material is placed under the tree. In fact, there were examples of houses which burned completely while having a real Christmas tree which did not even catch fire. For their part, artificial trees do catch fire and, when they do, they emanate dangerous toxic fumes.

Other people have mentioned that real Christmas tree dry up and leave needles on their carpets after the Christmas season is over. Fresh trees don't shed needles. Kept in water, it is not unusual for Christmas trees to last two months or more in your home shedding very few needles.

Finally, many are of the opinion that Christmas trees unduly fill landfill sites after Christmas? NO! Most municipalities collect discarded natural Christmas trees and chip them for use as mulching materials. Real Christmas trees are completely biogradable and will, on their own, break down and return their stored nutrients to the soil from which they came.



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