Reporter Kristina Rex from WBZ (CBS Boston) stopped by my office yesterday so I could weigh in on which are more eco-friendly: real or fake Christmas trees?
It takes about 10 years to grow a real tree, and during that time they are taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and generating nice clean, breathable oxygen. Christmas tree farms are exactly that – farms! They are meant to be harvested and replanted. While growing, in addition to cleaning the air, they provide habitats for wildlife. Just make sure to recycle or replant your real Christmas trees when you’re done with them! Recycled Christmas trees are often turned into mulch or sometimes dropped in bodies of water to create habitats for fish!
Production and transportation of artificial trees has a much higher carbon footprint than that of a real tree. Fake trees are made from metal and petroleum and will never degrade and will likely end up in landfills. If somebody already has an artificial tree, that’s totally fine (me too!), but a way to make it more sustainable is to just keep re-using it every year as long as you can (ideally 5-10 years).
Whichever type of tree you have, using energy saving LED lights and turning them off when not in use or putting them on a timer also helps with energy consumption and the environment.
I am also extremely pleased that my pals Baldwin the Eagle and Taylor Swift made it into the shot. Do you see them?
Happy holidays everyone!