Around here, christmas trees are grown as a crop, just on a long rotation. There's a dude a half mile down the road that has about a hundred put out on his land, just growing them instead of letting his goats on it. Some tree farms are pretty huge. Sustainable? Yeah, kind of. It's not really forestry, not even exactly silviculture, though it technically probably falls in there. They are not cutting forests, except maybe in the first place to put out the monoculture. Not, perhaps, the best use of land; but definitely not the worst, either. I don't personally get cut trees, usually. I love trees. I mean, really. Don't get me started. But, I don't think people should feel too bad about getting a tree. At this point, I think the demand is pretty level and that there are not large new areas being cleared to supply the industrial christian world's insatiable appetite for little pointy trees. A full-grown forest would be ecologically better for the land, but christmas trees are better at carbon sequestration than, say, corn.
In the states, most municipalities that collect trees turn them into mulch, which is excellent use of the debris.
Overall, plastic may be better, it's a small amount of petrochemicals to make and maybe more to transport and it's a one time thing with useless debris.
God. Why am I going on about this?
Happy holidays, everyone! |
