Whats more environmentally friendly: having a real Christmas tree or an artificial Christmas tree?
The space used to grow christmas trees could be turned into a natural forest where mature trees eventually dominate. Such natural forests are greater carbon sinks then forestry plantations and have near zero pollutant costs. Compare that with your managed trees which require weeding operations, checks for pests and diseases, and of course felling and removal of stumps, waste wood etc. Collecting the real tree also requires an extra trip to pick it up whereas artificial ones can be bought at a shopping centre and are lighter and collapsable so can also be picked up in a smaller vehicle. The real tree after christmas then needs to be picked up and disposed of, most likely using a chipper which eats up power, produces pollutants etc. It’s not a green solution, it’s main advantage lying soley in the fresh pine smell of the tree over christmas and some people don’t like the look of artificial trees – yet both still get covered in tinsel etc (probably produced in the same factory that makes
