Sugarplums and Monocultures
Much like always obtaining a plastic bag when making a retail purchase, buying, mounting and decorating a fir or spruce tree during the month of December is a tradition for millions of people. I find Christmas trees to be among the most festive aspects of the holiday season each year. So, don’t worry, I will not advocate that we dispense with them. However, there are important steps we can take to choose sustainable Christmas trees so as to minimize the damage to the environment, especially in light of the importance of maintaining our global tree canopy as I have explained many times.
The first and most significant question is that of a natural tree or a plastic one. As I shared back in January, the plastic Christmas tree in the Kroehler household is decades old and shows its age. Nevertheless, through simple mathematics, we know that literally dozens of natural trees have been left alive because we have an artificial tree. So, this alternative to natural trees is better if you can reuse it for many years.
If you are compelled to use the real thing, aim for an organic tree. Unlike organic food, which focuses mostly on the lack of pesticides, organic/sustainable Christmas trees are grown in diverse forests, rather than the other way which often takes wooded areas with a variety of tree species growing on them and flattens them in favor of growing a single type of tree. While better for the air than chopping down trees and never replacing them, this method of growing Christmas trees in the absence of all other species, known as a monoculture, is hard on the environment.
You see, Christmas trees which are allowed to grow and thrive in the forest perform an important role in the environment, just like other trees. They provide shade. They fertilize the soil. They retain water and deflect wind and rain-born erosion. The list of benefits to the environment goes on. That’s why organic/sustainable Christmas trees are so important and why you should consider investing the effort in finding a vendor who sells them rather than factory-style arbors.
Fomenting the Triple Bottom Line
Corbett Kroehler
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