Just as there is no definite answer to the venerable “real vs fake” Christmas tree dispute, almost all environmentalists (including tree huggers) would concur that real trees are best, at least from a personal and public viewpoint. Some people may create a case for fake trees since they are salvaged each year, therefore they don’t produce a waste of their real equivalents. However, fake trees are produced with PVC (polyvinyl chloride, aka vinyl), one of the most ecologically insulting forms of non-renewable plastic originating from plastic.

Fake Christmas Trees & its Relation to Cancer

In addition, a couple of recognized carcinogens like dioxin, vinyl chloride and ethylene dichloride are produced throughout the creation of PVC, contaminating neighborhoods found along factory sites. A lot of these factory sites are located in China, where 85% of the fake trees sold in American stores come from. Labor principles do not properly safeguard workers from the hazardous toxins they deal with.

Fake Christmas Trees & Additional Health Issues

Aside from PVS, fake trees have lead and other chemicals used to make the otherwise unbending PVC more impressionable. Sadly, a lot of these chemicals are associated with kidney, neurological, liver and reproductive system injuries in laboratory research on animals. The Children’s Health Environmental Coalition cautions that fake trees “may shed lead-laced dust, which may cover branches or shower gifts and the floor below the tree.” Thus, take notice of the label on your fake tree, which will inform you of evading the inhalation or consumption of dust or loose parts.

The Downsides to Real Christmas Trees

The main shortcoming of real Christmas trees is that, since they are farmed as agrarian items, they usually need recurrent applications of insecticides on their archetypal 8-year lifespans. Thus, as they are growing, and as soon as they are tossed out, they might add to the pollution of regional watersheds. Aside from the run-off problem, the vast amount of trees that are thrown out after each holiday could prove a major waste problem for municipalities that are not ready to mulch them as compost.

The Advantages & Care for Living Christmas Trees

The most sustainable means by which to benefit from a Christmas tree is to purchase a live tree with its roots unharmed from a local planter, and then replant it in your backyard as soon as the holiday is over. On the other hand, because trees remain inactive in the winter season, living trees need to have just a week indoors, unless they “wake up” and start growing again in the house. If this should occur, there is a sizable possibility that the tree won’t survive as soon as it has gone back to the cold winter outdoors and replanted.

I love Christmas and Christmas trees. I grew up with a natural one, a real one I’d go buy with my parents every year. We’d decorate it, and then after the holidays we’d take it down and basically throw it away. There is no beating a real tree as nothing else will have that wonderful aroma, and quite honestly back then the artificial ones were not as good as they are today.

Today I’m a big fan of artificial trees! They have come so far and there are so many options. Here are my top five reasons I live artificial trees.

1) No mess or fuss. An artificial tree does not drop needles that need constant vacuuming. There is no need to water it daily. Also the “straightening the tree” ritual is either enormously simplified or gone; many come with a build in stand that needs to adjustment.

2) I hate the idea of killing a tree for vanity. Sure, pines of various types are not remotely endangered, and most are probably farmed and quite sustainable, but I simply don’t like the idea of killing something I’m not going to eat in order to celebrate. Your mileage may vary here.

3) Flexibility. There are artificials that resemble Monroe Pines, Aberdeen Pines, Whitney Firs, and more, and they are very realistic and convincing! And of course we have various colored ones that are obviously fake, like the classic silver/aluminum, red, blue and more. They come from small table top versions to 18 foot and taller! And of course you can reuse then year after year.

I admit I love natural trees, and we usually get one. However for flexibility and ease of use it’s hard to beat an artificial tree.