{"id":3906,"date":"2008-12-05T13:14:14","date_gmt":"2008-12-05T19:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=3906"},"modified":"2008-12-05T13:14:14","modified_gmt":"2008-12-05T19:14:14","slug":"how-to-find-a-locally-grown-christmas-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/how-to-find-a-locally-grown-christmas-tree\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Find a Locally Grown Christmas Tree"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/files\/2008\/12\/cutting-christmas-tree.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-3907\" src=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/files\/2008\/12\/cutting-christmas-tree.jpg\" alt=\"chistmas tree farm\" width=\"240\" height=\"240\" \/><\/a>Last month, I did a little research to find out if I was breaking any &#8220;green laws&#8221; with my yearly real Christmas tree. It may seem counter-intuitive, but I discovered that many environmentalists are pro-real Christmas trees over artificial trees. Why is it considered more environmentally friendly to cut down trees than have an artificial tree that can be used year after year?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> Most Christmas trees are grown on tree farms &#8211; they are considered an agricultural product. They are sustainable, and for each tree that is cut, at least one more tree is planted.<\/li>\n<li>Tree farms are usually planted on soil that doesn&#8217;t support other types of agriculture.<br \/>\nIn the US there are about 1 million acres dedicated to tree farming. Each acre provides enough oxygen for 18 people.<!--more--><\/li>\n<li>Tree farms reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air and help counter-balance this global warming thing we keep hearing about.<\/li>\n<li>Real trees are easily recycled. Many communities offer curbside pick up in the weeks following Christmas and turn the trees into mulch.<\/li>\n<li>Every state in the U.S. grows Christmas trees. It is possible to get a tree that is locally grown.<\/li>\n<li>Unless you&#8217;re allergic to them, real Christmas trees are better for your family&#8217;s health once they are inside the home. Fake Christmas trees contain PVC.  &#8220;According to the Children&#8217;s Health Environmental Coalition, the manufacture of PVC creates and disperses dioxins, which include the most toxic man-made chemical known. Released into air or water, dioxins enter the food chain, where they accumulate in fatty tissues of animals and humans, a potential risk for causing cancer, damaging immune functions and impairing children&#8217;s development.&#8221; (source &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.christmastree.org\/faketrees.cfm\" target=\"_blank\">christmastree.org<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>Fake Christmas trees are not recyclable and will sit for hundreds of years in a landfill leaching PVC, lead and other contaminants into the soil.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This was enough to convince me that a real tree is the way to go, but this year, I&#8217;m going to make sure that our Christmas tree is local. In years past, we&#8217;ve gone the convenient route of running to the local big box home improvement store&#8217;s gardening department for our tree. The store may be in our town, but the trees sold in them aren&#8217;t always local. They could be shipped from anywhere in the country. A tree shipped from far away means a big carbon footprint for our Christmas tree.<\/p>\n<p>So, how can you make sure your tree is local? I see two ways.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Ask. If you are going to a tree lot, ask where the trees originated. If you&#8217;re comfortable with the miles they have traveled, go ahead and buy from the tree lot.<\/li>\n<li>Buy directly from a local tree farm. I found two convenient resources for finding tree farms throughout the U.S. Both <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gardens.com\/go\/browse\/christmastrees\/\" target=\"_blank\">Gardens.com<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.christmas-tree.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Christmas Tree Farm Network<\/a> allow you to search by state for local tree farms.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>If you do go the route of buying a real tree, make sure that you dispose of it properly. If your community doesn&#8217;t offer a curbside pick-up that will take the tree to be turned into mulch or compost, go to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.christmastree.org\/recycle_program.cfm\" target=\"_blank\">National Christmas Tree Association<\/a> to find out where you can take it.<\/p>\n<p>Image courtesy of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/jagwired\/\" target=\"_blank\">Jagwired<\/a> on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/jagwired\/2064649902\/\" target=\"_blank\">flickr<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last month, I did a little research to find out if I was breaking any &#8220;green laws&#8221; with my yearly real Christmas tree. It may seem counter-intuitive, but I discovered&nbsp;[ &hellip; ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":3907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[2153,2154,2155,2156],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Find a Locally Grown Christmas Tree &#8226; Sustainablog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/how-to-find-a-locally-grown-christmas-tree\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Find a Locally Grown Christmas Tree &#8226; Sustainablog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last month, I did a little research to find out if I was breaking any &#8220;green laws&#8221; with my yearly real Christmas tree. 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