Every year, Americans start decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. What one of the main concerns is getting the Christmas tree. Should they get a real one or a fake one? While getting a real one chops down trees, they're actually replenished 5-10 years before. For every tree sold, there are about 2 or 3 more being planted and grown. Real christmas trees are grown with pesticides, like any other thing grown in America. While the pesticides can kill animals, we dont usually get harmed by them. As far as disposal? you can turn your christmas tree into mulch, or even build something from it. Some people who live near a body of water will dump there tree into the water. Is it bad? No,its not. Dumping your real tree into the water gives aquatic animals a place to live. they can also lay their eggs there, and it can prevent predators from eating them. Artificial trees, however, are much different. theyre made with PVC's and even lead. Some fake trees have a wooden center pole. In 2004, the U.S. Department of Agriculture placed a quarantine on fake trees from China, which had a potentially harmful beetle in the center pole. When they were first sold, fake trees were invented by a company who made toilet bowl brushes, the Addis Brush Company. Regardless of how far the technology has come, it's still interesting to know the first fake Christmas trees were really just big green toilet bowl brushes. And According to the Children'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's development.
So are fake trees better? NO. especially when it comes to disposal and health hazards.
I agree. Natural grown Christmas trees Gould be used apparently by the reasons listed. Every year my family gos out to get a a Christmas tree. Once the Christmas season is over we send the tree to get chopped up to use for wood chips. I also know many people who toss their trees in the lake.
ReplyDeleteFor all my life I have always had a fake christmas tree and I never knew the harmful effects of it. Let alone what it is actually made out of. This year would be my first year getting a real Christmas tree and will all mulch/woodchip company's accept all trees that are given to them? Also, is it always good to dump trees in the lake? Wouldn't that way of disposal be bad for the environment at one point?
ReplyDeleteI think this is interesting because most of us dont think twice about a real tree, or a fake one? The decision is usually made based on how much time you have or simple factors like that. I'm glad now that I can base my decision off more important issues.
ReplyDeleteI always thought that real trees were better than fake ones. But I never did know all of the harmful effects that the fake trees did have. And the real trees are really easy to dispose of and aren't harmful. We normally throw ours into the lake after Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI never knew that the real christmas trees were actually better we have always used a fake one. It kinda makes me sick to know of all the harmful affect of the fake ones. And to know about what they are made of makes me sad. ALTHOUGH, I don't think that this will affect my parents decision in a fake Christmas tree but it will affect my decision when I get old enough to but one for my own house.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Carley, I've always had real Christmas trees but never thought that fake ones were that bad. My aunt and uncle own a Christmas tree farm and they are always willing to let people know what to do with their Christmas trees when they are through with them. If more people took this approach we'd be on our way to a greener world.
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