Second burning question for a Monday morning

[siglinde99]

How do you define sustainable?

A friend started a survey on facebook this morning about artificial vs real trees. I said real because it is a more sustainable optionm They are farmed, and composted for use in city gardens here. I can drive to a local tree farm which supports a local farmer though it burns a bit of gas, or I can walk to the grocery store and drag one that was farmed in New Brunswick home. The New Brunswick tree supports farmers there, and the tree's share of gas to ship it here probably isn't much more than what I used to get to the local farm. Still, it is a monoculture, and I'm not willing to drive to my cottage property to cut down one of my own trees from the mixed forest (more gas, not to mention the high risk of getting stuck on an unploughed road).

A few posts later, someone said they used artificial because it is the sustainable choice. Sure, they get re-used, but I think they are made from on-renewable and non-composted materials. Has the technology changed? Am I missing something?

Posted via m.livejournal.com.

Comments

[con-girl.livejournal.com]

My grandfather farmed trees but I have an artificial tree.

I had one xmas tree for years. I replaced it this year because I wanted a different one and will likely give the first one away.

I have never seen a good comparison of the environmental harm of one verses another. My largest concern with live trees from a environmental perspective is the herbicides and pesticides used (at one time delivered by plane in the larger operations, don't know if they still do). Monoculture is just that - the amount of wildlife in those areas is also very much lessened. I wouldn't be surprised that live trees could be more sustainable than artificial. I doubt however, that they are (overall, that is) and my honest guess is that they are about equal.

The reason I prefer an artificial tree is that I don't want to celebrate life and family with a tree slowly and unnecessarily dying in my living room. But I don't have cut flowers, either. And I'm often away from home for part of the season.

An artificial tree is much safer.

[reyl.livejournal.com]

Tree farms are sustainable compared to finite metal and plastic resources for fake trees. But sustainable doesn't always mean good for the environment. How good is farmed forest vs. natural forest? Is increased demand on farming trees a good thing? It seems wasteful to me to kill a new tree every year, times however many households get one. In my house growing up, we had the same fake tree for 20 years. That seems like a choice with less impact to me...

[acorngirl.livejournal.com]

I vote for the artificial tree. It may use resources to create it and consume more resources when its days are over, but it does last a much longer time and doesn't destroy a living organism every year. I like that last part best. :)

[vesta-venus.livejournal.com]

I could write the same arguments as your previous posters, but the truth is that I grew up with an artificial tree and I can't be bothered with going to get one, watering it, figuring out how to dispose of it, and dealing with the mess. I got one because I'm lazy.

I only heard the environmental argument ages after my parents had theirs and a few years after I had mine.

[pink-lady2.livejournal.com]

I grew up with a real tree. We went to tree farms and sometimes took one from our own land (100 acre farm - not tree). One year I had such a severe rash from the tree - from decorating, that I decided to get a fake one for myself. I expect my tree to last more than 20 years though. I think that neither is really sustainable due to the volume that are either cut or produced every year for consumers. From a production point of view the tree farms might be better as they constantly replace what is removed. The young trees take a while to grow thus contributing to a healthier environment. They are recycled but on a volume point of view for a city I find it mind boggling. In the past they used to be pitched into the landfill which helped contribute to the heat in these areas and producing very concentrated gases. Artificial trees are just as worrisome from the production point of view and from a get rid of point of view. There are those people who are so lazy that they won't try to give the tree to someone else when they tire of their tree. To me that is the waste. Producers, I would imagine, will not deliberately make trees to last 20 years. That is a shame. And of course there is the recycling. If the metal could be reclaimed and used great but what about all those pre-lit trees and of course the fake needles.