Opinion: In season of cutbacks, tree should be last to go
Many age-old traditions of Christmas seem to slowly vanish every year, from singing carols on street corners to roasting chestnuts on an open fire. And much to the pleasure of Ebenezer Scrooge, putting up and decorating an authentic Christmas tree has recently joined the ranks of disappearing festivities.
Over the past decade, there has been a recent jump in the popularity of the artificial Christmas tree, a plastic substitute for the traditional conifer. This trend exemplifies a belittling of established holiday practices. Putting up a live Christmas tree is a time-honored practice that Americans need to continue in order to preserve the spirit of Christmas.
One unmatchable quality of a real Christmas tree is its fresh scent that permeates the entire house. Even catching a subtle trace of the old-fashioned pine smell can evoke those joyous childhood memories of sitting around the tree on Christmas morning or setting out cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.
Fake Christmas trees, however, smell like plastic. Instead of the classic, noble appearance of a true pine, they look, well, fake. Phony. Synthetic. When fingers brush across a branch, it doesn’t feel like a real Christmas tree with pine needles dropping en masse. The spirit of Christmas is preserved in all the sensual experiences of a good, live tree. But they are more than lost with an artificial tree. They are denigrated.
Eighty-five percent of fake trees are imported from factories in China, where workers earn no more than $100 per month squatting in front of hissing machinery, melting moldable chips into plastic needles.
These fake trees are assembled using metals and plastics, which can be a potential source of hazardous lead. In fact, the possibility for lead poisoning is great enough that fake trees from China are required by California Proposition 65 to carry a warning label.
Thus, purchasing a fake promotes no environmental benefits. Purchasing a real, dignified conifer does far more environmental good because evergreens take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen into the air.
Chopping down Christmas trees does not harm the environment either. Hardly anyone actually ventures out into the wilderness to cut down a Christmas tree. The vast majority are bred on a tree farm for the sole purpose of becoming Christmas trees, and another tree is planted for each one harvested.
Not only this, but these tree farms help sustain the rural economy and provide jobs. People work to grow, transport and eventually sell the tree so that families can enjoy the beautiful coniferous tree in their own home.
Artificial trees are also falsely advertised as fire resistant. Overloaded electrical outlets and faulty wires are the most common causes of house fires, both of which are just as likely to occur with artificial trees. In fact, in 2004, a Detroit fire department compared the two.
The artificial tree resisted initially, but then was engulfed in flames and projected significant heat and toxic smoke. The real tree however, properly maintained and watered, was left nearly unscathed.
Ultimately, families will choose what they want, and the unfortunate growing trend is a rise in the artificial tree.
In spite of the minor increase in cost and house cleanup of pine needles, a genuine conifer represents the traditional spirit of Christmas. One thing Americans should not and cannot compromise is on putting up a true Christmas tree, because it is truly sad to see it slowly usurped by a fake.