Oh Tannenbaum

It's that time of year again. And even though it's not yet December, my family and I have already decorated for the holiday season. And at the center of it all, standing oh so majestic, is our Christmas tree, a tradition that stands the test of time. Lucky for me, I have an environmentally conscious boyfriend to ruin that tradition, so now I'm going to ruin it for you too. See, we did not get our tree from a farm; our tree comes from a box in our attic and before that most likely a factory in China. As it turns out, this is not so great for mother earth. Besides ours, well over 50 million artificial Christmas trees will grace living rooms this season. The annual carbon emissions associated with using a real tree every year are just one-third of those created by using an artificial tree over a typical six-year lifespan. Most fake trees also contain polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, which produces carcinogens during manufacturing and disposal. If all of that isn't bad enough, once you are done with your artificial Christmas tree it ends up in a landfill where it could take decades of maybe even never decompose. So, do yourself and the environment a favor this holiday season and get a real tree instead of an artificial one... or an environmentalist will find you and ruin your holiday season.