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TechnoratiWith Christmas right around the corner, more Christians this year are finding themselves faced with the difficult decision of choosing between a real and an artificial Christmas tree.
As the Christian community becomes increasingly environmentally conscious, megachurch pastors Rick Warren and Bill Hybels as well as more than 100 influential evangelical leaders, are speaking out about global warming and calling on governments and Christians to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions – the main cause of global warming. Signers of the Evangelical Climate Initiative (ECI) agree that global warming is real and mainly caused by humans.
“Christians, noting the fact that most of the climate change problem is human induced, are reminded that when God made humanity he commissioned us to exercise stewardship over the earth and its creatures,” the ECI statement reads. “Climate change is the latest evidence of our failure to exercise proper stewardship, and constitutes a critical opportunity for us to do better.”
During this holiday season, some Christians are making the decision to take what they believe to be a small but important step toward slowing global warming by buying a natural Christmas tree.
“When you buy a real Christmas tree, you’re buying a tree where the environmental impact of growing and harvesting that tree is positive,” says Paul Krebs, owner of Oregon-based Coyote Hills Tree Farm.
According to the Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Association, each acre of Christmas trees provides the daily oxygen for 18 people. With 1 million acres of Christmas tree farms nationwide, this translates into oxygen for 18 million people each day or the equivalent daily oxygen use by twice as many people as the population of Los Angeles County.
Meanwhile, artificial Christmas trees are typically made of various plastics which end up in landfills after their usefulness is over. Plastic trees are not easily recyclable or reusable after their average 4-5 year life span.
Also, 85 percent of the artificial trees bought in the United States each year comes from China, where the environmental and employment standards are below U.S. standards – thus increasing the potential negative environmental impact.
Natural trees, on the other hand, are entirely a U.S. product and are grown as a sustainable crop which takes many years of culturing and work to bring to the market.
Oregon, for instance, supplies roughly 25 percent of the nation’s Christmas trees.
Krebs explains that most trees are removed from the fields by helicopter so tractors and equipment do not disturb the west ground during harvest.
“It also reduces time, getting fresher trees to the market,” he adds. “Sustainable agriculture practice and conservative methods are important to virtually all tree farms.”
Coyote Hills Tree Farm offers to send trees directly to the customer, cutting the tree just prior to shipping.
“We mechanically shake all trees to remove loose debris before boxing and shipping by UPS. We call these trees ‘the pick of the field,’” Krebs says. “All boxes have a moisture control seal to preserve freshness.” Continue »
