In the spirit of the season, I just had to comment on this article when I saw it in the Le Mars Daily Sentinel. Yeah, I know, I read way too many articles or have too much spare time if I am reading a newspaper in Iowa, but it just caught my eye in my Google search for something to write about.
They were comparing the virtues of a real Christmas tree and its environmental impact versus the fact that we are cutting down tree to get it. Sometimes it seems to me that we can’t see the forest for the trees (yes, pun was intended). It is unlikely that these trees would ever have been planted at the tree farm if people did not want live trees for Christmas. So the reality is likely that demand for trees helps lessen our carbon footprint.
I am not sure how much energy it takes to grow a tree, cut it down and haul it from the Great White North to Central Texas, but I’m sure it’s a lot. How about the little man who sleeps in his motor home on the tree lot for the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas with his generator powering the string of Christmas lights, or the gas burned to go get the tree and bring it home. The list goes on and on.
It is easy to slant an article toward the point of view of either side. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a uniform way of measuring the impact of a product and weigh it against the good? My guess is it would not matter. People want what they want.
Most people don’t care what country builds something until they need to deal with tech support. Why should they care how a product impacts the environment until they have to pay $4.50 a gallon for gas? The same reason as tech support, cause by then it is too late.
I will probably squeeze one more post or two in before the New Year, but right now, I would challenge you to think about the joy of the season. Forget about everything going wrong with the world and focus on what is going right. This time of year, everyone smiles a little more and is a little nicer. The air smells fresher (maybe from the Christmas trees). I hope we never get so environmentally focused that we give up Christmas cards in favor of email greetings. And I hope the Le Mars Daily Sentinel has a prosperous New Year and doesn’t wipe out too many trees with their paper. Do you think they recycle Christmas tree to make them?
Brad