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Michelle Rosenthal

social worker, Dr Susan Smith McKinney Nursing and Rehabilitation Center

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Save millions of trees per year by celebrating Xmas W/O a tree, or by renting Living Christmas Trees with their roots intact, NOT CUT TREES.

Millions of beautiful Christmas trees are adorned each year to celebrate a loving holiday however it is really an unfortunate event for the trees. An idea worth spreading is to celebrate the holiday W/O a tree or with a Living Christmas. Ask everyone especially pastors and clergy to spread the message advising people not to buy trees especially not cut trees but rather if they must to buy or rent live trees with their roots intact. Encourage people to order live trees from Christmas tree dealers before the holiday so the stores may be prepared to sell potted Christmas trees. Many tree distributors may not have realized the demand for living Christmas Trees. Advocate for them to take orders in advanced and have many selections available to meet the demand for trees during the holiday season. The trees can either remain potted, be planted in the persons yard either permanently or temporarily for the holiday and returned to the dealer to be replanted back where it came from or in a safe environment where it can grow and grow until next year when it can be re-rented to you or another person again. Trees play an important part in climate control. We should not just cut down millions and millions of trees each year without realizing the negative impact that this process will have on the environment. By saving trees we are really saving ourselves as well. Lets do the right thing and transform the Christmas Tree Industry to save the environment, the climate and ecosystems around the world! We can even push for a law banning the cutting of trees for Christmas and requiring the sale of potted trees that may be kept or returned to be replanted after the holiday. One tree can live and really become part of your family growing up together. The trees, animals, birds, bees and I will thank you. We can plan to help the planet by these and other simple measures that are easy to implement. We can also plan to capture rain water in a barrel to water our tree and plants.

Related Talks:
Topics: Climate Crisis Saving our world biodiversity charter for compassion climate change climate management nature saving lives saving the environment saving trees
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  • J Stewart

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    Sep 20 2011: I really don’t think that trees are the problem with xmas. As someone mentioned, light pollution, energy consumption and useless gifts are the real issue. As a forester in Ontario, Canada, I have seen first hand what our needs for wood fibre can do to forested ecosystems. Along with xmas tree harvesting, it's not the act of cutting down trees that is the problem, its what we do with the land after. Technically, using trees as a carbon sink, harvesting and burying them, we are technically capturing the carbon that we are told will be the death of our world. And if the xmas trees are being grown on abandoned farm land, then good on the farmers. If you want to blame xmas trees for the destruction of our forested lands and the world as a ecosystem, you need to get out and see what FSC certified "forests" as they are called, look like. Just for the record, I do not feel we should call what was a forest that was harvested, scarified and planted a forest. It’s called a farm and it causes the same adverse effects to our world as what most people would call a farm.
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    Michelle Rosenthal

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    Aug 28 2011: Yes, If we can do away with the practice of taking the millions of trees out of their own environment in the first place to bring them into our home for the holiday it would be the first best solution, allowing the trees to live through the process of actually being selected to become someone's beloved Christmas tree would be much better than using cut trees was my point. I will edit my idea to include your point . Thanks

  • Mr. Anony mouse

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    Aug 28 2011: Ecological Christmas would be one without trees, sculptures below them, excessive light pollution and energy expenditure and practically useless gifts.
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    Chris Aldon 20+

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    Aug 28 2011: Strange, I posted a link in this conversation and it's gone... apparently the mods don't like Hans Christian Anderson or they didn't bother to read it.

    Anyways I agree we often don't think about the implications of Christmas tree farming, is a living tree an affordable alternative though? It seems anything "good" now a days costs more money.
    maybe we should all just get artificial tree's with scented candles.
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