by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Now is the time of year again where millions of young spruce and fir trees are slain for one single purpose, namely to end up in people's homes for but a few days, or a week or two, as a so-called Christmas tree.
This idea of the fir or spruce indoors is stupid in the extreme, to say the least, as far as I am concerned.
I have no problem with some evergreen branches or other decorated twigs but to cut down a tree before it even has had a life, especially in this case a tree that will not regrow when cut, unlike hardwood coppicing, is tantamount to murder.
What is worse with this issue of the Christmas tree still is the fact that after the holidays the carcass of the tree is then tossed out for the municipalities to deal with and often they are also simply tossed out into the countryside.
There are many other ways to decorate a home (or office) for Christmas (and I do not mean the use of artificial Christmas tree from some plastic material either here necessarily) and most of them are far more environmentally friendly than the tree.
Recently I saw a tag on a Christmas tree that, basically, if one wanted to be a little factitious, said that no trees were harmed in the making of that Christmas tree, despite the fact that it was cut down.
It is rather condescending, I find, for growers to state something in that line almost.
The truth is that those trees as grown as a crop by the growers but this is one part of “forestry” that I do not agree with as the “product” is, basically, bought to be thrown away after a few days or a week or so.
If a living tree is to be cut then it should have more a purpose than just to end up standing in a room somewhere, decked with baubles and such, and then to be destined for destruction after the festivities. This is so wrong.
In summing up to the question “to tree or not to?” the answer must be a “not to” and the use of alternative decoration ideas and legion those are as well and can be found in many publications and on the Web.
© 2012
