Friday, February 2, 2018

The environmental effect of Christmas trees



It is commonplace, in the Christian world to celebrate Christmas by decorating the tree. It can be easily understood that cutting trees can lead to serious environmental effects. This situation can be worse when anarchy tree cutting takes place. In the US, as a counter measure, a cutting permit is granted. According to with the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) one permit equals one tree and costs around 5 US dollars (USDA, 2017). One more way to provide a tree for Christmas is from a Christmas tree cultivation farm. 




Picture 1. Tree farm in Bath, Pennsylvania (Petree, 2016)



These farms except for the tree provision, serve as amusement centers, providing activities such as choose-and-cut-your-own tree or you-choose-and-they-cut, as well as wagon and sleigh rides. These farms are mostly spread in the US, but other countries started to follow these footsteps like Greece and South Africa. Insofar, there are two ways to get a natural tree; from the wild and from a tree farm. 

How about the artificial ones? Is it more ecofriendly to buy an artificial Christmas tree than to cut down a natural one? The NCTA (national Christmas Tree Association) support the natural Christmas tree, as the most ecofriendly alternative. It is stated that these farms help to stabilize the soil, protect water reservoirs, provide a wildlife ecosystem and reduce the CO2  levels (NCTA, 2018). However, this opinion is somewhat, biased. 

References

Dousset S, Chauvin C, Durlet P, Thevenot M. (2004). Transfer of hexazinone and glyphosate through undisturbed soil columns in soils under Christmas tree cultivation. Chemosphere, p. 265-272.

Elipsos. (2012). Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Christmas trees. Retrieved 01/ 02/ 201To reach a scientific result, LCA (Life Cycle Analysis) must be implemented. An independent LCA (life cycle analysis) study released by the Montreal firm Ellipsos, indicated that real trees have less overall environmental impact, and in general, an artificial tree needed to be reused for at least 20 years to overcome the natural tree usage (Ellipsos, 2012). Nonetheless, PE Americas, stated that the carbon footprint of a natural tree varies from -3.13 to 5.12 kg of CO2 equivalent and artificial ones emit 18.6 kg CO2. These results indicate the strong influence that end of life management has (PE Americas, 2010). However, many fertilizers and pesticides are used in this kind of farms. Leaving, fertilizers aside (which often lead to eutrophication) Hexazinone and glyphosate are the most common herbicide that been used. The Hexazinone have the ability to leach into the soil columns and therefore be a potential risk of groundwater contamination (Dousset et al., 2004). On the other hand, the exponential increase in glyphosate use and its slow decomposition, have let to the accumulation of this substance in many organisms, humans included. There is a large proportion of people detected with glyphosate in their urine; Even though the concentration is low, it has become worrisome (Van Bruggen et al., 2018; Niemann et al., 2015). 

In spite that, Christmas trees can not carry all the burden for the glyphosate accumulation, but further study is required. So be carefull with your pick!    


8, from:  http://ellipsos.ca/lca-christmas-tree-natural-vs-artificial/

NCTA. (2018). Experts Agree. Real Christmas Trees Are a Benefit to the Environment. Retrieved 01 /02/ 2018, from:  http://www.realchristmastrees.org/dnn/Education/Environmental-Benefits-2

Niemann L., Sieke C., Pfeil R., Solecki R. . (2015). A critical review of glyphosate findings in human urine samples and comparison with the exposure of operators and consumers. Journal fur Verbraucherschutz und Lebensmittelsicherheit, p. 3-12.

PE Americas. (2010). Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of an  Artificial Christmas Tree and a Natural Christmas Tree  . Retrieved 02/ 01/ 2018, from:  https://8nht63gnxqz2c2hp22a6qjv6-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/ACTA-Christmas-Tree-LCA-Final-Report-November-2010.pdf


USDA. (2017). Cutting your Christmas Tree. Deschutes National Forest. Retrieved 01/ 02/ 2018, from: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/deschutes/passes-permits/forestproducts/?cid=fsbdev3_035887

Van BruggenA.H.C., He M.M., ShinK., MaiV., JeongK.C., FinckhM.R., MorrisJ.G.Jr. (2018). Environmental and health effects of the herbicide glyphosate. Science of The Total Environment, p. 255-68.






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