Comment on THIS is an inventive idea
ObtuseDoorFrame@lemmy.zip 4 days ago
So that previously healthy tree, which took a decade or more to reach that height, gets to die for a gimmick.
Comment on THIS is an inventive idea
ObtuseDoorFrame@lemmy.zip 4 days ago
So that previously healthy tree, which took a decade or more to reach that height, gets to die for a gimmick.
LePoisson@lemmy.world 4 days ago
All Christmas trees get to die for a gimmick. What do you think the tree farms are for?
GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip 4 days ago
Actually here in germany it has been a thing forever to get a tree with roots and all. You water it a little while it is with you and then plant it again in the ground.
Obviously this doesnt work for really large trees, but still.
taiyang@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Bizarrely it’s probably more eco friendly than not having the tradition since those tree farms probably wouldn’t exist otherwise. It’s not like the meat industry, it’s probably net positive on emissions.
Though, it would be better if we just reduced urban sprawl and deforestation of natural forests, etc., but that’s how it goes I guess.
dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 days ago
My sister in law’s family owns a christmas tree farm in Maine. They do replant what they cut and more, and its just like 3 people running it sonce its all in the family, so not bad for over 80 acres of evergreens
jivandabeast@lemmy.browntown.dev 4 days ago
Its definitely more eco friendly, the alternative is plastic trees which are worse for the environment.
Christmas trees capture CO2 while they mature and are biodegradable/renewable
faythofdragons@slrpnk.net 4 days ago
We have compost programs in my area, and they usually offer free christmas tree disposal. Some programs mulch them, and I think the Parks&Rec department uses the mulch to maintain parks.
I don’t really see a big downside.
ObtuseDoorFrame@lemmy.zip 4 days ago
Yeah, fair point. I guess the “before” pic looked enough like a forest that this just really bummed me out.
tpyo@lemmy.world 4 days ago
I guarantee you that’s a tree farm. I’d gladly be proved wrong
The uniform height, spacing, and lush branches are a key clue. I wish I took pictures on my last trip so I could show you what I’m talking about, but I was traveling through a place undergoing logging. In the forest, like you’re thinking, the lower branches are dead because the crowns are crowding out the light. In the understory, lower light plants thrive, ones who can’t really take full sun all day
I say this to hopefully assuage your feelings about the picture. The tree did what it was meant to do, and in a spectacular way
ObtuseDoorFrame@lemmy.zip 4 days ago
Thanks! Your comment did help. Being an environmentalist is a special kind of torture. The idea that the climate change our species created is eventually going to wipe us out is actually kind of comforting. Earth will bounce back in a few million years and there will be almost zero evidence we were here at all. It’s genuinely a nice thought.
infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net 4 days ago
I feel like that makes the problem seem much worse, and not better?
BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk 3 days ago
What problem? It’s a tree from a tree farm that was grown for this purpose.
infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net 3 days ago
I meant that lightheartedly, though I do think that doing 5+ year grows on agricultural lots for purely gimmick purposes isn’t too great, at least from a resource management and ecology standpoint. I’m not here to argue against christmas trees though, I just think LePoisson’s rebuttal that one instance of a thing isn’t a problem because we do lots of instances of that thing is logically flawed. I’m here to argue against the logic, not the trees.