Why artificial trees are superior to “living” trees

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Eva Anderson, Staff Writer

On Christmas each year people surround tree farms with demand yet only to rid of that demand in the trash can a month later. 

Did you know that 30 million Christmas trees in the US are cut down and thrown away each year? Sounds pretty wasteful, and you’d be right. 

Today we are ever more concerned about the condition of our atmosphere. Trees do a great job at keeping it clean, but by throwing them away there are less of them to filter our air. Not only that, but by cutting down a tree you are actually releasing carbon dioxide into the air. 

Of course you may argue that the artificial trees hurt the environment since they are made of plastic, and you’d be right. However, over time they actually emit less greenhouse gasses since they can last for several years, and the transportation of the real trees every year eventually emits more gas. 

Real trees can also be very flammable. There is a case in Philadelphia where a boy was playing with a lighter and set his tree on fire which led to several deaths. Artificial trees however tend to not catch fire as easily, and can be put out quicker. 

In conclusion, why go through all that mess

anyway? I’m talking about the hassle of finding the “perfect” tree, cutting it down, transporting it, putting it in the living room, and then only to throw it away a week later.