Greenitforward’s Weblog

This morning, while I was getting ready to go to work, I managed to
catch a segment on the Today Show about the new Rockefeller Tree. Matt Lauer
was going on and on about how “green” NBC is being this week; going to
“the ends of the Earth” to help bring awareness to climate change. Even the NBC
logo, the peacock has been all green this entire week – but what Matt said
next made me laugh out loud. And by “laugh” I mean cry because it was truly
the definition of irony. He boastfully stated that this year’s Rockefeller
Tree was cut down entirely by hand so as to save energy and be more
environmentally conscious. BUT IT WAS TO CHOP DOWN A FRIGGIN’ TREE!!!

And that’s when it really hit me. The Christmas tree industry is literally
suffocating us with our own apathy and our unwillingness to make any true
sacrifices. Sure we’ll change a light bulb and start recycling our trash,
but when it comes to Christmas, how many people will actually be willing to
do the “Christian” thing?

In 2006 close to 200 million natural Christmas trees were sold worldwide.
That’s an enormous amount of oxygen that could’ve helped balance out all of
our human carbons. Now I know what you’re thinking, “but these trees are
farmed, so they are constantly growing new ones to replace the mature trees
when they are ready to be cut down.” And that’s just it. They are far from
ready to be cut down. The lifespan of the spruce tree is somewhere between
50 and 100 years. But it reaches maturity in its late teens, similarly to us
humans. So, if they were to leave those oxygen spewing trees alone, they
could’ve been cooling the Earth for another 60 years on average! Plus
there’d be the new ones growing in behind them.

Then how about artificial trees to solve the problem? Unfortunately, they
would be just as bad if not worse than chopping down the real ones; being that
they’re made from oil and industrialized materials that waste a huge amount of
energy in their massive production factories.

I’m sure by now, many of you see where I’m heading and will argue that I am
being blasphemous and simply don’t understand the powerful significance of
the Christmas tree because I am not a Christian. Well, I would argue back
that apparently neither do you, because the entire tradition has nothing to
do with Christ’s birthday. It was a Pagan ritual, practiced thousands of years ago that
also used to take place on December 25th, coincidentally. It was a
celebration created by the Druids who actually worshiped trees and nature.
It was a very charming event and the Christians really seemed to like it. So
they took it. But even if the tree did have this powerful significance as
you say, do you really think this is what Jesus would want? A man who
preached love and tolerance. If you ask me, “what would Jesus do?”, he would
probably tell everyone, “Stop chopping down trees to show your love for my
beliefs. You are destroying your home and your children’s futures.” Instead
I think he would ask everyone to buy a large potted plant to keep in their
homes year round and then every December, to show your faith and tradition,
string lights around it and place your presents at its base.

But will anyone honestly be willing to do this? Will you? After all, if
you’re a Christian, this is your religion we’re talking about.. So I will
leave you with one final question; is it more important to you to have a
place to stick your presents under once a year, than it is to save hundreds of
millions of trees in a time when our very existence on this planet is in
jeopardy?