How Environmentally Sustainable Is the Christmas Tree Industry?

This question originally appeared on Quora.

Answer by Darshan Shankar, Entrepreneur, Y Combinator Alum

Real trees are significantly better for the environment.

Benefits of real trees:

• An acre of fir trees can consume 12,000lbs of CO2. [1]
• For every Christmas tree cut down, tree farms plant one to three new trees to protect and maintain a healthy supply. [2]
• Trees are usually planted in otherwise unusable areas such as barren slopes, making them a good use of land.
• 85% of fake trees are made in China. Trees you buy at a local tree lot usually come from tree farms in your state. Not only does this help local US businesses, but this cuts down on the carbon footprint. [4]

Fake trees have one benefit: reusability. If you reuse a tree for fifteen to twenty years, you'll start to break even on the environmental impact.

Sources:

http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas...

http://www.slate.com/articles/he...

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