Nature on our Doorsteps: A real or artificial tree?

AT THIS time of the year, the choice of whether to buy a real Christmas tree or an artificial tree raises a lot of different opinions.

Buying a real tree every year can be expensive and while artificial trees can also be costly, it is often a once-off expense and the trees are used many times over a number of years.

For many, only a real tree will do. People look forward to the scent of pine in the house, and they strongly associate with happy celebrations at home during Christmas.

Other people, however, find the tree’s essential oils that cause the pine scent to be too intense in an enclosed room.

A few people may, in fact, experience symptoms similar to summertime hay-fever.

Having to regularly sweep up the tree’s falling needles or leaves is a disadvantage for many people.

The availability of new high-quality tree varieties that do not shed their leaves has helped with this problem.

The sale of real Christmas trees and wreaths starts at the beginning of December

Today, over 650,000 high quality trees are grown and harvested from Irish tree farms.

Most of these are sold locally, while some are exported to Britain and France.

The entire industry contributes €25 million to the Irish economy, while the tree farms themselves also support local employment and communities.

Unfortunately, artificial trees are mainly made from PVC plastic and are not easily recyclable.

Also, because they are transported long distances from where they are made abroad, their carbon footprint is quite high, unlike natural trees that are grown and recycled in Ireland.

Natural Christmas trees absorb significant levels of carbon from the atmosphere as they grow, converting it into food for the rapidly growing tree.

As the rows of planted trees in a tree farm grow, they also provide a temporary habitat for other species like birds, insects, mammals, and fungi.

At the end of the day, the choice of a natural or an artificial tree will be a personal one.