The Environment
Christmas trees are grown in much the same way as many other
crops, planted at a specific time, with a view to harvesting in the future (usually around 5-8
years in the future).
During this time the Christmas tree has quite a substantial positive impact on the environment, as well as the obvious - converting carbon dioxide into oxygen.
Each Christmas tree converts about 12.25 kg of carbon dioxide into carbon and oxygen per year. Multiply this by the approximate number of Christmas trees growing in Europe alone (400 million +). This means that Christmas tree plantations remove nearly 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year.
The Christmas tree forests provide a habitat for many creatures from the smallest insects,
to birds and larger mammals. They also provide us with an attractive scenic greenbelt, whilst
helping to prevent soil erosion and rainwater run off into streams and rivers. The events of early
2007 illustrate what can happen when our rivers cannot cope.
Christmas trees also tend to be grown on land that would not be suitable for other conventional crops such as wheat or grass.
