This year, eco-friendly Christmas decorations are all the rage!  As with so many other things, green-minded shoppers are now faced with a choice: is it better to buy a potted living Christmas tree, a "regular" tree, or a plastic tree?  Each option is marketed as the most eco-friendly, so how can you tell which claim to believe?

Potted Living Trees

These are small, tabletop trees which can be replanted after Christmas.  (Maybe a long time after Christmas, depending on which part of the country you live in.)  These small living trees are definitely the most Earth friendly option since (presuming you don't accidentally kill it) it lets you plant a tree which will grow for its full lifetime.  

I read somewhere that thirteen trees is the number you need to plant in your lifetime, in order to balance out your carbon footprint.  A growing tree absorbs and stores carbon, as well as providing shelter for animals and insects, improving air quality, and potentially helping to reduce erosion.  Buy a living potted Christmas tree this year, and clock a tree towards your lifetime tally!

The down side to these trees is that they do tend to be rather small.  Families which put a premium on having a big, showy Christmas tree will be disappointed.

Live Cut Trees

Cut Christmas trees are farmed for that purpose, so there is no need to worry about deforestation when you're talking about Christmas trees.  There is little ecological impact from Christmas tree farms as compared to conventional agriculture, although most farms do use weed killer and pesticides applied to the ground around the trees (not to the trees directly).  The amount of pesticides is minimal compared to those found on conventional apples or potatoes, but if you are sensitive to this issue, then it deserves mentioning.

Furthermore, although the tree is "thrown away" after a few weeks, most larger cities have a recycling program which composts trees in the city's green waste program.  (You can attempt to compost the tree yourself, although I recommend running it through a wood chipper first.)  There is at least the potential for turning the tree into usable compost.

If your city will only take the tree to the dump and bury it in a landfill, then this is the worst option for you.  Trees do not decompose in a landfill, they simply take up space which we can ill afford to waste.

If your city does have a useful Christmas tree recycling program, then a cut tree is an excellent choice.  

Plastic Trees

Plastic has a bad name, and rightfully so.  Plastic is made with petroleum, and the manufacture of plastic items involves an astonishing amount of chemical byproducts.  However, if you live in an area where you cannot have your Christmas tree recycled responsibly, and your family will not tolerate a small potted tree, then a fake tree is a plausible alternative.

One of the biggest problems with our "plastic culture" is the volume of plastic which is produced for single use.  A fake tree can potentially be used every year for decades if you take good care of it.  Considering the fuel required to plant, harvest, and transport live cut trees, it's possible that if you use your fake tree for long enough, it will have a smaller carbon footprint than the total number of cut trees you would have used in that time.