The reader called and shared the following thoughts:
“Today, I was driving [pierwszego dnia po świętach – przyp. red.] past a point where live Christmas trees were being sold. So many of these trees were left. And I wondered what would happen to them now and whether it is worth cutting down trees just so they can decorate our homes for a short while. Perhaps we should remember that we are not taking care of the environment and that natural resources are being depleted. Perhaps it would be worth taking orders before the holidays, so that the seller would have as many trees as there were people who had declared they would buy them? Perhaps we should teach children not to waste trees? Perhaps it would be better if such a conscious child asked a parent to go for a walk with them and show them a spruce or fir tree in the forest instead of buying a live Christmas tree for the home?”
What do you think of this idea? Are we wasting natural resources on trivial things?
On this occasion, we would like to point out that natural Christmas trees are sourced from plantations established specifically to provide trees for the holidays. Plantations are created, among other places, beneath power lines—in locations where a forest could not develop. Each year, new trees are planted in place of those that have been cut down; after several years, they will decorate our homes.
What can you do with a Christmas tree after the holidays? There are many options. People living in houses with gardens have it easiest, because potted Christmas trees can be put out in the garden, or a larger tree can be cut up and its branches used to protect other plants from the cold, such as heather. Christmas trees can also be put in a compost bin. Residents of apartment blocks can dispose of them with biodegradable waste. The trees are also sent to combined heat and power plants and processed into energy. This is an environmentally friendly disposal method that limits the amount of pollution produced during combustion. Sometimes Christmas trees are also used to produce wood chips. Occasionally, they are transported to Zoological Gardens.