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Trees and Trimmings |
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| Each year, more than 35 million real Christmas
trees are sold in the United States, as are 10 million of the artificial
variety*, which consist of metal and plastics made from nonrenewable petroleum.
Consider how you decorate and dispose of them--real trees can give back to
wildlife, but both kinds will last for centuries in a landfill. |
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- Consider buying a live tree (with a root ball) that's native to your
region, and then plant it outside after the holidays are over.
- Instead of buying new decorations, look in thrift and antique stores, which can be treasure troves of ornaments and lights.
- Decorate an indoor tree with natural items that can be returned to the earth: seedpods, dried flowers, autumn leaves, nut shells, pieces of bark, milkweed fluff, and berries, to name just a few.
- Wondering what to do with those leftover Styrofoam plates and take out containers? Try cutting out snowflakes or snowmen, add a little glitter or paint, and hang them as homemade ornaments.
- When it's time to take down the Christmas tree, place it outside as valuable shelter for birds and small animals during the long cold winter.
- Decorate an outdoor tree just for wildlife. It can be adorned with strings of unsalted popped popcorn, dried fruit, and peanuts in the shell, and with ornaments like pinecones spread with peanut butter and suet.
- Read “365
Days of Christmas” in the November-December 2005 issue of Audubon magazine for more ideas.
- Look for LED holiday lights which are ultra low energy and very long lasting. For online sources see: http://www.energyideas.org/
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