The Greenest Tree

greentreetips

Check out these stats from WIRED Magazine comparing

artificial trees to the real thing

ARTIFICIAL TREES

-There were 8.9m artificial trees imported to the United States in 2008.

-A typical artificial tree contains 7.3lbs of plastic, mostly poluvinyl chloride (PVC).

-It takes 20 years of re-use for an artificial tree’s carbon footprint to be lower than that of an actual tree’s.

-In an entire year, approximately 600,000 U.S homes could be powered using the energy required to run decorative lights during the holiday season.

THE REAL THING

-In 2008 there were 28.2m real trees sold in the U.S.

-Each year, 5.8lbs of pesticides are sprayed on real holiday trees in North Carolina.

-There are approximately 4,000 tree recycling centers in the U.S.

-It is estimated the average conifer tree can absorb 1 ton of carbon dioxide over 60 years.

TIPS FOR KEEPING YOUR HOLIDAYS GREEN!

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Check out www.greenpromise.com/resources to find organic, pesticide-free tree farms near you.

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Switch to long lasting LED holiday lights and use approximately 90% less energy per string. Visit the New York Energy $mart Lighting Page for more info on LEDs. Visit www.holidayleds.com to recycle your old incandescent lights.

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To find out where your tree can be turned into compost or woodchips, go to www.earth911.com.


Posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 5:12 pm | Tagged in Energy Efficiency, Global Warming, Organic Farming, Pollution | posted by Jamie

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