A New Take on Christmas Trees

I never liked real Christmas trees. I only remember once or twice when my family had one, and I think most of the time we had a potted tree, meaning it wasn't cut down.

When I was a kid and we lived in Mexico, we used to decorate my mom's Ficus benjamina at Christmastime. I thought that was cool- it was different, that's for sure.
But to me, killing a tree every year is akin to those people who go hunting and have their kills stuffed and displayed in the den. There's no difference to me between putting a snarling bear carcass on the den floor and watching a decorated blue spruce slowly disintegrate over the span of a month or more. And then what happens? We toss them out the front door and think of the fond memories we created with that murdered pine? The whole tradition seems gruesome to me.

A few years back, my family splurged and bought a really high-quality artificial tree which is guaranteed for around 30 years or so. No more tree purchases for us!

According to the National Christmas Tree Association, 31.3 million households in the US purchased a real Christmas tree in 2007 at an average price of $41 per tree. That rounds out to about 1.3billion dollars last year spent on Christmas trees alone in the US.

Maybe Africa gives me a different perspective. Maybe my point of view is skewed. But does it seem a bit ridiculous that we're spending this much money every year on killing trees when people are starving? When rainforests are being depleted? When the farmland gets less useful every year because of misuse?

I'd like to encourage you to think about this. Maybe you already bought a tree this year. That's okay. You have a whole year to consider what you're going to do. And as food for this thought, here are some suggestions for what you can do with the $41 you'll save:

- The World Wildlife Fund is sponsoring a program called NewTree to plant trees in Borneo and Indonesia. For $5.50 you can plant a tree and watch it grow on Google Earth. Check out mybabytree.org.

- Sustainable Harvest International is a nonprofit organization that "provides farming families in Central America with the training and tools to overcome poverty while restoring our planet's tropical forests." For $30 you can reforest a family farm. Check out their site.

- At Christmastime every year, World Vision International allows you to donate specific gifts to families in need. For around $14, you can provide 10 fruit trees or enough seeds to start a family farm. For $36 (still less than a live tree) you can give not only seeds, but also farm tools and training to a family. Check out the UK version of "Must Have Gifts" (the US version's link was broken...)

- Finally, if you like the UN, if you're sorta broke, or if you just like getting your hands dirty, you can join a worldwide campaign called "Plant for the Planet" whose goal is to plant 1 billion trees around the world each year. Check out Billion Tree Campaign.

If you're wondering what I'm doing promoting tree planting when people need Jesus, bear with me and read my next post... Thanks