In these eco-conscious times, many people want to shrink their
environmental footprint while still enjoying the trappings of
the holiday season. In some cases, the earth-friendly
alternative – pass the tofurky – is a pretty obvious choice. But
in others, the answer is not so clear. When it comes to
Christmas trees, for instance, which is better for the planet:
the long-lasting artificial kind, or the freshly cut, pine-
scent-and-sap variety? As I report in Saturday’s Times, at least
one major study found that the real tree was probably the better
choice. But as I found during my reporting, many consumers still
believe that a faux fir is less harmful to the environment than
the real thing. That’s because an artificial tree can be used
again and again, unlike a real tree, which is tossed out at the
end of the season. Yet as it turns out, that’s not enough to
tilt the scales in the fake tree’s favor. The resources used to
make artificial trees — plastic and metal — have a high
extraction cost, and most trees are