O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!How richly God has decked thee!
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
How richly God has decked thee!
Thou bidst us true and faithful be,
And trust in God unchangingly.
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
How richly God has decked thee! !"
Today is the last of the twelve days of the Christmas season and the Day of Epiphany. In our household it is also the general target for getting the Christmas tree out of the house. We continue to purchase a real tree each year, one of the 13 to 14 million trees cut for Christmas in Canada and the United States each year.
I say cut, because somewhere between 5 and 10% of trees for sale don't find a home. Dealers have to dispose of them, not to mention all those trees that get dragged to the curb. In these days of increasing concern about the environment inventive ways of recycling the trees are being developed.
Many are chipped and composted. In the southern U.S. chipped trees have been used to rebuild natural coastal barriers after Hurricane Katrina. In one community a dealer chops trees which are then munched by elephants at the local zoo. There is an "aquatic habitat" project in California where trees are bundled and sunk in lakes as shelter for fish. Apparently the fish love the trees and they break down (the trees, not the fish) after a few years. The people in charge of the project actually chart the GPS coordinates which they give to those who fish in the lakes.
I find this all encouraging. We can be smart, and "have a care" for the planet, if we use the brains God gave us. Legend has it that Martin Luther began the Christmas tree tradition after seeing moonlight sifting through the branches of a fir one evening. What would he think today!
Are you encouraged by the inventiveness of municipalities. Where does your Christmas tree go?
5 comments:
Now a days, our tree goes to the curb to be picked up and mulched (I think they mulch it). When we were younger we used to put our trees out on the river. During the winter months, they marked trails for snowmachiners but then as the ice melted, the trees sunk and became habitat for fish, as you mention.
Out of respect for the environment (and my personal disdain for cleaning up dripping sap) we've opted for a fake tree since '04. Not sure what's up either: the bloody thing still manages to shed needles. Oy.
I had no idea about any of the projects you mentioned, David. All of them are good news, to be sure. Thanks for bringing them to our attention.
I think Martin Luther would be in shock to see how Christmas has evolved, not just Christmas trees! We also have an artificial tree. I grew up with artificial trees and have never experienced a real one. I am not that big on using plastic though either, because I know that eventually we will need a new one and what happens to that big plastic tree? It will probably end up in a landfill.
I wonder what it would be like to just dispense with indoor Christmas trees and just decorate the ones that are growing outside? Decorating the Christmas tree is such a part of Christmas that it would definitely be a big change!
Deb, you made me think of something... When we were in England for Christmas, we bought a live tree, but it was in a pot. When we were finished with it, we were able to take it back to the nursery, have our names put on it so that we could have the same one next year if we wanted. Since we were only there the one year, we opted for just returning it. Someone else would have had it the following year. The only problem with these trees, is you can only have them for a week or so indoors, because they are meant to be outside. Another option.
Ours used to go to the zoo in Winnipeg. It made the kids happy to "let go" of their tree so the animals could play with it.The truth was though, that only a few trees actually went into the gibbon/monkey cages and you would see the animals playing with them throughout the winter. The rest went to the animals in some form or compost(I hadn't heard that the Bowmnville Zoo had a similar project.) We were always sure though, our tree went to the monkeys. It made it less regretful to let it go. (They still resist taking down the tree. Liza thought Easter would be a good time.)
Ours will be curbside soon which I believe becomes town mulch/compost?
The underwater tree stories were interesting...never heard of that before but it makes sense when you think of the cycles of the natural world.
Post a Comment