It is that time of year to make the decision to buy artificial or live trees and with many people trying to make the best choice ecologically it can be a difficult decision. 

Jessica Jensen has published a great blog post that discusses just this topic. 

To make the choice of live over plastic easier I post this quote from Jessica's article:

"5. We do not recommend you get a plastic tree. Plastic is made from petroleum which is a non-renewable resource, and the plastics typically off-gas toxins that are bad for your family to breathe. Most plastic trees contain PVC, a particularly nasty form of plastic. Many plastic trees are also manufactured overseas, which means even more petroleum is used in getting them to the US. It may seem like a good idea to buy a plastic tree and use it year after year, but plastic is not the best option for the environment or your health."

On a personal note, I did buy an artificial tree about 7 years ago using logic I had gleaned about the environmental impact at that time.  Because of that I will continue to use this tree until I reach the end of it's useful life as I can somewhat reduce the negative effect of it's production through longer use.  The off-gassing should have occurred in it's first few seasons so that should not be a concern any longer.... In my opinion throwing it away now to buy a live tree would not be the right thing to do. 

Please click through to read the rest of the post over at Low Impact Living.