When decking your halls this holiday season, Michigan experts say consider the health, environmental effects of fresh vs. artificial Christmas trees.

…and both will kill you with mold and/or allergens. It says so in the article! Happy Holidays!

Did you know…?

Michigan ranks third in the nation in the number of Christmas trees harvested, and supplies approximately 2 million Christmas trees each year to retailers across the U.S., according to the Michigan Ag Council. Roughly 37,000 acres of land in the Great Lakes State is devoted to growing Christmas trees.

Every Christmas my daddy would drag a Christmas tree inside and say, “Decorate the tree, kids.”
We’d start decorating it and my mother would come running into the room screaming, "THIS TREE IS A SYMBOL OF NIMROD[…]NIMROD MARRIED HIS MOTHER TO KEEP THE BABYLONIAN BLOODLINE PURE, AND THE CHRISTMAS TREE IS THE EVERYTHING TREE![…]IT’S PAGAN! IT’S AN ABOMINATION!
And we’d scream and she’d drag it out and my daddy would drag it back in and say, “DECORATE THE TREE!”
And we’d say, “Please, we don’t wanna decorate the Babylonian symbol of evil.”
It was horrible. So I left home, because I couldn’t stand it anymore.
—Jayne County, from Please Kill Me

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  • StereoTrespasser@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    7 months ago

    But the bigger problem with artificial trees is that the vast majority of those sold in the U.S. are made in China. The soft plastic needles on those artificial trees often are made of polyvinyl chloride, or PVCs, which contain phthalates. Phthalates are endocrine-disrupting chemicals that have been associated with reproductive harm, cancer, asthma and neurodevelopmental problems.

    This is why we’ve opted for a live tree for the last few years. Our artificial tree started giving us a weird feeling on our hands, like a greasy slimy feeling that you can’t see, but know is on your skin.

    • idunnololz@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      7 months ago

      If you own a car, the interior of your car is also likely mostly PVC. Not to mention it’s used in a huge amount of places. If you are avoiding all plastics everywhere then it makes sense but if you are only avoiding it for the Christmas tree then I don’t think it matters.