According to The New York Times, 50 million artificial trees have been bought in the past year, compared to 30 million real trees.
I have always enjoyed real Christmas trees.
I feel Christmas is supposed to have a particular smell, and I love the fresh scent that filled my house during the holiday seasons when I was young. Unfortunately, my family has had an artificial tree for 6 years.
Artificial trees don’t have that crisp smell that stays in the house even after Christmas, and I can’t go Christmas tree shopping anymore, like my friends do.
When I grow older and move into my own house, I will buy a real tree. They make me feel comfortable and remind me of when I was little. I clearly remember searching for hours to find a perfect tree. It had to be the right height and the right length. I probably drove my family crazy because I took so long to pick out a tree.
“Real Christmas trees give me Christmas spirit and they smell really nice which makes them better than fake trees,” said junior Lizzy Farnan. She gets a real tree every year.
“I like them because they feel more surreal and I think they look better in general,” said senior Leona Ho. “I do have mixed feelings though. You have to chop down real trees to get one and it takes artificial materials which aren’t good for the natural environment to make fake trees.”
While some argue that cutting trees is bad for the environment, the artificial trees are made of polyvinyl chloride, which is harmful. According to The New York Times, buying an artificial tree will only be helpful for the environment if you have it up to 20 years.
Christmas tree farms are also big oxygen producers, which are better for the environment than the chemicals artificial trees give off.
“Both types of Christmas trees are fine. I like real trees because they give you that traditional Christmas scent. Fake trees can not be composted when the holidays are over, which can be good too,” said senior Arrada Karmonphet.
Although artificial trees have grown more popular in the past few years, I will buy real Christmas trees when I am older.
