The most wonderful time of the year is around the corner. So it is time to decorate our houses again with the most beautiful ornaments.* Even in some student residencies you will find some Christmas decorations! Without a Christmas tree the decorations for the feast would of course not be complete. Unfortunately having a Christmas tree in the house has a lot of implications for the environment. Luckily, there are some people who thought of some clever solutions for this problem.
In the Netherlands there is an initiative called: Adopteer een Kerstboom (Adopt a Christmas tree). The principle is simple: after Christmas the organisation collects the trees and replants them. During the summer the trees can grow and the following year they can be reused. Every tree gets a number so, if you want, you can have the same tree every year!
This organisation is already taking care of Christmas trees for ten years. They are not only concerned with the trees. They also make sure that there are as many places as possible to buy the trees, in order to keep people from driving a far distance by car. In some of their establishments they even deliver the Christmas tree with an electric car!
If you have not set up your Christmas tree yet, try to think of the impacts it might have on the environment and try to find some sustainable alternatives!
*For more sustainable Christmas decorations.