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- Path: sparky!uunet!olivea!gossip.pyramid.com!pyramid!infmx!louiset
- From: louiset@informix.com (Louise Twiggs)
- Newsgroups: rec.gardens
- Subject: Re: Christmas tree alternative?
- Message-ID: <1992Nov20.090818.19570@informix.com>
- Date: 20 Nov 92 09:08:18 GMT
- References: <1992Nov17.190036.17126@infonode.ingr.com> <3350@voodoo.UUCP> <1992Nov20.004323.12306@fs7.ece.cmu.edu>
- Sender: news@informix.com (Usenet News)
- Organization: Informix Software, Inc.
- Lines: 48
-
- In article <1992Nov20.004323.12306@fs7.ece.cmu.edu> snyder@henry.ece.cmu.edu (John Snyder) writes:
- >In article <3350@voodoo.UUCP> mnb@voodoo.boeing.com (Mike Burr) writes:
- >>In article <1992Nov17.190036.17126@infonode.ingr.com> jimreed@b23b.b23b.ingr.com writes:
- >>>
- >>>Actually, if there was no demand, it would not have been planted in the
- >>>first place. The vast majority of Christmas trees purchased in the U.S.
- >>>are grown on Christmas Tree Farms, not harvested from "the wild".
- >>>
- >>
- >>This is generally true, but I'd like to add a few counter points...
- >>not to spoil anybodys Christmas you understand - just some food for
- >>thought.
- >>
- >>A. In some cases the land the tree farms are on wouldn't have been
- >> cleared in the first place. And in general basic farming practices
- >> are in effect on xmas tree farms - ie. "Kill everything that could
- >> harm the crop with pesticides, etc." So I'm not convienced that
- >> xmas tree farms are a net benifit to the environment.
- >>
- >
- >One can just as easily argue that Christmas-tree growing preserves
- >already-cleared farmland that otherwise would be sold for use
- >as housing developments or shopping malls. I'll wager that
- >many more Christmas trees are grown on existing farms than
- >are grown on freshly-cleared land.
- >
- >As to "general basic farming practices", the same can be said for
- >broccoli-growing. Seriously, if you have a problem with growing
- >a crop for decoration instead of food, consider these:
- >
- >1) Do you wear natural-fiber clothing? What about all that
- >farmland devoted to cotton agriculture? All that rangeland
- >over-grazed by sheep? All those dead silkworms?
- >
- >2) Do you wear leather shoes? Again, what about all that
- >over-grazed rangeland turning to desert? And all those dead cattle?
- >
- >3) Do you use paper decorations? Paper napkins? Paper Kleenexes?
- >I believe that a sizeable number of wild forest trees are cut for paper.
- >
- >[...some stuff deleted...]
- >
- >
- >John
- >snyder@henry.ece.cmu.edu
-
-
- Do you eat in fast food 'burger' joints? etc etc
-