By the time December rolls around, or even earlier, Christmas trees start to be put up. A Christmas tree is as a symbol of the holiday, possibly the most important decoration. My family has used the same fake plastic Christmas tree for years, even before I was born. Because of that, I have never experienced a real Christmas tree before. This made me curious about the differences and the pros and cons of each.

Which is better for the environment? Surprisingly, it’s real trees! Even though you’re cutting down a tree, you’re helping the environment. This is because real trees don’t require the carbon emissions as it takes to produced and ship fake trees. Just in the United States, 10 million artificial trees are shipped across the world, resulting in an increase of carbon emissions. And after the holiday passes, thousands of fake Christmas trees are thrown in the landfill. After you take down your Christmas decorations as January rolls around, you can recycle your real Christmas tree and return it to the ecosystem. Lastly, a fake tree doesn’t have the Christmassy pine smell that a real tree does, and that might be enough to get you to convert to a real tree, if you haven’t already.

Fake Christmas trees don’t come without benefits. While expensive, they can last you for years or even decades, which is way more cost efficient than buying a new tree every year. A fake tree is also easy to put up and take back down again at the end of Christmas. They are specifically made to be simple to construct and deconstruct in an efficient manner. On the contrary, if you want a real tree, you and your family will need to drive out to a Christmas tree farm and pick out a tree to cut down, then lug to your house, and then you can put it up and decorate it. The convenience that comes with a fake Christmas tree is hard to deny.

No matter which you choose, real or fake, both have their benefits and can be perfect for what you are looking for in a Christmas tree.