O Christmas Tree

  • Lauren and her potted tree. It will stay outdoors until Christmas Eve, when it will be brought in for 14 hours. (Photo by Jennifer Guerra)

It’s the holidays… which for some
of us means time to deck the halls
with boughs of holly and, oh yeah,
pick out a Christmas tree. We sent
reporter Jennifer Guerra to find out which tree is greener –
real or artificial:

Transcript

It’s the holidays… which for some
of us means time to deck the halls
with boughs of holly and, oh yeah,
pick out a Christmas tree. We sent
reporter Jennifer Guerra to find out which tree is greener –
real or artificial:

Lauren Northrop and her husband Tom are big fans of Christmas.

“We love celebrating it, I love decorating, but we always have this dilemma: what do we do about a tree?”

They didn’t want a plastic tree because it’s, well, plastic. And they didn’t like the idea of bringing a live tree into their house, only to have it die and then drag it out to the curb to be recycled.

So they skipped the Christmas tree thing altogether for the last four years. But then, their son Will was born in January.

“We decided that we have to have a tree because it’s, like, his first Christmas, and we want to have those family videos of him having his Christmas morning by the Christmas tree and opening his gifts, and just the whole experience because that was important to us growing up and we always had that.”

They bought a live, baby Christmas tree with its roots still intact. That way, when Christmas is done and the ground thaws, they can plant it in their backyard.

“I was planning to keep the tree inside until December 25th so that we could decorate it and put lights on it. When we went to buy it they said if you do that, it probably won’t survive. So keep it outside so the temperature is more consistent, bring it inside only for a short period of time. (Like how short?) As in December 24th. Will goes to bed, Tom and I are gonna be up decorating that tree and bringing it inside for about 14 hours.”

That’s probably way too much hassle for 14 hours of Christmas cheer. So a lot of people go for real, cut trees. Pat Fera would love to have a real cut Christmas tree in her house.

“But I’m very afraid of them. I had a friend of mine, this was back in the 60s, and she and her mother had gone to midnight mass and her father was home and he was sleeping on the couch and what woke him up was the sound of the tree just going wooosh.”

Apparently the TV shorted, it ignited the tree, tree caught on fire and the dad just made it out of the house. Fera says the ceiling was charred black and the whole place was smoke-damaged.

“Well yeah, if you’re not careful that’s certainly, yeah, a real tree is a hell of a fire hazard!”

That’s Bob Schildgen. He writes an environmental advice column for the Sierra Club called Hey, Mr. Green. So I called him up and asked him…

Guerra: “Hey, Mr. Green. Which is more environmentally friendly? Why don’t we tackle one at a time: let’s go with plastic trees. What do you think about those”

Schildgen: “Well, I don’t think they’re environmentally friendly for a number of reasons. One is that they’re made out of materials that use petro chemicals and metals and so forth. They get eventually tossed in the landfill, they have a life of about 9 years and then they’re tossed. They can’t be recycled.”

And since most plastic Christmas trees are made in places like China, they have to be shipped a very long way to end up in your family room.

So plastic is out.

Schildgen does like the idea of live bulb trees, but their survival rate once you plant them in the ground isn’t that great. So he says – aside from the fire hazard mentioned – real cut trees are a much greener option than plastic. With a real tree you’re using a renewable resource; the trees are raised on tree farms, so you’re not contributing to any deforestation. And they’re completely recyclable.

“I think another feature that I like about them is that, and this is not exactly an obvious environmental issue, but I think it’s very good for children to see something fresh, green, real, alive, and then watch it cycle as the needles fall off and it goes into its natural demise. I think that’s good for people.”

Schildgen says some farmers use pesticides on their tree, so if you’re concerned about that, you should look for local organic trees.

For The Environment Report, I’m Jennifer Guerra.

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Growing Upward, Not Outward

  • Valcent's vertical farm has hundreds of clear plastic sheets holding pockets of plants. These hang from moving racks. (Photo courtesy of Valcent)

It takes a lot of land to grow
crops. There are concerns there won’t
be enough land to grow all the needed
food for the rapidly growing population.
That’s why some researchers and business
people are creating what they call
vertical farms. Julie Grant reports:

Transcript

It takes a lot of land to grow
crops. There are concerns there won’t
be enough land to grow all the needed
food for the rapidly growing population.
That’s why some researchers and business
people are creating what they call
vertical farms. Julie Grant reports:

On the outside, it looks like a big green house. Inside,
there’s an overhead conveyer system.

It looks kind of like a dry cleaner. Hanging from the moving
racks are hundreds of clear plastic sheets. Each has rows of
pockets. In each pocket, there’s a vegetable plant.

The conveyor moves them around to make sure the plants
get enough light, nutrients and water.

Glen Kertz is president of Valcent Products, which is building
its first commercial-scale vertical farm in Alberta, Canada –
where it can be expensive to truck in fresh produce.

“A couple of hundred years ago, they couldn’t get fresh
lettuce in the dead of winter. But do they want it today?
Yes.”

Kertz and others think we could vertical farm in cities in
skyscrapers.

But Kurtz says the farm’s heat, lighting and conveyor system
all run on fossil fuels and he wants to switch to renewable
energy.

For The Environment Report, I’m Julie Grant.

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Study: Time Outdoors Helps Kids With Adhd

A little exposure to natural outdoor areas might go a long way toward easing the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactive disorder in kids. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tom Rogers has more:

Transcript

A little exposure to natural outdoor areas might go a long way toward
easing the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactive disorder in kids.
The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tom Rogers has more:


Previous studies linking the outdoors to relaxation prompted University
of Illinois researchers to survey the parents of more than 400 children
diagnosed with ADHD. The researchers asked parents to monitor
their kids’ behavior and performance after play or study periods
indoors, outdoors in an urban setting like a parking lot, and outdoors
in greener areas.


Francis Kuo co-authored the study. She says the natural settings
seemed to improve symptoms.


“This doesn’t have to be something spectacularly natural. Just getting
your kid out in a green, tree-lined street would be good, or in the
backyard, or even the neighborhood park. You don’t have to take them
to Yosemite for these benefits.”


The study didn’t make any conclusions about whether nature could take
the place of medication, but Kuo says there’s a real potential that it
could at least help kids who don’t tolerate drug treatment well. The
study appears in The American Journal of Public Health.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Tom Rogers.

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Reducing Ground Level Ozone Pollution

  • Russ Adams mows his lawn with an electric lawnmower. He does so to reduce local air pollution such as ozone. (Photo by Christina Shockley)

Summer can be a perfect time for barbeques, weekend trips, and yard work. But those very things contribute to a summertime health hazard. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Christina Shockley reports:

Transcript

Summer can be a perfect time for barbeques, weekend trips, and yard
work. But those very things contribute to a summertime health hazard. The
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Christina Shockley reports:


(sound of gasoline-powered lawn mower)


This time of year, it takes just a short walk along pretty much any residential
street to find someone mowing their lawn.


(crossfade, gas-powered lawn mower sound out, electric mower sound up)


But if you walk past the Minneapolis home of Russ Adams, you might take a
second look.


“My neighbors came over… they were a little bashful ’cause they
weren’t sure how to pose the question. But they wanted to know what I was
doing in my yard and what that machine was. They thought it was some kind of
new-fangled mulcher or something.”


That mulcher is actually an electric lawnmower. The mower is a sleek red and
black. It’s about the same size as a gasoline mower. There’s no cord running
to it. It runs on a battery. There’s a plug on the back of the main unit
that’s used to charge it.


(sound of garage door opening)


“Okay, so this is the garage. Just plug it in
right here, and really it doesn’t take long for it to juice up. And you just
leave it plugged in, and as soon as it’s fully charged it stops drawing on the
electricity, so it’s energy-efficient even in the recharging mode.”


Adams says the main reason he uses the electric mower is that it’s just one way
he can help improve air quality in his city. And as small a step as that
seems, emissions from small engines such as lawnmowers do cause air quality
problems.


Rebecca Helgesen is with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. She says one
major summertime problem is ozone. Helgesen says human activity creates the
ingredients in ozone.


“Certainly motor vehicle exhaust and chemical solvents are major
sources. Also, industrial emissions and gasoline vapors.”


The chemicals stew and combine with hot, humid conditions to increase ground
level ozone.


“When the air is stagnant – not moving very much, and it’s hot and
sunny, that’s when you see the chemical reaction that creates ozone.


Helgesen says the Environmental Protection Agency forecasts ozone, so people
will know ahead of time when not to mow their lawns or to stay indoors. The
forecast is called an Air Quality Index. It uses color codes. On a “yellow”
day, the air is dangerous for sensitive people. On a “red” day, everyone is
encouraged to limit outdoor activity. Ground level ozone can cause lung
damage. Helgesen says breathing ozone isn’t good for anyone, especially those
with asthma.


“You’re coughing more, you may find you have some tightness in your
chest, or uncomfortable. You may find that you’re tired more easily.. all of
those mean that there has been some compromising of your lungs.”


Ozone levels start to fall in the evening as people stop driving, as the sun
sets and the air cools. Helgesen says the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
encourages people to wait to pump gas, drive, and mow their lawns until 7 or 8
at night.


Getting people to do these things is where the organization, Clean Air
Minnesota, comes in. Its members include an unusual mix of business groups,
environmental groups and others.


Bill Droessler is the group’s program director. He says Minneapolis-St. Paul doesn’t
have a big ozone problem, like some other cities… yet. Clean Air Minnesota wants to keep it that
way. If levels go up, the federal government could impose restrictive – and
costly – regulations. Droessler says his group holds on-site training programs
at participating businesses to get people to take action.


“Postpone landscaping things, use of internal combustion engines as late as
possible on those days. Avoiding backyard recreational fires.”


He says even using newer gas cans that don’t let vapors escape as easily helps
reduce ozone. Droessler says he hopes people will take the time to make just one change to
help reduce ozone levels.


Russ Adams sees his electric mower as his one small action. He concedes that
the electric mower does use electricity. But while coal-burning power plants
do pollute, his electric mower is better for air quality than a gas-powered
mower.


“My argument is that if everybody had an electric mower, then we’d be cutting
down on the air quality problem. Wouldn’t solve it, but we’d be making a good dent.
I mean, I talk to my friends all the time about how fun it is to use this
mower.”


Shockley: “So I press it down… and pull back…”
Adams: “There you go.”
Shockley: “Oh, it’s very easy!”


(sound of electric mower)


Adams: “Now what I want you to do, is do this part of the yard in the back. I’ll go in and
have some tea, maybe some orange juice, and then we can tackle the front yard
after you’re done back here.”


Shockley: “Okay, that sounds great.” (laughter)


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Christina Shockley.


(mower noise fades out)

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