Thanks Giving!

Originally posted by Zahlanzi
why buy an armani suit when you can get a excellent suit from a less well known firm.

Because you desire to show off exceeds your common sense.

why chop down a tree for three weeks of holidays when you can let it reach adulthood and make a lot of more important stuff like paper and construction materials?
That is a strawman. We all know perfectly well that growing trees for paper is not an alternative. As I pointed out, the real problem is that you are against chopping down trees but you have forgotten why.

it is wrong to approach the problem from this point of view: "i am not gonna tell people to not buy christmas trees because they should insulate their houses before". they should do both.
But you are yet to explain why buying Christmas trees is wrong. Insulating your house makes obvious sense because it saves power (and hence money and the environment) with no detrimental side effect to the quality of life of the occupant. Not buying a Christmas tree however does negatively impact on the person and thus one must do an evaluation before simply claiming it is 'wasteful' or 'wrong'.

Originally posted by Zahlanzi
would you say it is a waste of time and agricultural space if a farm were to grow a sequoia tree for about 500 years and then turn it into toothpicks?
500 years gone and all we have to show for is a truck of toothpicks. which will be thrown away because nobody recycles 1 little wooden splinter.

Sequoias do not grow here. You can get a Coastal Redwood to grow here and Douglas Firs or Spruces might reach 500 years old but you won't find Sequoias here.

A 500 year old Sequoia tree would become neither toothpicks nor a Christmas tree. It's the wrong kind of wood to accidentally jab in your gum (redwood infects rather quickly) and would never be cut as a Christmas tree.

I'm sorry - what was your point again?

Originally posted by Badwater
The land where the tree is grown is in fact farmland in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. In its purely natural state, there would be no conifers in that part of the valley. It is, however, farmland; if Christmas trees were not grown there then another agricultural product would be. It seems to me that you're inventing a waste in this case where the is none. ...[text shortened]... 's a tree farm! Literally. A tree farm. 100 or so acres of trees. Again - where is the waste?

Beautiful area! The trees are planted and intended to be harvested. Makes perfect sense to me. As far as allowing nature to take its course by protecting timberlands....all it does is provide fuel for forest fires. Responsible forestry harvests trees for lumber, cleans out the underbrush that is dead and plants seedlings.