The Windfall Tree The new, environmentally friendly and creative way to experience a real tree in your home for the holidays. The Windfall Tree The new, environmentally friendly and creative way to experience a real tree in your home for the holidays. Traditions and Sustainability I came up with this idea because I was not at peace with the current traditional options available. After doing just a little research on the internet, you would just about have to be insane to choose an artificial tree. Bringing a tree made of polyvinyl chloride and maybe even lead into my home is not my idea of a Merry Christmas. For me, a fake tree, even without the questionable contents just seems so disconnected from spirit and traditions of the holidays. Cutting a live tree down just so I can stick it my house for a couple weeks just did not resonate the meaning of Christmas to me either. Driving by Christmas tree lots on Christmas day, as silly as it may sound to some, I felt sorry for the trees not chosen, cut down, only to be shredded. While I know that many tree farms operate in a very responsible manner, often replanting even more trees than they harvest, it is inefficient to cut down small, whole trees that have been only growing for 10-12 years and then starting over. A larger tree can grow and sequester carbon at a much faster rate than a small tree. Pruning a forest would make much more sense environmentally than harvesting a 10 year old tree farm and starting over. Tree farmers could start offering sustainable branch trimmings from their forests rather than small, whole trees from a field. This change in the traditional model would allow healthy forests to grow, eliminate the need for pesticides and fertilizers, provide a habitat for more wildlife, clean the air more efficiently, sequester much more carbon from the Earth’s atmosphere and it does not require you to kill a tree each year to celebrate the holidays. The traditions that we choose to carry forward to our future generations should be healthy for all involved, inspire kindness and sharing and be environmentally sustainable.