It’s that time of year again when Christmas Trees by the millions have been weaned from their stumps to spruce up homes around the world. Last year in the US alone 24 million trees were sold that were grown on 174,000 acres of often marginal land, down from a peak of 446,996 acres in 2002. Did you know that an acre of living Christmas trees can soak up to ~11,000 pounds of CO2 per year all the while providing enough oxygen for 18 people? Talk about a Giving Tree!
The good news is that an increasing number of communities host tree recycling programs where trees are chipped and the resulting mulch is used by residents or the local parks & recreation departments for a variety of different uses (e.g. mulch, erosion control, habitat creation, etc.).
Perhaps there is an even better use for all of those trees once they have decked the halls. Consider this: by my back of the envelop calculations 24M trees contain the equivalent of at least 600 MILLION pounds of CO2. In the current best case scenario (i.e. trees recycled into mulch) all of that CO2 goes back into the Carbon cycle within a few short years. If, however, communities were to convert trees into biochar, up to half of the CO2 could then be prevented from re-entering the Carbon Cycle. Communities looking to reduce their GHG emissions might be able to use this as a carbon offset product. The heat generated during production could be used in the local Recycling Center and municipalities could sell the biochar to residents or to a third party as a revenue generating opportunity.
That could add up to a Ho Ho Ho Lotta savings and CO2 reductions!
A holiday song for my fellow Charistas:
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree!
Oh what I’d give to char thee!
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
Oh what I’d give to char thee!
At first you’re green when summer’s here,
But then you’re dead after the New Year
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
Oh what I’d give to char thee!
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
Much carbon could you bury!
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
Much carbon could you bury!
For every year the Christmas tree,
Could help the soil eternally.
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree,
Much carbon could you bury!
