Dreaming of a Green Christmas
OK, you want to celebrate Christmas. Do you get a fake plastic Christmas tree which could leach toxic chemicals, or cut down a living, if maybe pesticide-laden, tree only to throw it away after a couple of weeks? Environmentalist Kristi Chester Vance of San Francisco, Calif., decided to buy a real tree to decorate her house for her Christmas party. “I’m a forest activist, and there’s a dead tree in the middle of my house,” she admitted. “Geez, if I have a tree, why not nail the last snow leopard to the wall, too?” But, she says, Christmas trees are farmed products, “kind of like corn.” Still unsure which way to go? Eric Antebi of the Sierra Club offers a suggestion: “Allow me to put in a plug for Hanukkah, which celebrates the miracle of a little bit of oil lasting eight days,” he said. “You’ve got to love a holiday that’s all about energy efficiency.” (San Francisco Chronicle) ...Rationalization is the sincerest form of snobbery.
Available in This is True: Book Collection Vol. 12