Christmas Tree Guilt

i am not sure what the question about florida and best buy gift cards was all about.

pines/ evergreens grow all around the usa, btw.

but about the beef, the resources that go into raising meat are pretty significant. with a tree, grown on a farm, the only resources you use is trucking that tree to a selling point, plus maybe watering it? maybe some chemicals to fertilize the soil/kill pests.
think about what you need to raise a cow, how many pounds of meat one eats in a week, how many parts of that cow are actually consumed, how much did that cow eat during its life time, and the resources that went into growing food for that cow.

a bit veg. crazy sounding, but you asked:
http://michaelbluejay.com/veg/environment.html

If I cut the top 6 ft off a 20 ft Fraser fir in my neighbor’s backyard, will it still live? It seems like a good compromise.

Thanks for helping me squelch my Green Guilt over my family Christmas Tree…now I feel guilty for being hungry.

Stupid stomach.

I know how you feel IP and bbarn. I have to say, I’m against presents (call me the scrooge). I was telling my wife this year, “don’t buy me anything. I have everything I want”. and it’s true. My wife just keeps calling me cheap now. My financial happiness is ruining my marriage cries. hehe

I’m against trees too, being an atheist. We bought one this year because we are having company and I don’t want to be perceived by people as a scrooge (on than on internet forums).

I completely agree with melovescookies, beef is horrible. I’m slowly convincing my wife to give up beef, and we are cooking more and more vegetarian dishes. Long live the bean, imho.

I think the answer hinges on whether you intend to live in a sustainable fashion, while still living your life, or if you think you are the enemy of the earth and that some sort of artificially intelligent robot ought to cure the earth of its disease…

I retired my gas guzzler car, refuse plastic bags for single items and impose cloth diapers on my child, but I still enjoy new products, an occasional steak and the live christmas tree will need to be pryed from my cold, sap encrusted dead hands

Arh that tree and bestbuy part was … I don’t know where I was going. I guess I was talking about the balance between the meaning of a festival VS rationalizing everything down to the molecule.

Anyways, you want to hear why I use the user name m_cow?

Well, this is exactly why. People look at numbers and get all edgy. “OMG eating beef is bad” “OMG cows pass too much green house gases!!!”

It’s not the cow’s fault! Look at how people raise lifestocks hundreds or even thousands of years ago. Then compare it to how they raise them now… wait, that’s not the point.

Look at how consumers are demanding their food today! Speed, performance, quantity, convenience… you name it. Food suppliers need to satisfy the demand, therefore do what it takes to bring us our convenient beef at when or wherever we want. Before you know it, everything we eat becomes mass produced, from groceries to Big Macs to your “gourmet” restaurants. Stop eating beef will not solve the problem, but will upset the balance.

What we need to do is to demand good beef. Beef from cows that grow up listening to classical musics. If the Japanese can do it, why can’t the rest of the world? Again, it’s about the consciousness of the consumer, and we as designers can help to cultivate that.


Oh BTW, maybe you should learn to eat like Chinese. We don’t waste a single part of the animal, from the brain to the eye balls(high in protein) to the bones, tail, tongue etc, then we give whatever’s left to dogs and pigs.

The next time you go to the grocery store, take a look at how much pineapples have been wasted just because the consumers want their pineapples to be perfectly cut( OMG Pineapples are horrible!!), sitting nicely and uniformly in a can or plastic container. Learn how to slice a pineapple!!! :blush:

so do Russians, they eat every part of the animal. so do Uzbeks. i’ve been there, done that, ate my share of eyeballs and tails. right now i don’t eat meat at all, and am content about it. so?

The reason I stopped eating meat in the first place was because I was disgusted with the way meat was consumed in the USA.

i think you’re making too many assumptions right now about people posting in this thread based on whatever experience you’ve had irl.

Isn’t this, effectively, what leads to mad cow disease?

PS: That’s not a judgement…just a question.

I agree, thats how diseases get started…whether cooked or not.

Stick a plate of cow eyes out in a butcher shop and see how fast they fly (or roll) off the shelf. Whether healthy or not, no one is going to buy them so its not worth the effort to save them.

I am going to be very “green” during Christmas… A huge green Christmas tree, a big green wreath on the door, and lots of green garland decorating the mantle.

Mad cow disease are found in brains and bones and such, however they it didn’t start in Asia.

Recently Taiwan decided to reopen it’s import of beef from USA even though it’s not exactly safe yet. Why? People say it’s political pressure. I don’t know.

Again, there are quality meat around that isn’t treated the way most others are, so you can’t really reject meat simply because of one assumption. You do have to pay more for the quality, but that’s also exactly why we are where we are today.

So in terms of assumptions, I don’t know if I have any more assumptions than you(melovescookies) do.

WHAT?

dude, eat your grass fed happy cow meat. i am sure we’re all super cool with that, but it’s a thread about xmas trees and i merely made a point about the fact that compared to our other practices, xmas trees should be one of the least of our concerns.

back to trees?
found here:Danny SEO

“Choose a live tree. Believe it or not, I lived on a Christmas tree farm for three years of my life. Even though I didn’t work on the farm, I did learn more about evergreen trees than any person should ever really know. The greenest choice when it comes to real vs. fake is choose a live tree. You see, these farms are using land that’s unsuitable for most crops, except hardy trees. So they’re saving land from development. Plus the trees provide habitat for wildlife.”

This chirstmas having tree, turkey and venison too…with some presents for all. The tree is a whole shit load of lights hung on a 20 year old plastic artifical tree, yup 20 years and not a needle gone. The turkey, took a after noon walking the woods with my 12 gauge, wild turkey is a bit more gamey tasting than domestic ( i got 2 and froze one) but you brine it its super. The venison, took 3 days of wandering around the woods with my 30.06 winchester. There is a over population of deer around here as all the preadators have been removed so they are thick as flys with many starving during hard winters. Some of my “urban/green” friends sorts freaked when they saw “bambi” hangin in the garage before butchering but hey thats how meat comes (and fish, and poltery too) in a skin coverd package with eyes, toung and stuff.

the prions that are the cause of “mad cow” are not destroyed by cooking…dig?

I think jabbing back with a personal lifestyle choice in a completely random area is just trying to push your lifestyle on someone else. How are we talking about meat when someone brought up a question about christmas and trees??

If you want to argue about the negative effects of eating beef, start a new thread.

Now i think im going to go have a hamburger for lunch…a meat cookie if you will…

I just want to clarify my guilt. Most of my guilt comes from my catholic upbringing and is now instinctual. I do enjoy myself, but I’m aware of how I affect my surroundings.

I think if one is guilty of having a tree, the discussion should include a comparison with other wasteful behaviors. If, for no other reason, it will give us perspective on the deed.

Enjoy your meal.

I apologize if the starter of the thread felt like i was shoving my personal dietary choices down his family’s throats and the throats of subsequent readers.

Nope…I actually thought the diversion was interesting…

To me, what I found to be more interesting is the fact that there is this feeling of guilt that surrounds “green”. Old habits/customs are going to die hard (if at all). It started with trees…to which I no longer feel guilty. I do, however wonder about all the other stuff.

Old customs dont “die” they get modded along the way and screw "guilt"it just means your a slave to some other blokes opinion of you (worthless). As long as your aware of and ok with the outcome of your actions or deeds then let the others eat cake.

I buy the “modded” comment.

As for the guilt…I don’t really care what people think. The awareness has been raised and I want a place for my kids to live a comparable/better life that I have been able to live. Considering I am 3’ below sea level at the moment…global warming and “doing my part” is on the top of my mind. My guilt is that I am doing the right thing for my kids.