The extreme rainfall that has fallen across New South Wales in 2022 has created a supply shortage of real Christmas trees, triggering a rapid rise in the price of this Christmas tradition in Australia.
This comes as Australia has been hit by its third consecutive La Nina, with Sydney experiencing its wettest October on record, with more than 286mm (almost 11 inches) of rainfall registered.
The price of Christmas trees has increased by almost 40 percent from last year, with trees shorter than 182 cm (72 inches) selling for up to $200 (US $136).
Merlino’s Christmas Trees, a family business located in inner-west Sydney, told AAP that 40 percent of their crops had been eliminated by the wet weather this year.
“We had way too much water, which caused a lot of root rot,” Robert Darrigo, from Merlino’s Christmas Trees, told AAP.
Additionally, Darrigo said that because the weather was cooler this year, “the trees didn’t grow as much,” which has meant that trees taller than 240 cm (about 94 inches) will not be purchasable this year, despite their popularity.
He also expects that Merlino’s will have to close up shop by the second week of December. This is despite Merlino’s withdrawing the products from wholesale customers so that they could serve locals who shop in the store.
Darrigo said that rising prices of petrol and fertilizer have made running the farm even harder.
“Farm life is not an easy one,” he said. “There’s only so much land that you can plant on.”
Impact of Shortage on the Environment
But the supply shortage doesn’t only impact Australia’s Christmas festivities, as the nation may have to turn away from the traditional freshly cut pine to a less environmentally friendly alternative.Artificial plastic Christmas trees, although appearing to be better for the environment given their reusability, produce a much larger carbon footprint than real trees due to manufacturing and shipping.
The Director and Associate Dean of the Queen’s Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy at Queens University, Warren Mabee, estimated that the carbon footprint of a real Christmas tree is about 3.5kg.
“A real Christmas tree, 6-8 feet tall, 10-15 years old, would have a footprint of about 3.5kg CO2-equivalent [CO2e],” Mabee said in an email to The Epoch Times.
“But, if this tree is sent to a landfill, the number increases to about 16kg CO2e. It’s important that we compost organic material to prevent anaerobic breakdown and methane production.”
This is compared to artificial trees, which have a carbon footprint of around 40kg of CO2e, according to Mabee.
The Difficulty of Recycling Plastic Trees
Mabee said one of the biggest problems with recycling artificial trees is that there is typically a mix of materials involved in the composition of the artificial tree, with plastics being used for the needles and sometimes branches, wood being used to make the trunk, and metal wire for the branches.“Increasingly, artificial trees come ‘pre-lit’ with wiring for led lights. This creates an additional challenge,” Mabee said.
Thus the artificial tree could just end up in a landfill, especially if it is made of a substance like polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is extremely difficult to recycle.
What Artificial Trees are Best for the Environment
Mabee suggested in an article for The Conversation that if people do want to purchase a synthetic tree for Christmas, they should look for polyethylene trees, which, although typically more expensive because they tend to look more realistic, are easier to recycle. However, saying this, he did note that, generally speaking, PVC can last longer than polyethylene because it’s more durable plastic.“An artificial Christmas tree made of PVC or PE might have similar footprints (about 40kg CO2e each), but the PVC tree might last a bit longer,” he said.
“It’s important that artificial trees be used over an extended period–I estimate 10-12 years–in order to offset the overall environmental footprint.”
Tree Farming Practices Can Ward off Effects of Changing Climatic Conditions
In response to the rising effects of changing global weather conditions, there are a number of agricultural practices that are being shown to protect Christmas tree farms from extreme weather events.The study found that while changing climatic conditions may shift the growing season and reduce the growth of trees that are planted at lower elevations, it doesn’t have the same effect on trees grown at higher elevations.
The study also discovered that Christmas trees that are planted at higher elevations could experience the advantage of a longer growing season.
Additionally, Christmas tree farmers may begin to plant a more diverse range of tree species to endure the effects of a progressively changing climate.
However, Mabee said that he doesn’t believe that there are any kinds of trees that won’t feel the impact of changing weather patterns.
“Certainly, trees like Scots pine, Fraser fir or Balsam fir may suffer more in warm weather because certain pests are more likely to attack them,” he said.
“Similarly, spruce trees require a fair bit of water to grow, and if the climate changes precipitation patterns, their growth might slow.”
However, not all Christmas tree farmers will be able to afford to move their farms to elevated land, and some will not adopt new farming practices meaning that Christmas tree shortages are unlikely to stop.
