An estimated 200 million natural Christmas trees are sold every year across the globe, in an industry worth 4.5 billion euros. The US alone consumes between 35 and 40 million natural trees a year, and that’s on top of 50 million artificial trees.
Germans spend around 700 million euros each year on just under 30 million trees. Brits buy some 8 million trees, and the French 5.5 million. In the Netherlands, the annual market varies between 2.5 and 3 million trees.
On average, it takes 10 years to grow a Christmas tree. With a density of 5000 trees per hectare, we get an idea of the vast amount of land needed for the sake of having a tree in our homes for three weeks of the year.
Even though the environmental burden of this Christmas tree consumption reportedly isn’t all that big, many people feel uneasy about it.
Among them are a couple from Australia, who are still keen to keep up the annual tradition of decorating the Christmas tree. So they designed the totally sustainable, stylishly sound Onetwotree that you can build up yourself.
But before you get round to adorning it with balls and lights, the tree tests your skill in the puzzle of stacking the branches. After Christmas, the small wooden tree, which carries a price tag of 225 euros, is easily stored away in a flat box so that the tradition can continue next year.
This sweet video explains the whole idea clearly
And somehow or other, the video reminds us of another man and woman with a child, long, long ago, near Bethlehem…