Christmas Trees- Real vs. Fake

Tis the season to be jolly! Tra la la la laaa la la la laaaaa! Ho ho ho and a bottle of rum! Or maybe just a glass

But seriously, is the whole Christmas Tree thing eco friendly? It would be a shame to think that all of those thousands of green Christmas trees that get cut down each November are damaging to the environment.

Well if the farms that grow the trees are considering themselves green then they might use organic pesticides and herbicides. And they should plant one or two trees to replace the Christmas Tree. So this can help us keep peace of mind when putting a dead tree in your living room just to throw it away after Christmas.

The transportation of Christmas Trees is surely damaging to the environment. Loads of trees that are sold in the UK are grown in Denmark, Norway or even Ireland. So with all of those thousands of miles that must be consumed to get your tree to you must have a huge effect on the environment.

Buy Locally Grown Christmas Trees! Or Else!

To cut down the pollution caused by the transportation of Christmas Trees each year why not get your tree from a local grower? OK you may still have to get in your car to go to your local Christmas Tree supplier but hey we can’t be hobbits for the rest of our lives! You could even choose a tree that is still in the ground so it can be cut for you! You can’t get much fresher than that!

How Do You Get Rid Of Your Cut Christmas Tree?

Leave it the back garden and hope that it vanishes? Maybe not, you can recycle your Christmas Tree so it gets turned in to a mulch for your garden. Don’t just try and shove it in a bin bag!

Or…. Try A Living Christmas Tree

Go for a pot grown Christmas Tree, not potted because they are just like cut trees that have been shoved into a pot with soil and have no chance of survival after Christmas. If you get a good pot grown tree with roots then you can keep it in the garden for the rest of the year ready for next Christmas (as long as it is not too big for your living room).

Is Plastic Fantastic?

The other option is to go for the plastic fake Christmas Trees which resemble a toilet brush. No matter how much it looks like a real Christmas Tree, it’s really not the same is it? But they last for years and years without the mess.

So which is the greener option? Real or Fake Christmas Trees?

What kind if Christmas Tree do you get?

Know Your Christmas Trees

Norway Spruce- The old traditional type of Christmas Tree. Cheap and cheerful but a bit prickly. And don’t sneeze near them at risk of all of their needles falling on the carpet.

Nordman Fir- Bushy and glossy looking and nicer to touch. And won’t leave a load of needles on your carpet being low needle drop.

Feeling festive yet? Well it is December, it will creep up on us before we know it. But what type of Christmas Tree are you going to get? And is it an Eco Friendly Christmas Tree?

Lets Go Shopping! Eco Shopping!

How eco friendly is your supermarket? Do you think they are actually making an effort to become more eco friendly?

If you didn’t see any of The Peoples Supermarket on TV last year then be inspired and see what is possible when a group of people get together to provide better shopping ethics. Visit www.ThePeoplesSupermarket.org

It is clear that the big names want to be perceived as more eco friendly but what are they actually doing? When I use my local supermarket I do my best to remember to bring my own bags. When I forget and reach the check out then I can sometimes receive a stern but polite reminder to bring my own yet other times when I forget I am being offered more plastic bags than I know what to do with! Why would I want a plastic bag when I have only bought one item?

But I have to ask myself…..

“We certainly can and should do our part but what are the supermarkets doing to help the problem!?”

Think about all of the packaging that the suppliers use! Did I really need all of that plastic and card with that new toothbrush? Just to throw it in the recycling when I get home?

Every little counts!

Embarrassing how the UK throws away billions of plastic bags a year yet Germany are leading the way with their no plastic bag policy! hmmmmm….

And what about other shops we go to? Some are really making an effort to reduce packaging and do as much recycling as possible. Can you think of somewhere you go to regularly that would be considered Green? What about your local garden centre? These guys should be the role models when it comes to being green but sadly some of them are more interested in selling cheesy gifts than doing any recycling. They could be great distributors for domestic solar panels and wind turbines! I wonder if they ever will venture into being green? How eco friendly is your local garden centre?

How eco-friendly are your local shops? As always I love to hear all of your comments so please feel free to comment below!

Please help us to spread the word and share this post with your friends on your social media sites. Thanks!

We Are Aiming To Plant Ten Thousand Trees In Africa

And we are almost at our first thousand trees milestone! 910 at the time of writing this blog post! Well done team!  Together, WiKanDoIt…….

How To Donate To The Ten Thousand Tree Campaign

Visit our online Wikaniko shop and place your order from the “Trees” category.

In order to ensure that we pass this target, Wikaniko will match your efforts. The company will donate a tree for every tree that is ordered before 31st May!

“Doing less harm to our environment is not enough. We must also do some good”

If you wish to help us, it need not cost you any money – simply join Wikaniko as a customer and purchase everyday items through our shop to help the planet. Or, work with us as a distributor, and make an income for your family whilst doing something really worthwhile.

Let’s all learn to work with nature. This video may open some peoples eyes to the shocking truth about what we are doing to the planet. Wikaniko helps people to take one step at a time towards a greener way of life, at the end of this video you can see how such small steps can make such a massive change to how damaging we can be to the planet.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpu7IZcdzXE[/youtube]

Did You Know About This Huge Amount Of Rubbish?!

I was simply shocked when I first heard about this catastrophic amount of plastic that has accumulated in the Pacific ocean. It is twice the size of Texas!

Can you imagine the damage this is doing to the wildlife? The sea turtles mistake the plastic for jellyfish and eat them. More than a million birds, 100,000 marine mammals and countless fish die each year from either eating the rubbish or from drowning in the endless plastic. Let alone what these chemicals are doing to us!

This mess is currently accumulated about a thousand miles west of California and about a thousand miles north of the Hawaiian Islands. And if this was not bad enough, a vast swirling mass of plastic bags and rubbish has now been found in the Atlantic too!!!

I am writing this post so that hopefully I will bring this serious matter to more peoples awareness. We can all help by taking small steps towards a more eco-friendly lifestyle.

Here at Going Green Friendly With Wikaniko we would love you to take the small steps that can make a difference. I invite you to take this free Wikandoit Challenge whereby you will discover how you can become greener one step at a time.

Click here to take the Free Wikandoit Challenge!

Please feel free to share this post with your friends to raise awareness of this serious threat to our planet. Watch the video below for more details.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7rNYzSH-BA[/youtube]

For interesting videos click here to visit the Wikaniko site and click on the Rycycle/Eco Database box.

Welcome to Going Green Friendly!                                                                                          

Stay tuned to this blog as I keep you updated on what I consider to be the most important topics in Green Living! Check out the “Green Pages” box on the right hand side!