http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/16/rented.christmas.ap/index.html
Oh Christmas tree, so glad I rented thee
Friday, December 16, 2005; Posted: 11:56 a.m. EST (16:56 GMT)
Illustration Omitted:
Stacy Collins Johnson and her daughter, Eva, 6, decorate a rented
primrose tree.
SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- It might just take a Christmas miracle to
deck out these spindly branches, and at $90 a tree they're anything but cheap.
But like Charlie Brown's sad sapling, it's the thought behind them that shines
through.
The city is renting 100 young potted trees, from fruitless olives to Brisbane
boxes, to homes for the holidays. Instead letting them get tossed to the curb
when holiday is over, the city will pick them up in January and plant them in a
neighborhood in need of greenery.
"We call it the guilt-free option," said Mark Westlund, spokesman for the San
Francisco Department of the Environment, which introduced the unusual tree
rental program this year as an environmentally friendly alternative to
harvested firs and artificial trees.
"You don't have to worry about cutting down a living tree and you don't have to
worry about buying a tree with petroleum materials," he said.
The trees, typically 6- to 12-feet high, are far from the full-bodied
evergreens most Christmas revelers are accustomed to.
But that's fine with Stacy Collins Johnson, who rented a live primrose to help
her children, ages 4 and 6, learn the importance of giving back to the
environment.
"I wasn't really sure how this would play out, having a nontraditional
Christmas tree in our house," said Johnson, 43. "I thought they'd be upset, and
they love it. They named the tree Charlie Green."
Environmentalists say growing real trees to chop down for a few weeks of
pleasure is a waste of valuable resources, and discarding them often clogs
local landfills. Artificial trees often contain lead and other harmful
chemicals that eventually end up in landfills, too.
San Francisco launched the live rental program this year with the nonprofit
group Friends of the Urban Forest, which plants trees along the city's streets.
Within a week of the announcement, all 100 trees were claimed, Westlund said.
"I'm kind of an unrepentant tree hugger," said George Slack, who rented three
trees for his cabinet shop. "There's something very nice about having a living
piece of greenery in your living environment this time of year."
The city's inspiration for the program was John Fogel, whose Original Living
Christmas Tree Company in Portland, Ore., has been renting live Christmas trees
and later replanting them for 14 years. His customers aren't all
"granola-eating, sandal-wearing type people," Fogel said.
"It's a practical thing they do around the holidays," he said.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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