CALL me Mister Humbug, but today I am calling for a new charity, the NSPCCT – the National Society for the Prevention of Chopping (Down) Christmas Trees?
“Only God can make anything as beautiful as trees,” sang Paul Robeson in a musical version of a famous century-old poem by Joyce Kilmer.
Which makes me wonder why six million households in the UK celebrate the birth of His son, the Baby Jesus, by sticking a decapitated tree in the corner of the living room.
Artificial versions are now so life-like, is there really any need to continue with this annual chainsaw massacre?
Around Europe about 150 million trees are chopped down each November as global warming and environmental disasters continue to make the headlines. Add to the transport costs of hauling weighty trees here, there and everywhere and it seems crazy that the guardians of the air we breathe are sacrificed in this feast of St Stephen.
By now, thousands of people from Merseyside and Greater Manchester will have made their annual pilgrimage to Delamere Forest to handpick a live specimen which, within hours, will have beed decorated and lit up. Delamere is one of the Forestry Commission’s main tree outlets, accounting for a large slice of the 100,000 trees they log and flog during this festive period.
It insists its trees are from sustainable sources and for every tree taken down, two are planted, to await their appointment with the axeman in five or six years time.
Nevertheless, it is a big money-spinner, with many trees costing upwards of £50 to £200 and this Christmas we in the UK will be spending around £300m on freshly felled firs, spruces and pines.
A few years ago Liverpool saw by introducing into Church Street the zaniest Christmas tree ever created - Metal Mickey. After a couple of outings Metal Mickey disappeared, never to be seen again.
Going: The yew trees in Woolton
This week has seen the chopping down of two beautiful old yew trees outside a church in leafy (while the leaves last) Woolton Village. It seems there was a Tree Protection Order on them, but there is a dispute about whether council permission was given, or otherwise, to allow the removal of trees that have been part of the “In Bloom” village’s streets cene for generations.
Every week the city planning department receives dozens of applications from householders, business owners and property owners all seeking one thing: permission to chop down trees.
Diseased trees ought to be removed, but more often we are seeing healthy examples biting the sawdust.
Gone, some time later
Under planning rules the council is now allowed to impose what is called a section 106 condition on planning applications, forcing developers to pay a bounty for environmental works around the areas where they plan to build some more student flats. Maybe the council should introduce a ‘green’ rule telling people if they chop down trees in their gardens, they must plant or pay the cost of planting trees in their neighbourhoods to compensate for the loss.
It may be seen by some as barking up the wrong tree, but until we start to better protect our own trees, we have little business telling people in faraway lands that their own must be preserved.
Come February 14 I’ll be fighting the corner of the beautiful rose, and asking why such a flower has been linked to romance, especially as roses really do grow on trees, or shrubs, and as soon as they are cut from their branches they wither and die. Romantic or what?
