Richard Russell: Now's the time to get living holiday tree
Dear Editor: In the time it takes to read this letter, another species will have gone extinct somewhere on the planet. That's knocking them off 500 times faster than the rate before the rise of human "civilization." Some of those species would still be alive if there were more trees generating oxygen, dropping needles to mulchify on the forest floor, providing root systems to aerate the soil and minimize mudslides, and so on.
But, about seven or eight months from now, many Wisconsin families will celebrate the season of rebirth and renewal by finding a beautiful, healthy exemplar of eternal life -- an evergreen tree -- and killing it. They will then drag its corpse home and set it up in a corner where they can watch it dessicate into a fire hazard. After a few months, they'll drag its body to the curb to be dismembered, discarded and forgotten. And year after year, decade after decade, they'll do it again.
If this annual rite of wanton arboricide in the name of "eternal life" strikes you as going beyond the ironic into the hypocritical, now's the time you've been waiting for. Hie thyself to a garden nursery and get yourself a tender young living tree, plant it in your yard, and enjoy it for generations to come.
Richard S. Russell
Madison
