this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2023
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Individual Climate Action

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Discuss actions that we can directly take as individuals to reduce environmental harm.

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activistPnk
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Don’t get a Christmas tree. Not plastic, not real, just skip it. (self.climate_action_individual)
submitted 11 months ago by activistPnk to c/climate_action_individual
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[–] LilNaib 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Please do not do this.

Putting organic material into a landfill where it will decompose anaerobically (without oxygen) creates methane. This methane then leaks from the landfill, accelerating climate change.

There are SO many constructive things you can do with organic material. You can take a dead or dying tree, or one that is otherwise a poor fit for a particular location, and use it to make wood chips for mulching soil; biochar to sequester carbon and enrich compost when added to compost; building materials; firewood and more. All of these things sequester carbon and/or reduce climate emissions by reducing the use of fossil fuels.

Growing a healthy tree just to make some methane with it in a landfill is profane. Please don't send any organic material to a landfill, especially not healthy trees. Leave healthy trees alone unless they're causing trouble (such as by damaging a roof) and instead prioritize the use of dead/dying ones, or those that aren't appropriate for their spot (e.g. shading solar panels) or climate (e.g. trees that require irrigation).

[–] activistPnk 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I recently had some healthy trees removed because they were threatening the house. I asked the tree service what they do with the trees. They said they bring them to the landfill. I was shocked because this was during a time when lumber costs quadrupled. I would have expected them to be able to mill it and profit further. They offer the wood to a local artistic carpenter first (at no cost), but that person cannot keep up in the slightest so most of the wood goes to the landfill. I spoke to another carpenter who said elm is too rich in minerals and thus dullens cutting tools so they rejected my offer of free wood. Ultimately it ended up in the landfill.

You’ve inspired a question: considering methane is 25× more harmful than CO₂, is it actually less harmful to burn wood in a fireplace than to bury it at the risk that methane develops and gets released? I guess that comes down to the probability of the methane escaping.

[–] LilNaib 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

They said they bring them to the landfill.

That's awful, creating tons and tons of methane - and they even have to pay for dumping. Just so stupid all around.

When I get some land I'll have a standing open invitation for select local arborists to come and dump truckloads of woodchips on my land whenever they want, for free.

is it actually less harmful to burn wood in a fireplace than to bury it at the risk that methane develops and gets released?

Yes, it's absolutely better to burn wood for heat in a modern fireplace. Doing so replaces a large amount of fossil fuels that would otherwise be burned to generate direct heat or electricity for electric heat. Although passive solar heating is by far the best method of home heating, modern fireplaces are vastly superior to anything that contribute to climate change. Since I assume your concern about fireplaces is about particulate emissions and air quality, I can happily say that modern fireplaces emit hundreds of times fewer particulates than ones from just a few decades ago. While considerable work has gone into improving fireplace design, one can't say the same about cleaning up our energy grids and climate emissions.

[–] activistPnk 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

The tree service made this offer: they were willing to cut the wood into fireplace-sized segments and leave it in place. It would be on me to find someone who needs firewood and deal with the splitting. I didn’t find any takers. If I had, I would not have had control over whether it goes into a proper wood burning stove w/cadallitic converter. I suppose if it could be milled into pellets that would have made it easy to dump and likely to be used in a relatively clean stove.

But I guess getting it into pellets is the tricky part. If the high-mineral wood dullens cutting tools the cost of blades/bits/rasps would have to be factored in.

The tree service was unwilling to deliver the wood to a place of my choice. Either I keep the wood or if they haul it then they will only haul it to the dump (or their partnered artistic carpetener if that person wants it).