Please refer all questions to my attorney...

Our annual hunt for a Christmas tree ended successfully yesterday. As usual, we headed straight for the back of the cut-your-own lot where all the trees are $25 and, just as importantly, big and beautiful. The owner of the lot helped us tie the tree to the top of Will's car.

We cut down a tree for Christmas every year. Yup, every year. If we lived in Ecuador, that would probably mean we'd be facing a very long prison sentence because that country's Constitution grants inalienable rights to nature. In other words, in Ecuador trees have the same rights you are protected by here in the US. 

In case you're mortified that trees in the United States remain an unprotected class, don't worry, the Community Enviromental Legal Defense Fund is working hard to "change the status of ecosystems from being regarded as property under the law to being recognized as rights-bearing entities." Read that last bit out loud and very slowly. To date, the CELDF has helped a dozen communities IN THE UNITED STATES pass tree-rights laws.

It probably won't be too long before tree rights activists will be flinging buckets of sap at anyone leaving a Christmas tree farm.

Not to digress, but giving constitutional rights to trees is a fabulous way to take property rights away from people. While the  Trees Have Rights Too people  avoid any mention of what exactly would happen to our property rights if their beliefs became reality, it's clear that, in their view, I wouldn't be able to even sneeze at a tree in my own yard.

Unless you believe that trees are their own, um, person...or whatever, a couple of hours of reading will dispel any notion you have that communal ownership of anything is better for trees or anything else. Or you can watch this:

This is more fun to watch and shows in a cute but graphic way what happens when several farmers raise their
sheep on a commonly-owned meadow:

So, back to Christmas trees. Is it an environmental loss, so to speak, to cut down a tree? All trees have a positive impact on the environment but, importantly, are a renewable resource. Unlike people on the fringe (equal rights for trees people, maybe?), The Nature Conservancy understands the positive role private property plays in caring for the environment and, more importantly, knows what it takes to keep forests healthy.