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Yes, I think it is legitimate to cut down live trees to celebrate Christmas. In my opinion, this holiday has such a strong cultural value that not cutting down genuine trees would disproportionately infringe on our basic and normal lifestyle. I am an environmentalist myself, but I think we must be careful not to allow such considerations from seriously interfering with our. We preserve nature so that we may live properly and to enjoy our world's beauty, and so robbing ourselves of a cultural icon- part of our proper lifestyle- in the name of enviromentalism is wrong.

To be clear, climate change and pollution are important topics, and I do believe that as citizens we should do our best to be as "green" as we can- including minimizing energy use, recycling, and such. Al Gore certainly did the world a great service by bringing the issue of global warming to public attention, and thus raising awareness about environmentalism in general. However, I believe our measures to preserve the environment must be proportional and measured. For example, if all people rode bicycles for transportation, pollution would practically disappear, but this is such an impractical solution that it is clearly unacceptable. Recycling and such can fit in perfectly with a proper, decent lifestlye and is therefore an ethical necessity; we have every right to demand that use of private jets, for example, be minimalized, since they are not necessary for a normal lifestyle.

In my opinion, the Christmas tree tradition is part of that lifestyle. Christmas trees have been cultural icons for centuries; they have long since become more than just religious symbols. This tradition is one of the most beautiful holiday practices that can be found in all Christianity, primarily because of its connection with Nature. The Christmas tree is a kind of step back from urbanization; it reminds us how beautiful Nature herself is, though this feeling is sometimes ruined by over-crowding the tree with electronic and artificial decorations. This is why living trees are so important, as opposed to artificial trees- the Christmas tree should remove us from the artificial and man-made, and so it cannot be itself unnatural. We are too smothered by plastics and such these days, we mustn't allow it to intrude into the great holiday traditions.

Happy Holidays!

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