Fresh out of Barnard College with a degree in political science, Riley is learning the ropes as a writer and reporter for GZERO. When she isn’t writing about global politics, you can find her making GZERO’s crossword puzzles, conducting research on American politics, or persisting in her lifelong quest to learn French. Riley spends her time outside of work grilling, dancing, and wearing many hats (both literally and figuratively).
The number of US Christmas tree farms fell sharply during the 2008 financial crisis and has continued to decline – so much so that 96% of the Christmas trees sold in the US come from Canada. Christmas trees take eight to 10 years to grow, making it difficult to start new farms and even harder to turn profits. Inflation has raised the cost of fertilizer and fuel, and these costs are being passed on to consumers
Meanwhile, prices for fake trees, which 78% of consumers polled said they intend to buy, are also up $5 on average this year. But fake trees have a far greater range of prices, with some costing as much as $1,000.
Environmental economics. Interestingly, the environmental calculus favors chopping down real trees over manufacturing plastic replicas. Researchers suggest that reusing an artificial tree 3-5 times can reduce carbon footprint, but each real tree bought supports forest ecosystems and local farmers.
