clipped from: www.slate.com   
Should I Buy a Fake Fir?
By Brendan I. Koerner
Illustration by Mark Alan Stamaty. Click image to expand.Please help settle an argument that's threatening to tear my family apart this holiday season: What's worse for the environment, a real Christmas tree that lasts just a few weeks, or an artificial one that we can haul out every December for the next 15 years?