Christmas trees are a necessary evil for many environmentally-conscious consumers: a staple of many homes, they are often simply plastic towers decorated with energy-consuming lights.
The San Francisco Environmental Department and Friends of the Urban Forest have come up with a novel way to make Christmas trees "greener" by offering living trees that will replanted after the holidays.
The trees, which cost $90 each, will potentially stop hundreds of Christmas trees from being tossed out onto the streets after Christmas. Four different species are offered, and you don't even have to replant the trees yourself— they will be picked up from your house and planted in San Francisco.
Though San Francisco is already a tree-lined city, streets can still accomodate up to 120,000 more trees.
It's encouraging to see such an innovative idea taking root on a normally wasteful holiday—hopefully it will inspire similar actions from organizations looking to capitalize on consumers' good intentions.