Debates about “fake vs. real” items — ranging from cosmetic procedures to meat — have waged on for as long as people are willing to listen to them. I’m here to lay out an important one, given the season: Christmas trees. And I’m going to give you the nitty-gritty pros and cons of each.

Fake trees: so-called “earth-savers” have a few pluses themselves. They can be reused every year, are relatively inexpensive, and do not pose as big of a fire threat if you get lazy with taking it down right after Christmas. However, there are major cons to this seemingly safe bet — and many experts agree that artificial trees and their life cycles can have a greater negative environmental impact than their real counterparts. The plastics and lead that go into creating these copycats are non-recyclable, meaning they’ll sit in landfills for centuries. Oh, and most of them are made in China, further putting a fat, dirty footprint on the environment.

The real McCoy, live trees, are considered to be classics. Searching for the perfect tree, whether it may be a quality father/son bonding moment or a last-minute scramble, has been a hallmark of American culture ever since Clark Griswald could replay it for us on the big screen. Sure, many of us green people cringe at the thought of chopping down a tree to glorify in our living rooms, but listen to this: out of the 33 million Christmas trees sold in the United States every year, 93% are recycled through over 4,000 different types of recycling programs. Your once-cherished bushy Christmas tree would be turned into anything from fertilizer to wood chips for playgrounds. Also, farmers must ensure a healthy supply of trees in the coming years, so for every tree that grows on their land, one to three seeds are planted the following spring for next year’s batch. A single tree on a Christmas tree farm absorbs one ton of CO2 during its lifetime. If you multiply that by the 350 million real Christmas trees that grow on US farms alone, it doesn’t take rocket science to figure out that that alleviates a ridiculous amount of carbon dioxide from our air. Bonus: for each acre of trees that grows, enough oxygen is provided for the daily needs of 18 people.

Unfortunately, the only sure-fire way to fix this problem is to invest in a Charlie Brown tree: rescue a dead and/or scrawny tree branch from your backyard and hang a single ornament on it. (Hey, it’s the thought that counts, right?) Otherwise, think about these counterpoints before springing to buy your Christmas tree. You’ll be able to do your part in making the holidays a joyful (and not earth-destroying) season for all.