To Do a Christmas Tree or Not?

SURFSIDE, TEXAS - Almost every sunny weekend, Carlina Schubert comes to the beach to surf, shoot off firecrackers with friends, or help her mom collect shells.
Now, the high school senior is spending one really wet weekend dragging withered Christmas trees across the beach in an effort to protect it. In a matter of weeks, wind-swept sand trapped in these old trees will create desperately needed dunes, protecting the beach from erosion and the nearby homes from being swept away.

It's one of the many ways communities are recycling the remains of the millions of trees discarded after Christmas gifts are unwrapped and eggnog polished off.

As more Americans celebrate with fake trees in an effort to protect the environment and stave off a carpet of Christmas-tree needles, tree growers are becoming more vocal about the ecological benefits of real trees - especially the benefits that come post presents.

While they grow, advocates say, real trees stabilize soil and provide refuge for wildlife. But even after they're toppled, they can be used in an increasing number of ways.

The most common of those is mulching: Towns collect the trees and grind them up for use in gardens, parks, or zoos. But communities with specific needs are using them more creatively.

In Louisiana, for instance, discarded trees are used to build underwater fences along barge canals, helping preserve freshwater marshland areas. In addition, they protect the Louisiana coastline from salt-water intrusion.

In other states, the trees are piled around watering holes to provide shelter for birds, or sunk into lakes and ponds to make refuge and feeding areas for fish. In Michigan, trees are first laid on frozen lakes to guide snowmobilers before sinking to the bottom when spring arrives and the ice melts.

And here along the Gulf of Mexico coast, they are staked together in long rows, a skeleton for new dunes.

"This is the least expensive and the best solution to our problem," says Denise Grier, supervisor of special events at the Brazoria County Parks Department. "And people are getting twice the benefit out of these trees."

During their growth period of seven to fifteen years, real Christmas trees provide many environmental and ecological benefits. These include erosion control, wildlife habitat, oxygen production, and carbon dioxide and other pollutant removal.

Shikimic acid, more commonly known as its anionic form shikimate, is an important biochemical intermediate in plants and microorganisms. Its name comes from the Japanese flower shikimi (シキミ, Illicium anisatum), from which it was first isolated and from which it is commercially produced today. Shikimic acid is present in most autotrophic organisms, but the isolation yield is low.

Shikimic acid is a precursor for:

the aromatic amino acids phenylalanine and tyrosine;
indole, indole derivatives and tryptophan;
many alkaloids and other aromatic metabolites;
tannins;
lignin.
In pharmaceutical industry, shikimic acid is used as a base material for production of oseltamivir. The low isolation yield of shikimic acid is blamed for the 2005 shortage of oseltamivir.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikimic_acid

Oseltamivir is an antiviral drug, a neuraminidase inhibitor used in the treatment and prophylaxis of both influenza A and influenza B. Oseltamivir was the first orally active neuraminidase inhibitor commercially developed. It was developed by Gilead Sciences and is currently marketed by Hoffman-La Roche (Roche) under the trade name Tamiflu®.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oseltamivir