Real trees better: Get real. That’s the answer to whether to buy a real Christmas tree or an artificial one, according to research done by the David Suzuki Foundation. — Canada.com

A – Z of a green Christmas: By the time the ingredients that make up the average British Christmas dinner arrive on our plates, they have travelled a combined distance of 49,000 miles. Turkeys from Europe, vegetables from Africa, wine from the southern hemisphere, cranberries from America – the turkey and trimmings add up to the equivalent of 6,000 car trips around the world, new research from the University of Manchester has found. — The Guardian

The threat of food shortage: The House of Lords has urged the Government to switch its priorities from the environment to production in order to cope with the growing threat of food shortages. — icWales.co.uk

Atlantic gets stormed: Tropical Storm Olga, a rare December cyclone, left eight people dead in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico on Wednesday as pounding rains triggered major floods and landslides. Olga is the 15th named storm to form in the Atlantic this year. In all six of the storms became hurricanes, including two that hit land with rare fury, reaching the topmost intensity five with maximum sustained winds of more than 249kmh. In August, Hurricane Dean killed at least 29 people in a rampage through the Caribbean and Mexico. The following month, Hurricane Felix killed about 150 people and wrought a trail of devastation along Nicaragua’s impoverished Caribbean coast.  — Sydney Morning Herald