{"id":4155,"date":"2009-02-08T21:56:06","date_gmt":"2009-02-09T03:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=4155"},"modified":"2009-02-08T21:56:06","modified_gmt":"2009-02-09T03:56:06","slug":"cut-carbon-not-flowers-for-valentines-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/cut-carbon-not-flowers-for-valentines-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Cut Carbon (not Flowers) for Valentine&#8217;s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Cut out cut flowers this Valentine\u2019s Day, and you\u2019ll do you part in cutting out carbon.<\/h3>\n<h3>The cut flower industry is among those that raise the ire of the thoughtful environmentalist. Nearly three of every four cut flowers sold in the US are imported, and a large chunk of those come from South America. Colombia and Ecuador are large growers and exporters of roses, and flowers can be flown in from as far as Europe.<\/h3>\n<p>Following those flowers leads one to the unhappy knowledge of all that\u2019s involved in their life cycle, from seed to vase. It&#8217;s symbolic of our throw away society that many don\u2019t consider the tremendous waste that\u2019s part and parcel of bringing those flowers to market.<\/p>\n<p>Because cut flowers are especially perishable, they must be flown in over long distances to avoid spoilage. That\u2019s quite a <a title=\"Carbon Footprint from Sustainablog\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/2008\/07\/23\/reduce-your-carbon-footprint-with-the-nature-conservancy%E2%80%99s-voluntary-carbon-offset-program\/\" target=\"_blank\">carbon footprint<\/a> for a product that under best conditions will last a week or so.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4156\" src=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/files\/2009\/02\/flowers-copy.jpg\" alt=\"Buy Live and Local\" width=\"590\" height=\"357\" \/><!--more-->The US government has some say in what pesticides can be sprayed on food crops. Not so with flowers, as they\u2019re not a particularly popular food product.\u00a0 One can also safely assume that spraying habits and controls concerning chemical pesticides and fertilizers are somewhat less stringent in developing countries.<\/p>\n<p>The health of the environment in these growing areas often takes a back seat to the potential profits gleaned from flower sales, with workers and waterways assuming the brunt effects\u00a0of pesticide and fertilizer spraying.<\/p>\n<p>Yet as always, the choice isn\u2019t whether to give or not to give, to do harm or do without. Rather, it\u2019s the diligence required to discover and decide how we can satisfy wants and needs in a way that won\u2019t mean murder on our <a title=\"Ecosystem from Planetsave\" href=\"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/blog\/2007\/12\/07\/know-your-ecosystem-save-your-ecosystem\/\" target=\"_blank\">ecosystem<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If you have an allergic aversion to wasting dirty fuels and using harmful chemicals, adopt an idea listed below to give Valentine\u2019s Day flowers that show you\u2019ve a crush on the planet as well.<\/p>\n<p>The greenhouse is a centuries-old method of growing in colder or adverse climates, and there\u2019s likely one near you. Doesn\u2019t get more local than that.<\/p>\n<p>Need further selling?\u00a0 Giving live and local is also a potential source of brownie points, Romeo(a). Tell him or her that, like your relationship, you wanted the flowers you give to last and grow.<\/p>\n<p>Note also that you are not adopting a dog that will pee on your rug and beg to be walked at dawn. Just plop your live and locals near a window and add water every few days. They\u2019ll clean and sweeten your air supply, and excrete only useful oxygen.<\/p>\n<p>Directing your hard earned dollars toward more eco responsible flowers is a powerful statement you can make for the environment, as you\u2019re speaking the universal language of profit. As long as flowers flown from faraway foreign lands are profitable, the practice will continue.<\/p>\n<p>There will surely come a time in the near future when the growing scarcity of oil drives fuel prices so high as to make flower flights prohibitive, but that time is not now. So it falls to us to speak with our wallets on behalf of the planet.<\/p>\n<p>Yet don\u2019t stop there. Communicate with your voice as well as your greenbacks. Ask your local florist (the owner or manager) before you buy for your Valentine whether they sell flowers still among the living. This can be an interesting and informative exercise.<\/p>\n<p>Live flowers growing in soil may in fact turn out to be an outlandish and eccentric concept to those who sell flowers for a living. Kindly inform them that the natural tendency and desire of flowers is, in fact, to live and grow, and that you wished they had live and locally grown flowers to sell.<\/p>\n<p>Politely inform them that your search for live flowers must therefore take you elsewhere.\u00a0 Few things motivate a business person like the idea of needlessly lost sales. Our desire here is not to put a flower shop out of business, but to motivate its operator to offer a more <a title=\"Sustainable Businesses ecopreneurist.com\" href=\"http:\/\/ecopreneurist.com\/\">sustainable <\/a>alternative.<\/p>\n<p>One wishes concern for the environment was equally as compelling as profit, but alas. Yet the savvy environmentalist uses all available implements within one\u2019s\u00a0garden tool bag.\u00a0 Happy V-Day<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit (Flowers) <a href=\"http:\/\/flickr.com\/photos\/indy138\/2667297356\/\">http:\/\/flickr.com\/photos\/indy138\/2667297356\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Video Credit (YouTube) <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.givingplants.com\/flowervideo.html\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.givingplants.com\/flowervideo.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cut out cut flowers this Valentine\u2019s Day, and you\u2019ll do you part in cutting out carbon. The cut flower industry is among those that raise the ire of the thoughtful&nbsp;[ &hellip; ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":4156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[271,8512],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cut Carbon (not Flowers) for Valentine&#039;s Day  &#8226; Sustainablog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/cut-carbon-not-flowers-for-valentines-day\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cut Carbon (not Flowers) for Valentine&#039;s Day  &#8226; Sustainablog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cut out cut flowers this Valentine\u2019s Day, and you\u2019ll do you part in cutting out carbon. 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