Flower Bouquets Are Deadly

 

What a delightful moment when someone presents you with a marvelous bouquet of fresh flowers. But no matter how carefully you treat them and change the water daily - they start to wilt away from day three... Once flowers are cut, they are doomed to die!

• The floriculture industry has huge impacts on the environment through water usage, pollution, pesticides, land degradation, and fossil fuel transportation emissions. The majority of cut flowers that are offered for sale in Europe and North America are coming from Africa and South America.
  
  
• Sending the roughly 100 million roses of a typical Valentine’s Day produces some 9,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the field to North American florists.
  
  
• The floriculture industry, which has loose regulations, generates a lot of chemical pollution through fertilizers and pesticides. 
  
  
• A third of the chemicals used in the floriculture industry in developing countries are banned or untested in North America -- but yet, they are imported.
  
  
• The health impact on workers who are exposed to these chemicals is tremendous.
  
  

There are better flower gifts for Valentine's Day:

The most eco-responsible choice if you want to enjoy flowers are those of the locally grown, organic, in-season variety.  Or choose potted spring blooms as a Valentine's Day gift.  They will bloom much longer and later can be dug into the garden to bloom every spring in the coming years.  For friends or family with a garden or balcony, flower seeds would be the perfect solution. Nothing is more environmental-friendly.

One of the best gifts you can make!

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