What is the cost on the environment for sending a bouquet of flowers to your sweetie to say you love them. Who are you impacting and how? You know, I'm a firm believer in your dollar being your biggest vote in this world.
A May 2002 cover story in Environmental Health Perspectives, published bythe U.S. Department of Health, pulled together current research on workerand environmental health in the cut flower industry. Holland remains theworld's largest producer of cut flowers, but Colombia is now a close second.One of every two flowers sold in the U.S. is grown in the Colombian savannahsurrounding Bogota. Colombia flower workers number 80,000, with another50,000 in packaging and transportation. China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, India,Malaysia, Mexico, Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe all now export cut flowers.According to a report by the International Union of Food, Agricultural,Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers and Food FirstInformation and Action Network (FIAN), 190,000 people in developingcountries work in the flower business.
Well, here in the U.S. many of our roses come from either Ecuador or Colombia depending. Also, we get flowers from Holland and I'm sure other countries.
These issues exist here, but for the sake of argument, I want to look a little at the U.k. Thirty percent of their flowers come from Kenya, specifically around Lake Naivasha. Which is worse, using a large amount of fuel to fly over flowers from Kenya or importing flowers from Holland.
Preliminary results on a study done by a University in U.K. says it is actually a less negative (5 times less) impact on the environment if you get them from Africa. There they are grown in the natural, hot sun opposed to the artificial environment created in Holland in Hot houses that happens this time of the year.
I suppose you must also look and the use of pesticides, treatment of workers, sustainability (Lake Naivasha is drying up quickly and once it's gone, this will no longer be an option), and overall how much of this land could be used to produce nutritious foods instead of cash crops.
All in the name of those of us more fortunate-needing a little symbol of love. I would prefer a hand drawn photo of a flower, but how's a girl not to smile, when he thinks of you and sends you flowers.
After all, the Earth laughs in flowers. (Ralph Waldo Emerson) and who doesn't want to share a laugh with the one they love.
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