Why You Should Buy Organic Flowers

Colombia is the world's top producer of cut flowers, leaving Holland in the #2 position. Other major exporters of the world's cut flowers are: Ecuador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mexico, United States, Israel, Turkey, Belgium / Luxembourg, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, France, Spain, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Morocco, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Thailand, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. The best producers of cut flowers will be located close to the equator, with year-round warm temperatures and (ideally) high altitudes, such as Ecuador and Colombia. Due to technology and greenhouses, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium / Luxembourg and of course Holland also are able to produce flowers year-round. Most of the more temperate and cold-weather climate countries (aside from Holland) are not high on the list of the world's top flower exporters though.

The origin of your cut flowers is environmentally important for several reasons. Most obvious is the fact that the more miles your product travels, the more airline fuel is used. Every 3 hours, a 35-ton cargo plane laden with cut flowers departs Colombia, destined all over the world(1). Flowers grown in developing nations are not always subject to the same pesticide regulations as we are necessarily accustomed to. One flower farm in the state of Morelos, Mexico, was shown to be using 36 pesticides in its operations, including the chemical DDT. Finally, due to stringent controls now present on agricultural products entering countries such as the USA, cut flowers are doused with chemicals in order to clear customs. One of the many chemicals used to "sanitize" imported flowers is the toxic and ozone-depleting methyl bromide.(1)

Aside from environmental concerns, many foreign-grown flowers carry a human toll as well.The workers, often women and children, are frequently exposed to the above-mentioned pesticides and chemicals. These workers are frequently bare-armed with no facial masks or other forms of protection. Workers are sometimes present when the greenhouses and crops are sprayed with toxic pesticides. Sometimes they are removed during the treatments, but return to work only several hours after pesticide application.(2). Colombia in particular has been criticized for the high rate of miscarriages, congenital deformations and premature births associated with pregnant women working in the flower farms. Often, sweatshop conditions exist for flower farm workers. Trade unions are discouraged if not downright dangerous to take part in. Wages are minimal and overtime is expected, particularly around big holidays such as Valentine's Day.

Flowers grown in "developed" countries are not necessarily 100% ethically correct however. Most flower pickers at farms in the United States, the United Kingdom and even Holland are undocumented workers. Of course, they work for substandard wages and have no access to established labor standards.

The proposition has been made that transporting naturally grown flowers is more environmentally-friendly than powering the heating and lighting needed in greenhouses. The fuel used in the air transportation of cut flowers grown in equatorial countries potentially contributes less pollution than that generated by powering the heat and light required in greenhouse growing conditions.

1 - Organic Consumers Association

2 - Sierra Club Canada

As mentioned above, flowers grown in colder climates are grown in artificially heated and lighted greenhouses. It has not yet been determined whether this use of energy contributes more or less to pollution than the use of air fuel to jet in flowers from equatorial climates, grown in natural conditions.

Growing high-quality flowers requires a lot of water. In certain areas of the world, flower farming has caused water tables of certain locales to drop. After the flowers and plants have been watered, that water flows somewhere. The water will flow into the ground, rivers, streams and our oceans - having picked up a multitude of chemicals and pesticides from unsustainable flower farming practices.

Flowers are thirsty creatures. Really thirsty. In fact, African flowers farms have been drying out that continent's 3rd largest lake, Lake Naivasha in Kenya. Not only is the water of this lake being siphoned off and exported in the form of cut flowers and roses, the remaining water is being polluted through chemicals and pesticides, the workers are often being treated inhumanely and indigenous tribal peoples are being pushed off their lands.

An easy solution to this problem is to stop buying cut flowers. However, countries like Kenya are facing an economic crisis. One has to decide what is the greater evil: furthering the economic or the environmental damage for countries experiencing severe crises such as these. The most logical and humane choice may be to continue to support the flower industry through purchase of both organic and fair-trade flowers.

You can read more about efforts to save Lake Naivasha and, consequently, the Kenyan environment through a boycott of cut flowers in the Los Angeles Times 'Emerald City' blog entry, "Roses are red and water-intesive".

While this article meant to alert you to socially and environmentally unsound practices in the cut flower industry, it is not meant to dissuade you from purchasing cut flowers! Flower farms in developing and third-world countries can provide employment for thousands. We, as consumers of cut flowers, can demand certified or organic flowers from our florist or local farmers market.

Consulting your local florist is a good bet for finding locally-grown, organic flowers. They can also offer certified flowers. Of course, certified or organic flowers will cost more. You can be assured, however, that your money is going to improve someone's quality of life. On holidays of love such as Valentine's Day or Mother's Day when flowers are de rigeur, it makes sense to also honor this largely female workforce by contributing a premium to the workers through your purchase of certified flowers.

Fortunately for the US, it is coming up to speed with European demand for certified flowers. It is no longer difficult to purchase socially, economically or environmentally conscious cut flowers. Major online florist 1-800-FLOWERS.com offers a selection of "Organic, Natural & Fair Trade" gifts and flowers (Fair Trade Certified). FTD.com offers an "eco-friendly" selection of flowers & gifts that are "certified as sustainably grown", although not certified organic. Organic Bouquet boasts the following certifications: USDA Organic, Biodynamic, Veriflora and Fair Trade Certified.

One good idea is to ask your local florist about organic and locally-grown flowers. Try checking out your local farmers markets. And if shopping online, you can check out Organic Bouquet!

Organic Bouquet is an easy way to shop online for organic flowers. All of their products (which actually go WAY beyond just flowers to including housewares, gifts, foods and apparel) are USDA, Fair Trade or Rainforest Alliance Certified.

If your Organic Bouquet product comes in a cotton bag, there is a story behind that. In Kochi, India in 2008, Organic Bouquet agreed to purchase scrap remnants from the cotton mill where Organic Bouquet sheets are manufactured. These scraps are sewn into the bags that contain the sheets or other gift items. This agreement raised enough funds for 300 girls from the area to go to school for the first time.

Back to flowers though.. In Peru's Andean Highlands, Organic Bouquet 100% financed the purchase of flower seeds for local flower farmers. In 2010, Organic Bouquet plans to extend their commitment to organic flower farmers in the highlands of Peru and Colombia as well. They plan to cover 100% of the cost for certification of these farmers, presumably (its me presuming here) for Veriflora certification or another like name.

Organic Bouquet has many partners. These include: USDA; Fairtrade; Rainforest Alliance; Accion International; Conservacion y Dessarollo; Florverde; Flor Ecuador; Veriflora; www.carbonfund.org and the Nicaragua Reforestation Project.

You can even save some money along with saving the Earth when you look for Organic Bouquet Coupon Codes

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