The red rose is well known for symbolizing love. It even represents 60% of the flowers offered on Valentine's Day in France . However, in the shadow of this flourishing business, they pose a thorny environmental and social problem . Not very romantic, right? So, to have an eco-responsible Valentine's Day, we have put together a selection of sustainable products , as red as the rose.
Valentine's Day: a commercial holiday?
Over time, Valentine's Day has evolved a lot . Initially a pagan celebration, then Christian, it was then taken up by poets and artists from the Renaissance onwards when the nobility appropriated it. It was only at the beginning of the 20th century that it was associated with commerce. Today, in addition to symbolizing love, it has also become a commercial event that brings joy to florists, less so to the planet.
Flowers are very anchored in our cultures and are known to be the ideal gift when you don't really know what to give. In addition to their scent, they are plants that recall nature and its beauty, a poetic way of showing one's feelings.
However, among the 22 million bouquets sold , two thirds of the roses offered are produced intensively in Ecuador, Kenya or the Netherlands. As you may know, roses do not grow here in winter. But to create an annual global market of 4 billion dollars, we had to put in the resources…
Not very green production for roses
It is in the Netherlands, Europe's leading producer of cut flowers and a hub for the rose trade, that these flowers grown on gigantic farms in Africa or South America are transported. These countries were chosen for their mild climate, favorable to the growth of roses throughout the year . However, the intensive cultivation of these flowers poses several problems for the environment:
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The water
It takes between 7 and 13 liters of water to grow a rose bud to maturity. This poses problems of soil drying , particularly in Kenya where a lake near the farms has been shrinking from year to year.
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More and more pesticides
For pesticides too, the quantities are significant since we use 30 times more pesticides on flowers as well as on fruits and vegetables. This poses problems of water and soil pollution but also impacts the health of workers.
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Difficult working conditions
In addition to constant exposure to pesticides, flower farm employees are very poorly paid. These are often women, who, as in Kenya, are paid less than 100 dollars per month , even less in Ethiopia.
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Transportation
As you might expect, the transport of these roses is done by plane, which is very costly in terms of energy but also very emitting greenhouse gases. But it's not just transport that needs to be taken into account: lighting and heating the Dutch greenhouses would be even more polluting . Thus, it is estimated that a flower would emit on average 1kg of CO2 , the equivalent of 5 km by car.
Little-known labels!
You will have understood, buying roses on Valentine's Day is ultimately not very romantic. But if you still want to please with a bouquet there are more environmentally friendly solutions.
- Buy flowers certified Fleurs de France or Plante Bleue . These two labels guarantee that horticulturists and companies produce these flowers in France in an eco-responsible approach.
- Buy seasonal flowers sold locally by the Slow Flower movement
These labels allow you to buy flowers produced with no or few pesticides and travel fewer kilometers. This also helps promote the well-being of insects , particularly bees which are also victims of pesticides.
However, these labels are very little visible in stores and you often have to turn to the internet to be able to obtain them. This therefore requires taking more time to search when many have gotten into the habit of buying flowers at the last minute , because they have no idea for a gift but still want to mark the occasion.
Ultimately the problem is also that of the overconsumption of flowers (or not) whose lifespan is very limited, in addition to the ecological problems hidden behind their production.
Let's celebrate love, sustainably!
Finding a lasting celebration of love is possible! To escape the circle of overconsumption and avoid buying poor quality industrial flowers every year, you can celebrate love for yourself and others all year round, not just by giving gifts.
If you want to offer something, you can turn to sustainable and responsible alternatives . For this, we offer you a selection of products that you can use for a long time, to celebrate love in color, with or without flowers 💕
And you, what do you think of Valentine’s Day?
Article written by Alexandra
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