Sustainable Flowers: 20 Days of Sustainable Living Tips

20 Days of Sustainable Living Tips

This series is designed to showcase small, actionable steps that anyone can take in order to make your lifestyle more sustainable.  It doesn’t matter what level of sustainable living you are already on.  These tips are intended to help you more easily navigate this new “trend” of being kind to our earth.  Let’s work hard to make it more than a trend.  We can make it our lifestyle.  Learn daily tips here and on Facebook every weekday in February 2017 during a live chat about the Sustainable Living Tip of the day.  Everything can be done in a sustainable way.  Let’s tackle a new sustainable living issue today!

Quick Facts:

• “The cut-flower industry is a short-cycle production process that requires the extensive use of agrochemicals which have a negative effect on the air, soil and water supply.” [1]
• “The [cut-flower/florticulture] industry has loose regulatory status because flowers are not edible crops and are exempt from regulations on pesticide residues, although they carry significantly more pesticides than allowed on foods. It is estimated that one-fifth of the chemicals used in the floriculture industry in developing countries are banned or untested in the US.“ [1]
• “Some 70 percent of the roses sold in the UK market come from Kenya. Roses are a cash crop vital to the economy and livelihood of many farmers and workers – especially women. But a single rose stem requires 10 liters of fresh water to reach its full size, so the industry is a huge drain on the country’s scant water resources, an issue that causes tension and even violence in the country.” [2]

Instead of buying flowers…

You don’t have to buy flowers to show your love.  Get creative!

• Plan a staycation for you and your partner.  Explore your city or stock up on everything that you need and have a romantic weekend at home.
• Invest in something that would help further your partner’s dreams.  Does your love always talk about writing a book?  Buy them a typewriter or a desk and comfy office chair.  Does s/he often refer to a conference that would be so much fun?  Buy tickets to that conference for them!  These gifts will outlast any cut flower and fill your partner with true joy.
• Buy a house plant!  Plants in the home are beautiful and certain types can help to purify the indoor air quality.

Buy sustainable flowers

Here are a few retailers that sell ethical & eco-friendly flowers.  They are grown with minimal to no chemicals, they are fair trade, and they are grown, harvested and shipped in a way that causes as little negative harm to the earth as possible.

• Organic Bouquet
• EcoFlower
• The Bouqs
• Farmgirl Flowers
• Slow Flowers
• California Organic Flowers

xoxo dolls & dudes,

Addie