Before you buy a rose for your sweetheart this Valentines Day, ask a few questions and do a little research. Certified roses will be as common place in the next decade as indoor smoking has become today.
The information is courtesy of Audubon, Jan-Feb 2008. "Long the symbol of love, irresistible desire, and ephemeral beauty, the prickliest of flowers has never been so popular, so lucrative - or so toxic for the environment. But enterprising growers and marketers are working to turn the red rose green."
Every year Americans by about 1.5 billion roses, almost all of them from Latin America. Flowers have become the third pillar of Ecuador's economy, behind only oil and bananas. Yet virtually every rose is really an industrial product treated with pesticides and fungicides by a commercial farm before making its way to your local flower shop. When was the last time you bought a flower with brown leaves and with holes in the petals?
A 2007 study by the International Labor Rights Fund and the U.S./Labor Education in the Americas Project (LEAP) found that Ecuadoran flower companies use 30 different pesticides, and that 20 percent of the chemicals applied in flower production are restricted or banned in the U.S. and Europe.
Buying a certified rose shows you care not only for a sweetheart but also for the environment and the health of rose workers. Certified (Organic meaning that they use no pesticides, or Sustainable meaning that minimal chemicals and both ecological and social considerations are made) flower farms have been established in California, Ecuador, and Columbia. While less than one percent of all roses sold are certified roses, this will change with help from all of us.
So sweetheart, if you do not get roses next Thursday, you know the reason why :o)
4 comments:
You know what? That wouldn't bother me a bit, especially considering what you just wrote. That's terrible! You know I've never been a flowers kind of gal, anyway. I'm more of a lottery ticket kind of gal. <grin>
Beth
Interesting...I didn't know this. Do you know the cost of a certified rose? Are they more expensive?
I honestly don't want roses or chocolates for Valentines Day. I'd rather have a potted plant than flowers that will die in a weeks time. My perfect idea of a gift is a gift certificate to Borders.
I never understood the Roses , chocolate , jewelry ritual for Valentine's Day....For one a good share of those people who go manic for one day of the year, seldom show their love and compassion every day of the year.....Doc and I don't celebrate it, my choice....I refuse to give in to the consumer pressure of celebrating love on one designated day...We celebrate each other every day.
On another note , thanks for the heads up about the Roses....I'm not a flower kind of gal either....I prefer to grow my own, pesticide free. I've always told Doc if you get it in your head to get my a plant , it better have roots. (Hugs) Indigo
First, I do believe that the certified roses are more expensive, but not inordinately so, about $10-$20 a dozen.
Second, I agree, we should treat each day as Valentines day, or more realistically, treat each day as no different than another. However, as a man, married to a wonderful woman, I would be a fool to not do something for Valentines day. My mamma did not raise no dummy :o)
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