Love is in the air and we can think of a potential valentine that you’ve had a relationship with longer than your partner or your kids. Let’s ask your stalwart, reliable supporter, Mother Earth, to be your Valentine this year. Shower her with thanks and gratitude and promise to not forget about her once the day passes. Make a commitment to do more to protect her and consider her without sacrificing the spirit of the Universal Day of Love.
Since the pandemic has changed the way we do everything, let’s take advantage of our newfound flexibility and make some new earth-friendly traditions. We will share some easy suggestions, but we will first request you make one small sacrifice. The best thing you can do for the earth is to…
Skip the roses, this year, Please!
According to the National Retail Federation, we spend over $20 billion on Valentine’s Day each year. Further, over 50% of men and 16% of women give cut flowers, with roses as the most popular choice.
Can we rethink that? Behind your roses’ ephemeral beauty lurks a prickly flower toxic to the environment.
Let’s start with the fact that your gifts should not be more well-traveled than you are. One look at your local landscape confirms that February is not the season to find roses blooming. Actually, according to the Society of American Florists, in 2018, 250 million roses were produced for Valentine’s Day and nearly all were imported to the U.S., often by plane. The number of Valentine’s Day flowers imported from Colombia alone jumped seven-fold between 2009 and 2015.
If commuting long distances wasn’t bad enough, your roses ain’t taking the cheap seats. While you might opt for Coach, your roses travel First Class. These delicate flowers require climate-controlled accommodations. Roses need to be refrigerated during transport. Scientists at the EPA state that refrigerants deplete the ozone layer. Ozone depletion has far-reaching effects harming human health and the environment.
But wait there’s more. Roses are grown using fertilizers and pesticides. We’ve written extensively about the link between pesticides* and declining pollinator populations. Now recall that Valentine’s roses are primarily imported. According to a 2017 study published by the NIH, the levels of pesticide found on imported cut flowers were 1,000 times higher than what can be safely used on food. The same study found “that florists had around 111 different pesticide chemicals on their gloves at the end of a single day working with flowers.”
Add in the annoying little plastic stem tubes, cellophane wrap, and methane the bouquet will emit a week later and you wonder how roses became the symbol of love.
Before we explore preferred alternatives, I’ll share my Valentine’s poem and you’ll understand why I write a conservation column rather than poetry.
Roses are Red,
But they are not green.
Let’s try to treat
Mother Earth like a queen.
While I spent the better part of this column railing against roses, that doesn’t make me a flower hater. No, it’s just those flowers.
Truth is I love flowers. Local, native wildflowers. Problem is, you don’t find many of those growing around Hopewell Valley. In February, the best you can hope for are dead flowers. Now, I know what you are thinking… Dead flowers aren’t very beautiful or romantic, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Dead flowers, brush, and fallen leaves all provide much-needed habitat for birds and wildlife. Knowing that our bird population has declined over a third, I now have a greater appreciation for our local winter landscape.
Better than buying cut flowers, plant a tree or plan ahead to add beautiful native plants to your home this spring. Trees and native plantings are sustainable, zero-waste options that absorb carbon dioxide, and their deep root system helps filter stormwater and prevent erosion. Sustainable, empowering, and long-lasting — That will capture your Valentine’s heart.
Considering the environmental impact of traditional gifts, perhaps the best thing you can give Mother Earth for Valentine’s Day is to spend some quality time with loved ones, walking outside and admiring her handiwork.
If you want to combine traditional with sustainable and charming, FoHVOS offers customized cards, made from recycled materials, that tell your Valentine you planted native trees or flowers in their name at a local public preserve. Or get them a membership that includes a free professional home consultation to determine the ecologically friendly ways to plant a meadow or rain garden to beautify residential landscape while increasing biodiversity and helping the environment.
Planting is cool,
and natives are green.
They keep land and water,
Healthy and clean.
Now that’s love!
*In mid-2020, conservation organizations including FoHVOS signed a letter to Gov. Phil Murphy and initiated efforts to support a bipartisan bill to Save The Bees.
On Jan. 10, the Save The Bees bill, S1016, passed both legislative branches and now awaits the governor’s signatures. The law reduces the use of Neonics, neurotoxic insecticides, which lots of folks use on their lawns. These chemicals not only kill off our bee population but also pollute our waterways.
Thank you to all bipartisan legislators that voted to Save The Bees and especially LD-15 Bill Sponsor Senator Shirley Turner!
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