[OKC] From Slate.com: Are fake flowers better for the planet than fresh ones?

[Miles, Karen]

He Loves Earth, He Loves Earth Not


Are fake flowers better for the planet than fresh ones?

 
By Brian Palmer
Forget romance. Are silk flowers the better gift if you are in love with
the environment?
 
Valentine's Day is arriving. I want to buy flowers for my sweetheart,
but it seems like a lot of resources go into growing and delivering a
bouquet that will wilt just a few days later. You've suggested looking
for eco-certified bouquets <http://www.slate.com/id/2188428/> , but
would I be better off just buying silk flowers instead?
This is a tough one. Comprehensive data aren't available for either real
flowers or silk ones, but there's slightly more information available
for the real thing-so let's start there. 
Imported flowers have come to dominate the U.S. market in the last 40
years, as entrepreneurs and scientists have found ways to make blooms
survive intercontinental plane trips. In 1971, just 8 percent
<http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/The-Secrets-Behind-Your-Flo
wers.html>  of the roses, carnations, and chrysanthemums sold in the
U.S. were imported. (These three flowers account for the majority of
cut-flower imports
<http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/
Flo/2007/09Sep/FLO2007.pdf> .) By 2003, that number had grown to 91
percent, with most of those flowers coming from Colombia and Ecuador. 
This shift from local to imported flowers is a mix of good and bad news
for the environment. The bad news first: South American growers rely
heavily on chemical fertilizers and pesticides. According to a 2007
study by the International Labor Rights Fund (now the International
Labor Rights Forum) and the U.S. Labor Education in the Americas
Project, 20 percent of the chemicals
<http://www.laborrights.org/creating-a-sweatfree-world/fairness-in-flowe
rs/news/11316>  sprayed on Colombian flowers are illegal in the U.S. or
Europe. They have contaminated the soil and caused severe health
problems <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1551999/>  (PDF)
for many workers. There are certification programs
<http://www.scscertified.com/docs/VeriFlora_Version3_0407F.pdf>  (PDF)
for responsible growers, but it's often difficult to determine how any
individual bunch of roses was raised. 
On the other hand, flowers grown in equatorial zones and shipped to your
local market probably use less total energy than the locally grown
equivalent, despite spending five hours on an airplane. February isn't
prime flower-harvesting season
<http://asae.frymulti.com/abstract.asp?aid=25915&t=2>  in most of the
U.S., and efficient growing conditions usually trump buyer-producer
proximity <http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es702969f> . 
To continue reading, click on the link in the words below:
<http://http/www.twitter.com/slate> 
Valentine's Day: Are silk flowers better for the environment than fresh
ones? <http://http/www.twitter.com/slate> 
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