Every year, when February 14th approaches, men are kindly invited on massive chalk boards not to behave like jerks and buy flowers to their loved ones, instead.
If some will only focus on and complain about the commercial impact that this celebration carries, here at OUTSIDE THE BOX we will remind everyone that the large-scale, international import of flowers (with focus on red roses) for Valentine's has a massive negative impact on the environment, for instance:
The speedy production of flowers to fulfill the international demand on time requires extra boosts of pesticides;
Flowers that do not look good enough to be transported, then sold, will of course be discarded (as do vegetables and fruits);
Massive amount of flowers are transported by plane throughout the world, stored and delivered by trucks to their selling points. At this time of the year, most flowers are sent across to Europe from Africa;
A larger amount of plastic roll is used to wrap the bouquets;
All at the end will go to waste as the flowers fade;
Finally, should you go for a nice bouquet, make sure to deliver it yourself instead of sending a courrier on your behalf.
You got it, we are not into mass-production of flowers with the sole purpose to celebrate one day of love in the year.
Instead, we suggest you go for locally-produced, season-friendly flowers, instead.
Our best suggestion however is directly inspired from a French producer of sustainably-grown flowers who was interviewed last weekend on the French radio:
Instead of buying flowers completely out of season, wait until the Saint-Valentine Day (the female version), which takes place in France on July 25th. Your chances to find your favourite flowers locally will then be better.
For more details, we invite you to look at the following articles:
