Super Eco

Photo credit: organicbouquet.com

A rose by any other name could be exacting a blood-red price on the Earth. According to British conservation biologist Dr. David Harper, cheap roses grown by companies with no regard for environmental concern are devastating the ecology of Lake Naivasha, the heart of Kenya’s horticultural industry and an area Harper has researched for 25 years.

“Roses that come cheap are grown by companies that have no concern for the environment, who cut corners and avoid legislation, who sell their flowers into the auction in Amsterdam so that all the buyer knows is the flowers 'come from Holland,'" says Harper. "In reality, they have come from Kenya where the industry is literally draining that country dry.”

Harper urges ardent Valentine's Day lovers to buy fair trade roses. Profits from Fair Trade-certified flowers help guarantee fair wages and educational benefits for workers and support rules against gender discrimination, economic development and protection against toxic pesticides. Fair Trade certification also ensures that farms comply with rigorous environmental standards governing the use of pesticides, conservation of water, treatment of wastewater, protection of ecosystems and more.

Unfortunately, the paths of organic certification and Fair Trade certification have not yet met in this industry. There aren't currently any Fair Trade flower farms that are also certified organic.

Lest this news should shrivel your Valentine's Day ardor, Super Eco arrives with an eco-friendly solution: organic roses from Organic Bouquet. Organic Bouquet offers sustainably grown flowers with the most eco-friendly floral packaging, the industry's first carbon offset program, grown in a way that is gentle on the earth and that safeguards the ecology and the well-being of wildlife and farm workers. That's a green, green rose indeed.