Being a truly, green business is an ongoing task and everyday quest no different from living green. The change of thinking and doing business is a daily reform, as you can look at literally any item used and say “is this eco friendly and if not, how can I alter it to be”?. One needs to return to the long ago mindset of appreciating and caring for what you have; and put an end to using the disposable, “small inventions and conveniences” that have now become second nature; but not by any means in the best interest of the planet. Buying quality saves all around in the end; remember when throwing away-away is somewhere. It is my sincere hope that as an ecoist and innovator of eco-florism, I will influence and inspire the 1000’s of florists in business today, and their customers.
Why an Eco florist?
And why should you care?
Unfortunately for a ’nature‘ thought of business, the floral industry has been infiltrated with modern innovations in the form of toxic chemicals, formaldehyde/resin foams, petroleum based ribbons, plastics and resins, wrappings, non-biodegradable products and…
chemical laden flowers
With consumers demanding more and cheaper, the natural growing process has become one of ‘manufactured’ flowers-just like our food. Grown out of season in faraway lands, with heavy chemical enhancements for growth, bloom, and more.
….the flowers
We offer eco/organic/sustainble, North American, grown flowers. These flowers far surpass with quality, fragrance, and longevity; costing no more than any fine grade flower. Unfortunately, over 70% of the flowers sold in the US today are grown in South America and beyond, where chemical regulations are below to nonexistent the standards in the US, Canada, and even Europe. These same chemicals such as methyl bromide and DDT have long been banned in the US and Canada-and the World Health Organization.
Why you should care
These chemicals and pesticides are not only toxic to us, our pets, our wildlife, and our land; but to the poorly paid farm workers and their land (which 1/4 are children). In reality, we should not even be handling these flowers without first washing them; and not further disposing of them in our landfills and soils. Imported flowers should never be home composted to our gardens. To further compound the situation; we not only have pest chemicals but 100’s of others used for the germination stage-the growing stage-the shipping stage-the florists stage-and the consumer stage. A chain of way too many, unnecessary, chemicals going in the soil, water, and landfill. Don’t you agree?
We are actually paying dearly for inexpensive, mass marketed flowers…. dearly to ourselves and the planet.
Alternatives
Fortunately, we have a few, eco minded pioneers who have, and continue to push many of the largest foreign growers to allot farms and areas for green and organic growing. However, there is still the energy and fuel to ship them here and… the side stepping of our American farms. Environmentally minded farms in the US offer a safer product and work setting, while giving a fair wage & benefits to its workers. It is a win-win situation for us all to patronize them. As an eco florist, we also do not use the various preservatives and enhancement chemicals prescribed to florists by our industry. These preservatives in their plastic packages, were originally created to prolong the flowers arranged in soaked foam for the new, busy, lifestyle of 1950’s consumers. Meaning-the lack of just changing the water.
Solutions
Flowers grown in North America & Holland unfortunately are at times, still grown with the support of some chemicals. Not so much to the extent of the imports due to unionization in Holland and stricter safety regulations in North America, but many are changing over to eco growing practices such as natural pest management. Even so, they are a 2nd, preferable choice when eco-organics and local US grown are not. We love the exotic varieities grown in faraway places as much as you do, but feel that is where they should stay until their growing and humanitarian practices improve. Many exotics are now being grown in CA and available most of the year. During the various growing Seasons; as an eco florist, we patronize the many local farms and green markets in our own state, which are a wonderful source of native species plants & flowers. They are forever grateful.
Keep all my friends away from imported flowers, as we are ultra sensitive to these chemicals and….they taste worse than old sneakers yuck Willow xo
….the designing
As an eco florist, we create designs using natural mechanics, and just plain creativity-thus lessening the use of the toxic styro/floral foams which are petroleum based with formaldehyde. These foams never biodegrade and the toxic cocktail eventually works into our food and water systems-and us. We create what our patrons are accustomed to, with minimal change. Florists long ago were nothing short of ingenious before the plastics, foams, and chemical enhancements entered their industry; mechanics were simple of twig, wire, pebbles, and moss. Returning to these tools in natural designing with eco friendly flowers are the #1 elements in green floristry.
….the other products
Beside the various plastics & foams, we are also engulfed in Third World and Asian imports. They not only dominate our industry, but also have completely taken over from North American manufacturing companies. Nearly every product in any type of store today is imported, and ours is no exception. All of the baskets, ceramic dishes-bowls-pottery, poly ribbons, candles, novelty & keepsake containers, and so much more-are imported.
This inexpensive manufacturing does not promote an eco mind as it creates a lack of respect for the product and encourages tossing away with another to replace it. Our containers are often one-of-a-kind found in thrift stores, charitable organizations, or auctions. They are either US made, recycled through our Recycle Rewards Program, new/old purchased from outgoing businesses, or vintage. In addition, we offer biodegradable containers made of rice & cornhusks-with the look of quality resin/plastic. We use minimal plastic anything, unless it is recycled or reused through one of our programs. Even the smallest of changes can be huge; like our simple ban on the plastic cardholders florists have used for years-we instead love attaching them to a branch or flower stem. See also about Balloons below and Nationally Promoted Containers.
….the packaging
Packaging can incur a waste second only to only junk mail. Every single shipping box, paper, peanut is reused for our own shipping and floral packaging. We replaced the much-used cellophane with a compostable, cello look-alike, and our tissue & bags are made with recycled content. We also encourage return of our gift/rose/corsage boxes in
our Recycle Rewards
….the business side
As an eco florist, we use many sustainable business practices including: using recycled content papers for our stationary, business forms, and eco friendly cleaning & janitorial supplies. Something as simple as double sided fax-printing can save a multitude of trees, while saving rubber bands and reusing them, can stop tons from the landfill. We patronize as many green-minded companies as available for our telephone, banking, and other services to further the chain.
The energy used for our heat, electricity, cooler, and deliveries, is compensated with our partnership to various organizations such as NativeEnergy.com; purchasing carbon offsets for our usage, and funding wind turbines on Native American Reservations.
The water usage in a florist is similar to a family of four; just by reusing our flower bucket water for garden/plants, we are saving 100’s of gallons a year. All of these practices definitely take an extra effort-but in our mind, we cannot consciously conduct business any other way.
….giving back
A very, very, important aspic of any business is its community activism and charitable contributions. We give away 100’s of eco roses to promote the awareness of ecology and chemical free living. We also return a percentage of our sales back to over 30 environmental & wildlife organizations, promote our Flowers For A Cause for a multitude of charities, showcase Really Cool local and Native Made items, and have a Fundraising Partnership Program, which allows us no refusals for any donation.
“What you do and what you buy as a consumer can have some of the greatest impacts in terms of forest conservation.” Unknown author
….nationwide delivery?
Flowers-by-wire…..a green side?
We have had to weigh in on certain practices, the pros & cons to our philosophies. We are one the only industry’s with the ability to send a same day gift within hours
Contractual obligations with the major flower-by-wire services are a necessary aspect of our business, which in turn forces us to carry a certain amount of their promoted containers.
To take away a major service that is utilized by so many customers along with the opportunity to generate more revenue for our charities; would have been detrimental. This is both a business and ecological decision we have made in just one of the complicated aspects of our industry.
We deemed it worth the small, occasional of their ‘prescribed’, imported containers. Most of these containers are nice enough to be kept or regifted, and normally not something, that would be a single use item. With our recycle program, many are returned to us for reuse, and therefore continue their life.
We hope in the future these organizations will alter their products & practices to a greener end, and start at the very least, to offer American made containers.
….balloons?
Part….of a green world?
There a few customary product offerings in our industry that is debatable if of an eco mind-balloons are one of them. We continue to only stock them for special requests, such as the birthday occasion; where they are a time honored and festive tradition. However, we downplay their importance and viability in our business until the verdict is in. We welcome the contribution of any pertinent information.
Until then, our current findings are:
LATEX - Latex is the term for the rubber sap once out of the tree. (like maple sap and syrup) Balloon manufacturers debate them to be eco-friendly; we doubt this but have not made a decision on how much so they really are or are not, due to insufficient data. The process begins naturally, with sap from the Malaysian rubber tree-coupled with curing agents, colors, oils, chemicals, alcohol, and water. Eventually dipped again in latex, formed, and baked. We are presently researching the particulars of these added agents and the scale of ‘biodegradability‘, along with a new FSC ‘certified’ rubber balloon coming onto the market soon. Until such time that we have a clearer picture or alternative product, we cannot honestly validate they are an environmentally minded choice.
FLOATING AGENTS – These are liquid liners, which add floating time to latex balloons. They are proclaimed as nontoxic, non-irritating, non-corrosive, nonflammable, and biodegradable. It is very similar to the adhesive found on the back of a postage stamp so we accept it on conditions; again until we find substantiated data.
MYLAR - Actually referred to as foil balloons because they are made of nylon sheet, coated on one side with polyethylene and metallized on the other. Because foil balloons contain aluminum, they are not considered biodegradable; but we again wonder why not recyclable back to the manufacturers? We are unsure and plan to inquire….. What’s more, as these balloons contain metal, they can (and will) conduct electricity. Thus, they should never be released outdoors because they could become entangled with power lines and lead to commercial power outages. Although; unknown to most consumers is that quality, mylars can be refilled and therefore regifted. Because of this, we include them in our Recycle Program and encourage you to bring your mylar balloons in for reuse.
Balloons seem to follow everywhere I go-sooo degrading… I learned to deflate these tacky tagalongs by inserting a straw in their bottoms -all the air comes out-peace at last….
*note from Lynn-what she does not see is the ribbon wrapping around her wagging tail and thuds picking up these hitchhikers.
