How to Love the Environment this Valentine's Day

Everyone loves to love on Valentine's, but does the environment get stood up? Flowers being imported burn up to 114 million litres of fuel every year, emitting around 360,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide. On a global scale, roughly 160 million tonnes of single-use plastics are produced annually, Valentine's Day is no doubt a large contributor to that number. Flowers are also detrimental to the environment because of the pesticides used to keep them pristine looking for all of the lovers on the 14th. 

These may seem like dire consequences but there are things we can do to help mitigate the impacts of the holiday. For starters, you could make origami flowers for your partner, for just one or two pieces of paper you can make an entire bouquet! And the best part is they won’t die after one week. If you have the time you could make a Valentine's Day treat from scratch instead of buying chocolates that are encased in single-use plastic packaging. When you do source any of your chocolate try and look for certifications that indicate it is fair trade and doesn’t support deforestation. If your significant other has a green thumb you could even buy them a plant from your local greenhouse as opposed to buying flowers entombed in even more single-use plastics.  If you really need to buy real flowers, search for local growers with environmentally friendly practices.

Valentine's is an occasion where we can choose to be better and find ways to help keep our environment and climate healthy. If you don’t have a partner this Valentine's Day you could choose instead to take nature as your date and volunteer to do something that helps your local ecosystem, or if you’re busy, donate to an organisation working towards a cleaner greener future.

SOURCE:

EarthDay.org. https://www.earthday.org/love-in-bloom-eco-friendly-valentines-celebrations/