Americans will purchase roughly 110 million roses for Valentine's Day gifts. Purchasing fresh flowers for our sweethearts while poisoning farmers and their families is so yesterday. Come on already! Today it's about purchasing flowers from a floral company that cares about environmental, social and economic sustainability. One such floral company is Organic Bouquet. You may be asking yourself why we need "organic" flowers if we're not going to be eating them. Good question, but the answer requires a little background.
According to the USDA, Seventy percent of all flowers sold in the United States are grown in Colombia and Ecuador. In Ecuador, the second-largest exporter of flowers to the United States, 60 percent of workers suffer from headaches, nausea, blurred vision or fatigue, according to a 1999 study by the International Labor Organization. Doctors in Cayambe, the rose capital of Ecuador, confirm these findings and add birth defects, sterility and miscarriages to the list. On average, each rose grower in Ecuador uses three poisons to kill worms, four to kill insects and six to control fungi according to the National Wildlife Federation. Many of these chemicals are tightly restricted in the United States because of their threat to human health."Being sustainable is not just about our company, it's about our partners, our industry associates and our customers, " says Robert McLaughlin, CEO of Organic Bouquet. "A sustainable product is more than just one farm and one plant; it's about an industry, a country and a global understanding."
McLaughlin started his career in 1984 in the packing sheds and greenhouses of central Florida working as a laborer. It was here that he watched the head agronomist die at an early age of 68 from toxic chemical exposure. He describes his boss as a "man whose skin seemed to be falling off his face" from years of over-spraying in the greenhouses. "The man rarely wore protective gear and seemed to always return to the packing shed soaked in the chemicals that would eventually end his life."
To read the rest of the story, please go to: The Huffington Post
