Stop and smell the (fair trade) roses

Do you remember picking flowers when you were a kid? Maybe you picked them for your mom or for a girl that you had a crush on?

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Or maybe you remember picking a dandelion after it turns to seed and blowing on it to make a wish?

  



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Do you remember picking a flower then pulling the petals off one by one saying “John Cusack loves me, John Cusack loves me not”?

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Or maybe a cute guy brought you a bouquet of freshly picked wild flowers (how romantic!)? Or maybe someone bought you flowers for your birthday, an anniversary, Christmas or Valentine’s Day (ugh!)? But really, who needs a special occasion to buy flowers? I’d be happy to receive them any day! Since I don’t have anyone in my life right now who would buy me flowers, I buy them myself (yes, I'm pathetic an independent woman!). That’s right, every two weeks, I buy fresh cut flowers for my house. My favourite flower is a white daisy but I also buy yellow Fiji mums because they really brighten up a room....and my spirits! Isn’t it peculiar how a flower brings happiness? At the very least, I know that it brings me happiness! Although I will not be receiving flowers this Valentine’s Day (come on now, I’m a realist!), I thought it was important for me to tell you about the not-so-happy side of cut flowers. I hope that this blog post will encourage you to pick your flowers wisely!

The truth is, I’m not the only person who enjoys receiving flowers because there’s a real market for cut flowers especially around...wait for it....Valentine’s Day (ugh!). Unfortunately, there’s a dark side to the flowers that we buy and/or receive. Sorry to be such a downer but we need to be having this discussion...Ms. Rachel Carson would want me to have this discussion with as many people as possible and the last time I checked, there were 7 people reading my blog (have you read my blog posts “A world without bees” or “The AfterMATH ~ revisited ?) so that's a start!

I recently discovered change.org, an online activism platform for social change that raises awareness about important causes and connects people to opportunities for powerful action. The "organization" works with more than 1,000 of the largest nonprofits in the world, have a team of hundreds of journalists and organizers that span the globe, and empower millions of people each month to make a difference. One of their recent campaigns involved 1-800-Flowers which is one of the world’s largest florist. Change.org brilliantly decided that since the week before Valentine's Day is the busiest time of year for florists (more people will purchase flowers during the next seven days than any other week this year!), they would start a campaign to demand a promise from 1-800-Flowers to join its competitors in offering Fair Trade flowers.

The campaign has served as an important tool for educating people about flower farms in Ecuador, Columbia and Africa where two-thirds of the workers are women. These women are routinely subjected to harassment and even rape from their male supervisors. They suffer eye infections and miscarriages from consistent contact with dangerous pesticides. In the weeks leading up to Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, they're routinely forced to work 80-hour weeks with no overtime pay. Attempts to form a union are met with opposition by police and armed forces. On Kenyan flower plantations, workers reported being forced to work 8-12 hour days for less than a dollar a day, handling dangerous chemicals without protective gear, and living in cramped, unsafe conditions.

Not surprisingly, Canadians buy billions of dollars of plants and flowers every year many of which are imported, with more than $50 million in imports from Colombia alone. Virtually all carnations sold in Canada are grown in Colombia; about half the roses sold here are also imported, with the majority coming from Colombia and Ecuador. Unfortunately, the floriculture industry uses a wide range of chemicals, including fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, nematocides and plant growth regulators, some with potential for serious harm to human health. One report indicates 127 different chemicals, some of which are banned in Canada, were used in Colombian greenhouses. Mexican greenhouses used 36 different chemicals, including the persistent organochlorines DDT, aldrin and dieldrin. Because cut flowers are an agricultural import, they must be pest-free to avoid introduction of plant diseases or insects which means that they are heavily sprayed with chemicals. But because they are not an edible crop, they are exempt from regulations on pesticide residues and are not inspected for these residues.

The good news is that there are many retailers and florists who offer Fair Trade flowers to consumers. Fair Trade certified farms must adhere to strict standards for workers' rights, which prevents the abuses described above. If you can’t find a florist that offers fair trade flowers, you need to ask demand that they start selling them because demand drives supply. As consumers, if we don’t ask for Fair Trade flowers, florists won’t sell them.

So what does “Fair Trade” in floriculture mean? Well, it aims to protect and benefit workers on flower farms by certifying those farms which ensure safety and good working conditions for their employees. Among other things, Fair Trade standards for flowers ensure the following: 

• Salaries must be equal to or higher than the regional average or the minimum wage.
• Producer organizations receive a premium, set at 10% of the negotiated price, which is invested in social and economic initiatives.
• A Joint Body composed of workers and management is formed to manage the Fair Trade premium.
• Forced labour and child labour of children under 15 years old is prohibited. Children aged 15 and over cannot do work that compromises their health or education.
• Workers have the right to establish or join an independent union.
• Health and safety measures must be established in order to avoid work-related injuries. A detailed set of safety regulations specific to flower production limit the use of agrochemicals and prohibit the use of banned pesticides.

Always remember that we, as consumers, can play a role in building the organic, fair trade flower market by beginning to ask questions of our retailers and/or florists. Where do their flowers come from? Are they sprayed by pesticides? What are the working conditions for the growers and flower handlers? Can they obtain organically grown, fair trade flowers?

And if you don't have access to organic, fair trade flowers, why not consider buying something that is grown locally such as a potted plant for that special someone? Or maybe a herb plant such as basil or mint? While you're at it, why not write a poem to go along with the plant?

Proof that signing a petition makes a difference:

Change.org targeted 1-800-Flowers because as one of the largest florists in the world, it has tremendous power to reduce exploitation in the cut flower industry. When the campaign began, they didn't offer a single Fair Trade certified stem or provide information about where their flowers come from. Well, the campaign paid off because after over 50,000 people sent emails to 1-800-Flowers asking them to offer fair trade flowers, the company has stepped up to the plate and become a leader for ethical sourcing practices overnight. In time for Mother's Day, the company will offer fair trade flowers.

According to Change.org, 1-800-Flowers said that they had offered fair trade flowers in the past, but canceled the offering due to a lack of consumer response. With tens of thousands of emails from people as a result of the campaign demonstrated that people really do care about the ethics of their flowers so they've decided to give it another go. The company has agreed to work with labor rights organizations and design an industry code of conduct, and also launched a page on their website to provide consumers with information about where they currently source their flowers, including info on social and environmental certifications.

  

Again, it's so important to remember that as a consumer, your voice will be heard so put it to good use!!!

Well, I can't help but wonder if maybe tomorrow at my big hockey game (you remembered that my hockey game was tomorrow, right? If not, please read my blog post “Eleanor’s Words of Wisdom”), my fans people will want to show their appreciation for my phantasmal hockey skills, by throwing roses onto the ice, fair trade roses of course :)