As Valentine’s Day quickly approaches, many think of a celebration of love, and giving gifts to those they love. However, this consumer-driven holiday is one that results in an overwhelming amount of waste. Roses are one of the most popular gifts, but because roses cannot grow in many places during February, these are shipped across continents resulting in excessive carbon emission and a ridiculous number of flowers decomposing into methane in landfills. This article tells of a couple that got engaged earlier this year, who are both climate conscious. They chose to repurpose used floral arrangements in order to be able to have the extravagant proposal setting they both wanted, without having to waste so many flowers. Realizing that this could become an opportunity, Liza Lubell created a company to dispose of event waste in an ecologically friendly way. She picks up all the extra flowers and converts them into arrangements and bouquets to resell. Jennifer Grove is another individual who had this idea, restyling flowers to give to nonprofits.
I really liked this article and the concepts behind it. I think the idea of individuals being able to do small everyday things to combat climate change is really important, and I really respect people’s creativity to be able to do this. Although, even with all the thousands of pounds of waste they are saving, there are millions of pounds that they are not. Another big issue with this idea is that only rich people and celebrities can really even manage being able to buy these reusable flowers because of how expensive the process is. This makes it harder for the average joe to do his part in stopping climate change.
Personally, I am interested in what I personally, and individuals in general can do to help the environment and stop climate change. As a seemingly uninfluential college student, I sometimes feel helpless, but I want to know, and I want others to know, how everyone can do their part to help stop climate change. While the government making a change would be most influential, there are little things that we can do to help, like buying used floral arrangements as to reduce waste. This is an example of a more subjective “what can I do” stopping climate change, while my blog post was a much bigger picture look at the issue.
Citation:
Krueger, Alyson. “Nothing Says ‘I Love You’ Like Secondhand Roses.” New York Times, 2020,
