Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Unhealthy Flowers: Why Buying Organic Should Not End With Your Food 

Unhealthy Flowers: Why Buying Organic Should Not End With Your Food: "In recent years conscious consumers have enjoyed a spike in the availability of socially and environmentally responsible products. Worried about sweatshop shoes? Try on a pair of Adbusters' Blackspot sneakers. Concerned that your clothes were made in a dismal factory where the workers are paid starvation wages? Go with an American Apparel T-shirt or a No Sweat hoodie. If pesticide residues on your vegetables and hormone-laced meat are your worry, then head for the organic section at the supermarket. Your morning coffee can easily be fair trade-certified, as can the bananas that you put on your cereal.

But what about the flowers on the coffee table, or the bouquet you were going to buy for Valentine's Day? Where were those stems grown, by whom and under what conditions? What are the sustainable and socially responsible options when buying flowers?

Until now, there haven't been encouraging answers to those questions. Conventionally grown cut flowers are most often raised in chemical-intensive systems that expose workers to toxins that can make them sick -- sweatshops in the greenhouses, you could say. Responsible alternatives have been difficult, if not impossible, to find."

(0) comments
Comments: Post a Comment

 


Join the Healing Points Newsletter
for updated information about issues that concern your health, and to keep informed about Dr. Grossman's speaking and performing schedule.

subscribe
unsubscribe

Privacy
Policy





powered by FreeFind

View the Archives