Earth Day and Sustainable Flowers

Earth Day and Sustainable Flowers by Club Botanic

April 22 marks the anniversary of Earth Day and the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. Sustainability is one of our priorities and we want to reiterate how important it is to take care of our planet.

Before Earth Day, Americans at the time were voraciously consuming leaded gas through massive V8 engines in large sedans. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of legal consequences or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as inevitable, and places such as Los Angeles seemed like a bad dream to visitors with its yellow-orange sky of pollution. “Environment” was a word that appeared more often in spelling bees than on the evening news.

Earth Day was the brainchild of Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson who witnessed the horrible oil spills off the coast of Santa Barbara in 1969 - and he decided to act. He forged a coalition of both Democrats and Republicans and the first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970, channeling the power of the protest movements, but with a positive goal. By the end of the year, the Environmental Protection Agency was created.

Now, sustainable practices in agriculture and other industries are becoming more common and remain important. That is why here at Club Botanic we have created a business model with sustainability at its core!  Our footprint is green! We know that flowers are perishable, so they must get to market quickly. When they are harvested in far-away places like South America (often by low-wage workers), they are shipped by air. That means a great deal of greenhouse gasses -  and a huge carbon footprint -  when you buy  flowers that are not local. At Club Botanic we source seasonal flowers from local and regional growers whenever possible, usually at the San Francisco Flower Mart, and we support their workers communities by paying a fair price. We buy-design-deliver and we are done. We don’t maintain a large inventory that requires big coolers and lots of electricity. We only buy to fill our needed customer requests.

On Earth Day (and every day!) we encourage our clients and our readers to examine where in their homes or workplaces they can reduce, reuse, and recycle. Also, watch where products are made and try to buy local products and support your local vendors for everything from produce to flowers to eggs.

Remember that by becoming a valued Club Botanic subscriber, you can know that you are supporting a Green business with the highest level of commitment to sustainability.

Happy Earth Day!

Club Botanic is a wreath subscription service and flower delivery service. We offer wreaths for your home or as a gift and flower arrangements for all occasions such as get-well flowers, thank you flowers, congratulations flowers, birthday flowers, or “just because” flowers. Find our wreaths, flowers and gift ideas at www.clubbotanic.com