Blog / February 17, 2020

The Dark Side of Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s day is a day of flowers, red-roses, perfumes, gold necklaces, diamond rings, and for those who can’t afford any of these lavish gifts, at least a glittery red card is exchanged by couples whose relationship demands a cheesy declaration of love.

As the V-Day frenzy fast approaches, the dark side of Valentine may be out of sight for most people, but there’s no doubt it exists.

It seems as though it has become a social and moral obligation to “celebrate” Valentine’s day, but I wonder if most people are aware that V-day was literally created by the company Hallmark in 1910 with the sole purpose of creating a market for cards? The company succeeded in marketing cards as a symbol of love to give to one’s lover. In 1939, the company De Beers got on the love train and started marketing diamonds as the ultimate demonstration of love one could give to their significant other, and in a matter of a few years, the diamond ring wedding tradition had already become mainstream in the United States.

Other precious rocks and metals such as diamonds and gold also got on board, along with basically anything that is pretty, shiny and scarce in the environment.

The environmental degradation that exists due to the mining of precious metals is responsible for severe deforestation, soil erosion, toxic chemical pollution, along with all the greenhouse gases produced along the way.

Some less luxurious valentine’s day gifts, and so even more popular are flowers, chocolats, and cards with corny love poems inside them. Because essentially everything in the industrial supply chain leaves a trail of environmental and social damage, let’s start with the offences of your favorite Valentine’s day present; Chocolate.

Cocoa is cultivated around the equator in humid climate conditions, mostly across West Africa and in Central and South America. Aggressive cacao cultivation has ravaged the rainforest through deforestation and destruction of wildlife habitat. As the West African market is unable to keep up with demand, there is an increased pressure on the South American markets, which means a direct threat to the Amazon. Intensive agriculture is the number one culprit for the mass loss of rainforests across the world, which in turn is having a direct impact on worsening climate change and wildlife extinction.

Flowers – they represent beauty, love, fertility, and a long list of positive imagery. The true story? You already know it’s probably not so pretty.

Today, most flowers that are grown for the international market come from Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia and Kenya. Amongst the many environmental and social problems that are linked to the flower trade, the extreme use of agrochemicals is the most concerning. While flowers are not considered edible plants, they follow much more lenient regulation than food production, and thus there is a massive amount of chemical pollution taking place.

The fact that there are refrigerated airplanes full of flowers flying above us all the time seems like an odd and obscure concept all together. I recall the first time I learned about the extent of the flower trade; I attended the 4th meeting of the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM4) in Geneva in 2015, during which I heard a presentation by a Kenyan delegate that stuck with me. He was talking about the adverse effects that pesticides were having on the health of workers, and went on to tell the audience about the social context that affects many. Valentine’s day is the peak flower season for workers in Kenya, most of who are women and expected to work overtime in the greenhouses in order to keep up with demand. Due to long hours and sometimes working in isolation, it turns out this is the time when women are most vulnerable to sexual assault in the workplace, making valentine’s day a dreaded season for flower workers.

A flower may be purchased as a token of love in the West, yet customers rarely consider the real story behind their romantic gesture. This narrative was told by the delegate with the intention of painting a vivid picture of two opposing realities that are attached to the same market, one currently inseparable from the other.

FYI – there is actually such a thing as “sustainable flowers” you can probably find at a local flower shop.

When good marketing decides that a product is inseparable to a specific date or celebration, the sudden demand severely impacts the entire supply chain, just as Superbowl marketing has done with avocados.

We live on a deeply globalized planet, one that makes sure Icelanders will have red roses to give on Valentines day. The luxury and convenience of having everything we want all the time has a great social and environmental cost. Everything we purchase has a direct impact on every individual involved in the supply chain, this is a fact. The responsibility to safeguard the well being of workers and the environment should lay on the companies that make all the profit. However, since this is unfortunately not the case, consumers can play a strong role in influencing the market through our purchasing power.

De-materializing our lives and avoiding purchasing unnecessary items is the best way we can boycott irresponsible companies. How can we do our part? buying local, regional, or supporting responsible fair-trade brands. Even better; DIY!