Posted by Janet Harriett on Feb.06, 2009

The profusion of red on Valentine’s Day is appropriate, considering the holiday is about as far from green as one can get.  While some holiday traditions, like champagne and black eyed peas for New Year’s Day, seem oblivious to what is in season, the typical Valentine’s Day celebration with greeting cards, flowers, candy and a romantic meal is one of the few holiday traditions that seems bent on openly defying seasonality and good environmental sense. All is not lost, though.  A few simple tweaks can green up Valentine’s Day, and make it even better than the traditional celebration, for you, your partner, and the planet.

Potted Flowers instead of Cut
In February, the contents of the florist’s shop are usually flown in from fields in the southern hemisphere, spewing jet emissions the whole way.  If they are local, they are the product of an energy-intensive greenhouse operation to trick flowers into blooming half a year from when nature signals them to.

Instead of a dozen pesticide-laden roses, try a pot of tulips or daffodils.  Valentine’s Day generally occurs near enough to Easter that shops have a selection of spring bulbs potted up and forced so that they are blooming now.  If you are set on cut flowers, look for flowers certified by VeriFlora, which certifies sustainably grown cut flowers.

Fringe Benefit:  Since they are still living, potted plants can help scrub out some CO₂ in the stale, winter indoor air. Come spring, you can plant the bulbs out in the garden and enjoy them for years to come. Tulips tend to be hit or miss on the second year, but hyacinths and daffodils come back for a show.

Change Up the Dinner Menu
The typical romantic menu usually falls along the lines of an artichoke or seafood appetizer, then a steak entrée with asparagus or green beans on the side.  Unfortunately, February is still a month or more too early for any of those vegetables, seafood requires long hauling in refrigerated trucks, and industrial beef is an ecological disaster. Eating fresh and local is a challenge in winter, but there is still some room for eco-improvement on the romantic dinner.

Ditch the trucked-in seafood unless you live in a coastal area, and substitute an appetizer like stuffed mushroom caps or onion and swiss cheese crostini.  While beef production contributes heavily to greenhouse gas levels, steaks from a local farmer with good animal husbandry practices are better than industrially-raised meat, and help support your local economy.  Alternatively, try a lighter pasta entrée.  Skip asparagus, which is not in season until April, and pair your entrée with a roasted winter squash or dilled carrots.  If all that sounds like a lot of work, find a restaurant that specializes in local, seasonal cuisine and let them do the planning.

Fringe Benefit:  The menu might not be the typical romantic cuisine fare, but seasonal local produce, even in the depths of winter, tastes far better than the imported out-of-season stuff.

Organic, Free Trade Chocolates
Chocolate dipped strawberries are the quintessential romantic dessert, but for most areas, February is not the time for fresh fruit of any kind, never mind strawberries. The chocolate assortments from Whitman, Hershey or Russell Stover don’t contain wildly out of season fruit, but they do contain hydrogenated oils and corn syrup.

For a wiser alternative, choose organic, fair trade chocolate.  Once the exclusive province of health food stores and specialty retailers, organic, fair trade chocolates are making their way into supermarkets now.

Fringe Benefit:  Organic and fair trade chocolates tend to be of a higher quality than the mass-produced commercial chocolates, and the quality comes through in the taste.  They are more expensive, but you might find yourself satisfied with less (which means less time working the calories off!).

Recycled-Paper Valentine’s Day Cards
Greeting cards for your significant other and the entire class for each child consume vast amounts of virgin paper. Some may suggest making homemade cards out of salvaged, recycled paper, but that is a daunting task for a whole set of classmates for each child.

Getting rid of the entire practice of kids exchanging Valentine’s Day cards with their classmates, and the attendant rule that a child must give a Valentine to all classmates or none at all, would be the best solution for the environment, eliminating demand for the paper products.  However, having the parents who are The Grinch Who Stole Valentine’s Day might negatively impact your child’s social life.  As a compromise, arm your kids with recycled, and recyclable, Valentine’s Day cards for their classmates. Ask the schools to encourage recycling of the Valentines. Agree with your partner to skip the cards between adults.

Fringe Benefit: Recycled paper beats virgin paper, and kids still get the handwriting practice of filling out the cards.  It might not be much, but sometimes we have to balance being a Green Diva and being a Mom.

For the Truly Bold: Move Valentine’s Day
Most of the ecological disaster of Valentine’s day comes from the fact that the holiday is in mid-February, the coldest days of winter in the Northern hemisphere.  While greeting card companies are not likely to agree to move the holiday to July when fresh strawberries for dipping in chocolate are in season, and flowers can come from a local greenhouse or garden, you and your partner can.  Skip the February bash—except for the cards for the kids’ classmates—and make a date for romance in midsummer, when the flowers and fruit are local and fresh.

Fringe Benefit: It is easier to find a sitter for the kids in June than on a school night when every parent in the neighborhood is looking for a sitter, too.

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Posted under About Mom, Eco-Friendly Ideas, GDM Kids, Tweens, Teens, GDM Men.