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Cut Flower: Impacting the Environment!
Flowers are potent symbols. People use them all across the world to commemorate festivals, important life events, and rites of passage. Lilies and tulips are symbols of rebirth during spring and Easter.
Numerous studies demonstrate how fresh flowers and other plants can improve one’s physical, emotional, and mental health. They can also increase general productivity, problem-solving abilities, and creative performance. In addition, according to a research report by Astute Analytica, the Global Cut Flowers Market is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.8% over the projection period from 2022 to 2030.
Impact of Cut Flowers on the Environment
Use of Pesticides The use of pesticides is widespread among farmers of cut flowers as well. Each distinct genus of the flower attracts a different kind of insect, therefore if a farm grows a range of flowers, the pesticide cocktail necessary to maintain a high volume of production probably pollutes the neighborhood and harms the environment. Overuse of herbicides and pesticides causes the chemicals to leak into the soil, where they then contaminate the groundwater.
Carbon Emissions The intense farming of fresh flowers has a considerable negative influence on the environment. In some places, it takes a lot of energy to cultivate flowers at the scale that consumers desire. This is true for “northern” nations like the UK and the Netherlands, which have cloud cover all year round and mostly grow flowers in greenhouses.
These greenhouses frequently employ natural gas combustion to heat them, which results in significant CO2 emissions. The carbon cost of shipping flowers throughout the world is another factor beyond manufacture. Although an increase in travel distance is not always associated with an increase in emissions, just like when purchasing locally grown food.
Local Areas Frequently Pay the Price Children who lived close to Ecuador’s floricultural greenhouses, where pesticides were administered in the weeks before Mother’s Day, showed changed short-term brain activity, according to a team of US and Ecuadorian experts.
The researchers speculate that the kids might have come into contact with contaminated tools, clothing, or shoes that floriculture workers took home. Additionally, they are looking into whether pesticide contamination of the water downstream of flower farms.
Long Haul Transport In frigid airplane holds, stems can travel up to 6,000 kilometers. The International Council on Clean Transportation calculated that in 2018, flowers for Valentine’s Day that were transported from Colombia to US airports produced about 360,000 metric tonnes of CO2. To put that in perspective, it is comparable to the annual mileage of 78,000 autos.
Flowers are sometimes trucked thousands of miles in gas-guzzling trucks from centers like Miami, Newark, and Los Angeles to destinations around the country even after they have been flown into the country.
Source:- Cut Flowers Market
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