Picking a bunch

Buy local or buy Fairtrade, what do you prefer? Locally grown in-season flowers help your community, but Fairtrade flowers help the world''s poorest people get a fair chance at life. So what do you do? Now most florists, both online, in supermarkets and on the high street offer locally grown as well as Fairtrade certified flowers so you can alternate between the two.

Many people don''t consider the benefits of helping their own communities. We moan of a death in community and thriving high streets, but then don''t support it when we can. Through buying locally grown flowers money will stay in your immediate environment and farmers and businesses will directly benefit. It also helps to keep dying trades alive.

It''s infinitely more environmentally friendly too. No greenhouses means no energy is required to heat and irrigate them. Furthermore, no plane is needed to fly the flowers in refrigerated conditions, so greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide aren''t emitted into the atmosphere. This protects future flower and plant generations.

You will pay less too because less financial investment has been poured into their development. More of your money will be recycled back into your local community as well.

However, there are also many advantages to buying Fairtrade products too. It means we can have tropical and exotic plants in our homes throughout the year. Plus we know they haven''t been forced, because they have been grown in their natural environment. We can also rest assured our money is being used to help the poorest people in the world get a fair chance at trade.

Consumers in 2007 spent ?1.6 billion on Fairtrade certified products throughout the world. That was a 47% increase on the previous year and it benefited seven million disadvantaged people in 58 developing countries.

In the UK alone, the Fairtrade flower industry grew from ?4.3 million in 2004 to annual sales of ?33.4 million in 2008. Even during the recession, our appetite for Fairtrade flowers only faltered slightly, falling to ?30 million.

But Fairtrade doesn''t just help the farmers growing the flowers and the packers working in factories across the developing world. To be part of the Fairtrade scheme, companies must meet certain criteria and this includes investing in the local community.

One of the biggest Fairtrade flower producers in the world is Kenya. Here schemes have enabled children to go to school, bore holes have been drilled providing fresh, clean drinking water, medicines have been made available and HIV/AIDS orphans have been looked after.

Who knew that buying flowers as gifts for others or to make homes more attractive would benefit so many other people around the world, both at home and far afield?

Article Source: http://www.casinoarticlessite.com

Nita Hannibal is a freelance writer and horticulturalist. They recommend Interflora for flowers.interflora.co.uk/flower-delivery-birmingham/">flower delivery Birmingham.

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