The way many flowers are grown isn't pretty.

In their recent Growing Pains report War on Want say,

" Supermarkets sell 70% of all the flowers bought in the UK - the highest proportion in Europe. But the workers in Colombia and Kenya supplying those flowers to the supermarkets face low wages, health problems such as repetitive strain injuries and miscarriages through exposure to pesticides. Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Waitrose and Sainsbury's all source from one or both of these countries, and have enormous influence over flower producers and ultimately the health and safety of workers.

Many UK businesses have adopted voluntary standards for their suppliers, but these are still failing to protect the health and safety of workers. War on Want is therefore calling on Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Alistair Darling to urge the government to introduce binding legislation to enforce corporate accountability. This must give overseas workers the right of redress in the UK, i.e. the ability to seek compensation for damage to their health and loss of earnings as the result of actions of UK companies or their suppliers.

Flower workers depend on their jobs as vital sources of income. Help us ensure that workers supplying the UK have safe and secure jobs."

Buying Fairtrade flowers ensures that the workers who grew them were not exposed to deadly chemicals and minimal environmental damage was caused.

In its Spring 2007 Newsletter the Fairtrade Foundation says:

Fresh flowers are the only Fairtrade product to be routinely transported by air as they must be in stores quickly to ensure their freshness. Most Fairtrade certified products are shipped not flown – per mile, international shipping is less carbon intensive than trucking within the UK.

Transportation is usually a small proportion of the overall carbon footprint of a product.
The carbon footprint includes the method of growing and production, how and where it is sold, the customer journey, the packaging, consumption and final disposal. Air freight is 0.1% of total UK carbon emissions, and transportation of Fairtrade products in 2005 was estimated to be just 0.03% of UK food mile emissions.

Whilst buying in season from sustainable local producers can be a very positive way of reducing impact on the climate, it’s important to consider not just where a product comes from, but how it has been produced, including use of land, chemicals, hothouses or natural resources. Research has found that a flower grown in Kenya and flown into the UK emits five times less carbon than one that has been industrially hot-housed in the Netherlands. Many everyday items such as sugar cane, cotton, bananas, cocoa, coffee and tea are grown in tropical climates of developing countries with minimal use of carbon-producing energy.