Green Living: Valentine's Day

This annual opportunity to express your love for your nearest and dearest through the medium of cheap sparkling wine and large novelty cards is loved by some, – but I have to say I have my doubts.

I am a natural romantic, as my long suffering wife will tell you. Nothing is too much for me; or as she would put it, anything is too much for me.

The stakes tend to be high around Valentine’s Day, birthdays etc, when the reverse psychology of “Don’t worry about anything for me� tends to come into play.

But where are the ethical gifts and treats to show your special person that you care?

Flowers are often the obvious choice, but there is a debate around whether the cut flower industry as a whole is particularly kind to the environment.

Growing flowers is energy intensive and freighting the finished product around when they’re ready doesn’t help.

One option which offers a more ethical alternative is to give a living plant instead – a beautiful houseplant will continue giving pleasure for years to come and acts as a permanent reminder of the token of your devotion.

Of course if a big bouquet of roses is the only thing that will hit the spot, look out for the Fairtrade mark to ensure that the growers are getting a fair price for their produce.

The same rule applies to that other Valentine’s fall-back, chocolate.

Green & Blacks and Divine are good names to look out for, with the Montezuma shop at Spitalfields Market also a good place to drop by.

Even I may take my good lady out for a bag of chips on Saturday. Who says romance is dead?

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