Valentine’s Day, the Greenhearted Way

Ah, Valentine's Day. A holiday both loved and loathed by couples and singles alike. Remember those saccharine candy hearts with the pithy romantic messages that you used to drop into your classmates' homemade V-Day mailbox? And the shiny red box ensconcing chocolates of mysterious fillings that your 8th grade crush picked out at the local drugstore? And let's not forget the bundles of burgundy roses with the sprigs of baby's breath.

Yes, it's a festive holiday like many others: One that celebrates mass consumerism!

I'll spare you the soap box soliloquy this time, however, and instead offer this, er, light-hearted quiz that the Sierra Club's newsletter recently offered. No cheating!

But if you do want to delve a bit deeper into the greenness of one Valentine's Day tradition--namely, bouquet-bequeathing--be sure to check out "A Rose is [Not] a Rose," appearing in Audubon's January-February 2008 issue, as well this book review I wrote on Flower Confidential, Amy Stewart's voyeuristic tour of the flower industry.