Thanks in part to powerful algorithms, all I've been reading lately are posts about sustainability and what everyone thinks is sustainable or not within my field of work 'the Dutch floriculture sector'.
From home, I have always been taught: Change the world and start with yourself. So after reading the umpteenth article about the sector being unsustainable, I started to investigate for myself.
Work happiness versus impact from the sector
Like many, I am happy in my job and get incredibly happy with the flowers and plants I deal with in my work. I see daily how hard people work, by growers for example but also within our own company, to take another step towards a sustainable chain every time. Are we already where we want to be, the answer to this is 'No'. Does that make me have to look for another meaningful interpretation of my working life? 'No'. Do I leave flowers and plants out of my living environment from now on? To that too, the answer is 'No'.
There is not 1 answer, but there are steps you can take
After some online research, I came across the following information:
• 1 glass of wine
> 425 grams of CO2 emissions
• 1 bottle of carbonated water
> 360 grams of CO2 emissions
• 1 glass of milk
> 800 grams of CO2 emissions
• 10 carnations
> 1.3 kg CO2 emissions
• Return trip Amsterdam-Barcelona by plane
> 522 kg CO2 emission
• 1 kg milk chocolate (a bar ±200 grams)
> 5.9 kg CO2 emission
• 2 avocados
> 846 grams CO2 emissions
Pretty confronting, on all counts. The question now is in what way can I myself live more sustainably? What choices do I make besides the familiar electric driving and solar panels? Every day when I do something different, make a conscious choice, makes a difference. Every conscious choice counts, even if the difference sometimes seems small.
Encourage rather than condemn each other
Humans have a significant impact on the climate, and awareness is thankfully growing. Let's encourage each other to take steps, big and small, without judging. Whether you drink wine and don't buy flowers or put flowers on the table and leave the wine, these are choices. We need to raise our awareness and act faster. I am confident that this awareness is causing big changes in the floriculture sector too, and I am working hard to increase the speed of these changes.
