Tine Poppe. Empetrum Nigrum.

Born and bred in industrial scale greenhouses, cut flowers have no contact with nature and generate high CO2 emissions - not unlike humans in the Western world.  Flowers are powerful symbols. People around the world use them to mark rites of passage and significant life events. In the Victorian era, flowers were considered the best medium to express feelings. Each type of flower was associated with specific, symbolic meaning. Previously the western world’s supply of cut flowers derived from local run green houses. Today most of the flowers we buy in our stores have been transported by plane or lorries from industrial scale digitally run greenhouses around the world. Colombia, Ecuador and equatorial East Africa are the largest producers of cut flowers in the world. The greenhouses contribute to high water use and chemical runoff. On top of pollutants and water use, flowers can generate serious carbon emissions because of refrigeration and long-haul transport. Stems may be transported up