A greener valentine’s day

You may remember my feelings about Valentine’s Day, but I dealt with that last year. I will refrain from lamenting the shallow consumerism of it and talk about something else this time, like the Energy Saving Trust.

Under the slogan ‘turn me on, turn it off‘, the Energy Saving Trust are inviting people to take an imaginative and environmentally friendly approach to Valentine’s Day.

Suggestions include snuggling and saving on heating, sharing a bath, turning off the lights and using candles, and staying in and cooking something special at home. Many things that are romantic, it turns out, also save energy. More details on EST’s ever so slightly tongue in cheek website here.

Here are some tips of my own:

• Valentine’s Day generates a lot of waste, so try to avoid buying anything that’ll end up in landfill – I’m talking fluffy plush hearts and novelty underwear here. Wrong on so many levels.

• If you’re considering flowers, bear in mind that most red roses are refrigerated and flown from Kenya. The CO2 emissions from the air freight is bad enough news, but the polluting and drying up of Kenya’s Lake Naivasha is worse (more on this here). Buy a living plant from a garden centre instead of flowers. It’ll last longer.

• If you don’t do Valentine’s Day, more power to you. Just avoid the anti-valentine’s day tat – there’s nothing sadder than ironic consumption. Just ignore it, and it’ll go away by February 15th.