Valentine's Day is a great opportunity to REDUCE and REUSE.

Valentine's Day does not have to be about THINGS - I make a special dinner - usually including beet rissoto which is bright pink and delicious. Giving a homemade valentine and back massage is more special than any store bought item. I also save old valentine boxes, decorate them, and fill them with organic treats and chocolate from the bulk section of our Co-op.

To create beautiful artful valentines, I use scraps of pink/red paper, wrapping paper, ribbons, and magazines which I've saved throughout the year. E-cards and emailed photos are also a special treat.

Recard istead of discard!

Keep cards you don't want, cover with newspaper, paint, stencil, stamp and style!
They will look great and people will appreciate!

Have fun!

recarding instead of discardiing!
Any cards you received at Christmas or any time that you know you will not keep can be covered with porous paper such as newspaper (the funny section is great)can be painted over with a layer of non toxic tempera, then stamps, stencils, or anything you like to use to style and customize! my son and I made our own Valentines cards this year, it was something to do together and the cards are more special to us.

Have fun!

Artist's Valentine's Cards can easly be made of recycled materials saved through out the year:
old ribbons
tissue paper from gift packages
beautiful used stamps
dried flowers especially orchids
patterned paper found inside envelopes
magazine & news paper cut outs
old photographs
drawings and watercolors done by you
recycled paper & cardboard gift boxes
old lace

As Department Head of an Arts School my students and I save all interesting "junk" to use in mixed media works.
Happy Valentines's Day

Instead of buying a rose that was imported en masse to england. I grew my own. they turned out rather interesting. Instead of being what i though they where (normal red roses) they turned out to be the ones that look black and red (cant remember their name)

I eat no chocolate and we do not something on Valentines day, I also bought the live earth dvd.

Neither! Choose a favorite bottle of wine and cuddle up in front of the monitor to a fabulous website to choose herb, vegetable, or fragrant flower seeds to grow together and enjoy! For no-fail results, quality, easy directions - and they are not genetically modified or treated - we have reneesgarden.com bookmarked!

Please, please stop being so dumb and selfish.

If you dont bought our flowers, technically and carefully grown here in Colombia, people will end up eating all our forests that provides world free air to burn with your suvs, and we all will go straight to hell.

Please stop beliving in childish "solutions", any real one must take accounto for ALL the people on earth!

Don't get sucked into the commercialism of Valentines day. Stay home and spend time with your family. That is the best way to express your love.

For my husband and I, the best Valentine's Day gift we give is time with each other. This year we will spend a quiet night cooking dinner together and then watch a DVD, a rare and much needed break to our busy work lives. Telling each other "I love you" is a daily requirement for both of us, as is saying "thank you" in appreciation for the little things like when dishes get washed or papers put in the recycle bin. We don't need more "stuff" to prove our love: we are happiest when we spend quality time together, and show respect and appreciation for each other.

From their web site (the coffee and chocolate I've purchased are very good): "Equal Exchange, founded in 1986, is the oldest and largest for-profit Fair Trade company in the US. We offer organic, gourmet coffee, tea, sugar, cocoa, and chocolate bars produced by democratically run farmer co-ops in Latin America, Africa and Asia."

maybe it's because i feel so detached from Mother Earth,from my fellow humans, and even myself that i can think of no better valentine's gift than a GREAT BIG HUG!

get organic chocolate, but most of all figure out what yValentines day means, It is for the one you wanna marry... So morally forget capitalist motives like Flowers!!!!!(the worst) and make a card , invest in stunning card/paper that you can send next year, different design, annonymously(this is a prerequisite) and she'll love you for the effort (she'll know it's from you hopefully) and that will be the joy next year (also Love) Malcx
Ps if you have a hard life try go organic atleast..(it's hard to get organic , local ++)

I send Valentine's cards online through thebreastcancersite.com or therainforestsite.com. This week through the 14th, thebreastcancersite.com is donating $1 for each card sent to the Mayo Clinic for breast cancer research, up to $10,000, through their sponsors.
No cards to recycle, no paper used, no postage AND money donated to a good cause.
I send almost all my cards through these sites and the other sites affiliated with Greater Good Networks. When I send cards this way, I make a donation to one of their charities in the amount I would have spent on a card sent through the mail and the postage.

I cut the front off my wedding cards and used them as postcards to married friends of mind for Valentine's Day to share the engery of new love. (First I scanned them for a memory photo show).

To make home made greetings I cut the back off the cards with paper incerts and fold it in half. Cut words and graphics off other cards and adhere then with double sided sticky tabs. You can use parts of the colored paper as border to accent or layer. It is easy to take a box of old cards and make new personal ones out of them.
~Enjoy

My hair grows pretty fast so when the weather gets hot and humid, I want a short style. If I have at least 10 inches of hair, I donate it to Locks of Love. They make wigs for children who lost their hair due to sickness, radiation treatments, etc. Therefore, I'm recycling my hair for others to use.

neither, a few years ago we planted a rose bush on v-day, so i get fresh cut flowers from my garden anytime i want.

help regulate the human population:
http://www.mirena.com/html/index.html

The future is not disposable.

Valentines day gift for my Honey: hit the library; seek several works of sensual prose, donning a rub-on heart tattoo, several strategically placed red ribbons, and two glasses of champagne, read to your love. Then, love your Love.

Carbonneutral.com has this wonderful gift idea for lovers. You can actually have two native trees dedicated to your lover in Warcombe Wood in Devon, also known as "Lover's Wood." All of the proceeds go towards Carbon Offset projects, and you even receive a map guiding you directly to your trees! It is a very romantic gesture for your loved one as well as for the earth, which we sometimes neglect to show our love for.

One of the harp ensembles I belong to, Kindred Harps of Houlton, Maine, played a Valentine's luncheon gig at a local restaurant yesterday. We decorated the front of our harps with red hearts made with recycled paper, bows, and fake flowers. Sorry I didn't get a picture to share, I was too busy playing!

When we buy chocolate, it is equal Exchange chocolate that we buy at our local UU Church.

On recycling the valentine candy box, even better keep it for the next year & fill it by purchasing candy at your local candy store. You have not only reduced the carbon imprint by reusing the box, but also the candy is local and has not been trucked in. I have done this for many years & if you're careful, the box is none the worse for wear. Also on the plus side, It's a double expression of love to the person receiving. They are getting your love for them & the earth.

Our new Whole Foods is selling organic flowers from local vendors and regional sustainable farmers at a good price.

I have no idea if this is green but its really neat. Can anyone verify if they are green?

The company is Edible Arrangements and they make bouquets out of fruits.

I frankly think this focus on buying gifts for Valentine's Day is missing the point. Nothing that must be manufactured or mailed is truly green. Pick flowers, bake a cake, make a card, get creative with left-over paper, metal, chipped china, whatever, or simply say "I LOVE YOU" and do something for your lover that she or he would dearly love.

We've got to move away from consumption as the presumed solution to our climate woes. Less is Best.

Thank YOU!

Concert tickets are a great green V-day gift. Buy them online, leave them at Will Call so no printing or shipping required, and make a handmade card with your IOU inside!

Hi,
Everyone should go to www.wheatware.com
and use code #28-000 to get a discount and help save our world.
Ian Young
PS I only say it this way so you will go to the site and see how many ways you can.
Thankyou all

I bought my husband a second hand, new looking, book from Newtown by Leunig entitled 'You and Me'. I wrapped it in paper that we kept from a pressie for our baby last month. This morning he gave me a BIG HUG in return. I am making dinner for him tonight, a combination of his favorite vegetarian foods: tofu steaks lightly fried in sesame and soy sauce, salad with raw carrot, baked potato with mustard and a mushroom stuffed with rice.

I ‘adopted’ several animals featured by Defenders of Wildlife. With a donation for each animal, you get a photo, brief background on the animal and a personal note to the giftee. You can also get a plush toy animal, if you choose — or let your full donation go to protection programs.

Go to: http://www.defenders.org/index.php

and click on adopt an animal.

Trader Joe's has fair trade (according to the label) chocolate truffles in nice packaging at a very reasonable price

How about giving your loved one a voucher for a nice relaxing massage or spa treatment?

Buying in fair trade is excellent. Recycling the containers that flowers come in is another suggestion.
I started a recycling program at my shop and in the first month we reached out to 2 counties in our every day work, receiving over 200 vases and baskets. The program continues all year.

Go volunteer and show love for others who have been forgotten like the women/men's shelter with your sweetheart. :)

I make valentines for the little children at our school with paper that is discarded. All year long I put little odds and ends into a drawer, bits of ribbon, artificial flowers that blew in on the wind or were used by someone else for decorations, greetings cards that are shiny, sparkly, red, colored envelopes, etc. and many other such bits. Each valentine is different, I get to feel creative as I make them look pretty, and the children love to pick out the one that appeals most to each of them.
I know they take them home and enjoy them, then use parts to make their own projects.

i recommend French Broad Luscious Organic Chocolate truffles. it is a small handmade organic truffle and other yummies company nestled in the mountains of western north carolina. and a big hug and smile to the world. i know some will sneer that it's commercial and cliche, but an exquisite bit of chocolate brings more happiness into the world. how can that be a bad thing?

Each year we plant a [Valentine] Spring tree.

I've used recycled junk mail to create handmade papers, which are great for making "designer" art greeting cards! It is easy, fun, cheap! and an excellent way to actually USE those shredded credit card offers and irritating junk mail propaganda. All you need is water, a blender, papers (sorted by color), a large plastic tub/box, and a pair of plain cheap wooden frames (one with a sheet of metal or poly window screening fabric nailed to the back side.) To that you can optionally embellish your paper with dried flower petals, shredded wood fiber (from twigs of trees such as dogwood or mulberry), bits of cotton fiber (from cotton balls!), potpourri, spices, sparkling glitter, or bits of tissue paper! I will be posting a PDF with instructions on my website for those who are interested in the ultimate recycling craft!

Since we all have everything we NEED, I suggest donating to charity in a friend's name instead of gift giving -- maybe for heart research since it's Valentine's Day.

The best thing to do for Valentine's is give somebody flowers you've grown yourself.

And the simplest way of getting flowers with low carbon footprint is planting a potato. Trust me, potato flowers are pretty! You can what they look like at:

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/suttonelms/pot32.html

Any ribbons from gifts, flowers, small packaging - make wonderful bookmarks. Everytime I open a book and see a certain ribbon, it is like experiencing that gift (often the gift is long gone) all over again.

In Audubon Magazine's January-February 2008 issue our reporter travels to Ecuador to expose the thorny side of roses: Most of the 1.5 billion roses Americans buy each year come from Latin America where they are sprayed with pesticides, exposing people, wildlife, and birds to harmful chemicals. Birds are our canaries in the coal mine, they tell us when our environment is in trouble. That's why the century-old Audubon Society studies birds and alerts people when even common birds are in decline, before they become endangered. Studies show one tenth of North American birds die each year because of exposure to pesticides--that's 67 million birds. But there's a happy ending to this story: You can buy green roses and other agricultural products that are grown in more sustainable ways, telling your loved one that you not only care about them, but also about the planet. Our consumer decisions will make a difference. If you can't find green roses (look for the Veriflora and USDA certified organic labels), be sure to ask your florist for them. When you ask, you help create a demand. Every issue of Audubon features tips like these on how to be green. Visit audubonmagazine.org

we grow our own vegetables and have planted roses and other flowers in the garden (watered with our water tank). Valentine's is cooking a delicious romantic dinner with all our produce set on a table covered with our own grown rose petals.

We don't exchange any gifts which is really good because there is no flowers being cut or heart shaped cardboard boxes being bought. Knowing that we love each other is all the gifts we need and it's enviromently friendly. Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

I take used Altoid boxes and decorate the outside with beads from old necklaces. On the inside, I glue scraps of tufted tissue paper or feathers and place a special Valentine message on top, so it willl be seen when someone opens it.

In Switzerland fair-trade flowers can be found all over the country. The two biggest supermarkets sell them (Migros, Coop), Flower 3000 sells them, Fleurop as well and lots of small florists. I do not include any web pages in here as the list will be very long (as well as very time consuming for me to list them).

Chocolate can be found in every Claro shop (www.claro.ch)

greetings
Robin

My favorite gift for coffee lovers is Citizen Bean. With Citizen Bean they can get a different freshly roasted coffee from a award winning small roaster complete with hand wrapped gifts like organic chocolate and french sugar, every month. The coffees are all sustainable (fair trade, organic and or shade grown)and delivered monthly within days of being roasted.For more information go to http://www.citizenbean.com

Dear Friends, these things are a great way to raise the awareness of people who are not that familiar with Global Warming or don't want to be :-) And I think we need to keep in mind that no recycling of any wrapper is going to change what needs to change fast enough. I don't think we should bury our heads in the sand at all, but I am afraid that this kind of activities and green consumerism just will make us feel good about ourselves. I don't know what the full answer is either, nobody does, but am interested in not putting a band-aid on what is a really overwhelming topic. Maybe being willing to try and let it all in would even foster a different kind of love from any we have known so far - but I can't even jump to that just yet. Happy Valentine's Day!

Check out these organic valentines t-shirts with beautiful green leaf hearts.

Lee and I have been married almost 39 years. I kept the first Valentine I gave him (in 1970) and have recycled it every year since then. It was a joke at first - then a ritual - and now a ritual joke.

I'm not a huge fan of 'cut' flowers - like 'growing' plants.

My FAV organic and fair-trade chocolate is Vosges Choclat : www.vosgeschocolate.com
The Peanut Butter BonBons are FAB cut up over Green&Black's Organic Chocolate Ice Cream!

ENJOY :)