Greenwashing and Imposter Syndrome

When I started Wilderblooms my intention as I went along was to raise awareness of the environmental pitfalls of the British flower industry as it stands. What choices and changes can we make both as consumers, and as growers/gardeners, and why these changes matter - what difference does it make. From the big picture – slowing down climate change, to the very small – avoiding disrupting and polluting ecosystems in our gardens in the UK.

I realise that there's actually an awful lot I want to talk about, and im very passionate about it. But conversely having this overload of thoughts and information resulted in me having no idea where to start.

I run WilderBlooms completely alone. I have no help, and no background in business, retail, or weddings. I threw myself into learning  everything as I went along. With all my time being thrown into sales, marketing, farming, networking, web design, social media management on top of actually doing floristry itself. I found myself with little to no time, or mental capacity to do all this writing and educating that I really wanted to do.

I'm the sort of person that has about 5 different trains of thought talking simultaneously in my head. Sometimes just focusing on one is difficult, because I want  to tell you everything about everything, all at once, but I cant. But 2.5 years into this journey I'm going to try.

 

Green Washing:

"the act of a organisation or individual portraying a misleading or deceptive public image that is actually not as environmentally friendly as they make it out to be"

 A good example of this that springs to mind is Coca Cola’s campaign for their “plant bottle” made out of a plant-based PET (polyethylene terephthalate).  Sound great, right? Using plants – a renewable source -  to create bottles rather than fossil fuels? And yes, I agree with you there. But let me explain greenwashing.

You now have this idea that actually Coca Cola wants to be sustainable. This publicity makes you think that maybe they actually care about the environment, and you forget to pause and realise that plant-based PET is still a non-biodegradable plastic that will sit in landfill for millennia, and Coca Cola is the largest single contributor to plastic waste on the planet. Creating a different type of plastic and branding it as eco friendly, is never going to be the solution. Is this really about protecting the environment? or is it about just wanting to look good and make a few more sales?

Looks good: But is it really?

In a less nuanced approach, some companies will just slap the term “eco-friendly” or “biodegradable” on their products and you will make the assumption that they are better for the planet because the packaging says so. But for so many telling lies is easy. If the word “eco friendly” sells more of their plastic tat, they will slap it on the packaging without a second thought. There's no real regulations in the UK other than regarding misleading consumers – but if you can argue that your product is “eco friendly” (an ambiguous, ill defined term) then nothing's really going to come of it. Heck, don't even get me started on the term biodegradable - do you know that some plastics are biodegradable? yes - they break down in nature - into microplastics - which is arguably even worse! I wish I was kidding!

This website has some excellent examples https://greenwash.com/

Aaaaaaaaanyway. My worry here is, the longer I go without really talking about the huge lengths I go to behind the scenes, and how enormously I care about environmentalism, the more I feel like I could be accidentally portraying myself as greenwashing. I keep telling you all again and again that I'm “a sustainable florist” that I sell flowers that are “better for the planet” that I use “organic methods” on my flower farm, and buying flowers from me is the “eco friendly” option. But I feel I don’t do nearly enough demonstrating why I *am* all of the above.

So why don't I?

Imposter syndrome:

“a psychological pattern where individuals doubt their accomplishments and have a persistent, internalized fear of being exposed as a fraud, despite external evidence of their success. Marked by self-doubt and attributing success to external factors or dumb luck rather than skill”

Oh boy has this been a factor in why I don’t share as much with you all as I would like to. 

Let’s loop back to the start when I said I have no background in business. Well, prior to WilderBlooms I had no background in floristry. No background in horticulture. No background in ecology or environmentalism. That doesn’t mean however that I don’t know these things. Infact I’ve committed really quite a lot of time over the years to learning these things myself because I'm passionate about them. But at the end of the day, I struggle mentally sometimes to see myself as a reliable source of information in these fields. I have no qualifications, I haven’t studied them, I'm not an “expert”. I’m just someone who cares and wanted to learn – who am I to tell you about climate change, soil health, microplastics, or how to set up a organic cut flower bed? Everything I know I got from watching Youtube videos and reading blogs, created by people with minds a bit more to the point and less rambly than my own.

So what is my background?:

I went to university and have a BSc in Biology. I’m very proud of it. I consider myself a scientist at heart. I care immensely about speaking facts, understanding the natural world and using reliable sources of information.

Over the past two years many people have said to me “oh biology, that must be useful for what you do” “ah yes, sort of” I chuckle back. Assuming they think I studied ecology or botany.

When actually my field was Reproduction. Oh yes, I can tell you all about sex, puberty, hormones, embryology, pregnancy, labour, contraceptives, STIs, IVF, genetic abnormalities in the sex chromosomes etc etc. But that's not relevant to floristry or horticulture. Technically plants do reproduce sexually, you have spores and ovules as opposed to sperm and ova (egg) but same idea– but I don’t think that’s really what people mean when they say my biology degree must be useful for growing flowers!

Biology degree: 22 year old Emma armed with a degree in glorified sex ed. , little did she know she would become a florist

What is useful however in the present day, is my unwavering love of biology, the science of all living systems. From understanding how individual species function alone, and as part of the world around them (their ecosystem). Every living thing is part of this beautifully intricate jigsaw, the more you pay attention to it, the more complicated you realise it actually is. 

There's nothing as awe inspiring and simultaneously damning  in my eyes. The true beauty of biology. We are part of this big cycle endlessly recycling atoms from one lifeform into another. We're born, we reproduce, we die, we return to the earth and start again. And every single organism has its role to play in this endless cycle. We all help each other. So when we upset the balance in these ecosystems, we ultimately pay for it. And as humans, we seem intent on disrupting this balance.

I'm getting distracted - I could talk biology for hours. My point is, I'm no expert on ecology or environmentalism. But I am a biologist , who sees the beauty of our ecosystems and natural world. I see why its more important than ever to protect them from the destructive and ever greedy nature of man. I have no formal qualifications in these areas of expertise, but I do know a lot more than I give myself credit for.

So let me try to explain:

WilderBlooms is not a greenwashing marketing ploy. I go the extra mile behind the scenes, unseen, every day. I make decisions for the business that are not financially the best but are the morally correct thing to do. I spend hours researching packaging, filtering through the nitty gritty of the manufacturers greenwashing claims. I work with trusted farms in the UK. I strive to only use organic, and feel a bit of guilt when I am not able to source organic that week.  I don’t think people realise how much extra work I create for myself by not using the Dutch flower markets, and avoiding plastics. But why would you? - I haven't explained it

It's significantly harder than it should be to create a WilderBlooms bouquet that I can be proud of. To stand by my decisions for the business. To stand up infront of you all and say "I'm a sustainable florist" and know deep in my heart that I am. To sleep easy cause its not green washing.  I do it because I care endlessly about protecting every living thing on this planet.

So let me try to unravel my thoughts, from my busy brain onto this blog,  and maybe I can slowly explain to you in painstaking detail why the floral industry needs to change, what I'm doing to try and change it, and why you should care - why we should all care

 

To be continued.