Don’t waste your arrows, Cupid

Around 6.5 million Valentine’s day cards will end up in the bin over the weekend in the UK alone, a new study says. Many of them contain glitter, glue, laminated decorations and microchips that play songs, buying them a one-way ticket to landfill.

While my generation favours e-cards, I couldn’t resist buying my husband a ‘real’ card this year. I’m also making it out to our little cherub, Robin, who I want to raise to become a hopeful romantic. Romance is all about gestures, right? Big and small.

It doesn’t surprise me to hear that Americans send even more cards, worth US$ almost US$ 1.5 billion (EUR 1.4 billion) in 2024. This is on top of flowers (US$ 3 billion), candy (US$ 2.5 billion) and jewellery (US$ 6.5 billion). That means a lot of wrapping paper.

Off the clock

For fun, I got my boys a pair of matching socks (with a lobster print – why be boring?) and we went out for dinner to a fancy restaurant. I bet there’s data on food waste related to holidays but I won’t bother looking. I wouldn’t want to dampen the mood.

Sometimes it’s nice to splurge and not worry about the mess you make. It was a Friday night so I was off the clock anyway.

But I will say this: since our son was born, we now go on more outings rather than buying physical gifts. Nothing makes his eyes light up more than an adventure. For kids, that can be anything – that’s the beauty of it.

Cycle of joy

In the end, it’s a balancing act. It’s time to realise we don’t need so much ‘stuff’, that we can be happy without it. On the other hand, I want to enjoy life and not let eco-warriors get to me.

It makes me think of what Michael Braungart, who invented cradle-to-cradle, told me. ‘Life should not be about shame. About what we don’t do. About what we don’t use. Life should be about joy and connecting. And making things, doing things that make sense.

‘There is so much focus on the zero waste principle. It’s like we’re saying: “Sorry I’m alive”. That’s not the point. There is even waste in nature. Yet, in nature, there is a time and a place for all things and creatures. The circle of life. Let that be our inspiration, rather than obsessively shrinking our footprint. We can’t be guided just by numbers. The human experience is about so much more than that.’