Ali Kausar Feature English

Do we have to kill flowers for our ceremonies?

Ali Kausar Feature
BS Roll-19

Can you imagine yourself ripping apart thousands of blooming flowers, just so you could please a certain someone or some people?

 

The value of a flower in nature is very much evident when it comes to the benefits they provide to different kinds of species. For one, they are a source of food for insects, birds, animals and even humans. They also work as natural medicines for humans, and one of the main purpose of a flower is to provide aid in the reproduction of plants by enticing outside pollinators. Without flowers, plants would merely be green, and the world would be a duller place.

Unique and beautiful flowers around the world are constantly being torn apart just for the sake of arranging these flowers for someone’s wedding ceremony or someone’s birthday etc. But do you wonder how many of those flowers are wasted afterwards? Is it even possible for those flowers to be recycled and become useful again? And is it really necessary for us to please ourselves with fragrant flowers in our ceremonies without coming up with analternate replacement? While keeping these thoughts in my mind, I took it upon myself to visit the local people to get their point of view regarding this subject.

Amongst the many answers I received, some of the most common ones I got to hear were, “because I want my ceremony to be beautiful” or “because the type of flowers I use will show my status”.

It is safe to assume that, one of the major reason for using real flowers at our celebrations, is mostly related to maintaining ones social standing. Basically, the use of fake flowers is looked down upon in society and is seen as a cheap means to honor the guests in any event.

If we could take the time out of our day, to just think about why we must follow some traditional social activities and whether if continuing the destruction of flowers really is for the greater good, then we might be able to avoid major future casualties. Just think about how hundreds and thousands of years ago, someone probably said that it is a bad idea to cut so many trees just for apparent pleasure. But what they got to hear in response to that was, “it’s not a big deal. There are so many trees and one has got to maintain their social status.” And think about how now, there are so many countries around the world that are sparing no effort to plant millions of trees in order to survive on the planet.

Similarly speaking, if we could avoid using up the natural elements of our world just for the means of maintaining social status amongst a small group of people, we might be able to keep our plants from ever being extinct in the future.

No doubt this topic has been debated over several times over before and we are used to the conditions of it by now. But its 2020- the climate is changing and it is an absolute necessity for us to keep the reproduction of plants on our planet stable. You are probably thinking that, “It’s just a flower. How can it possibly be so important?” Well, you would be surprised to know that even a single flower can play a big part in affecting global warming conditions. The real issue here is merely the mentality of the people following traditions passed down from past generations who did not think that these habits could lead to endangering valuable species. It is the mindset that we need to change and think long and hard about if whether it is necessary to use flowers in every ceremony.

To conclude my subject, I want to provide a simple solution which could help us understand and make it easier to change certain traditions.

One of the solutions can be to make use of fake flowers instead. They could help us reduce the plant wastage in our region. Fake flowers can also be recycled when they are sent back to the factories to be reassembled- thus, they will not go to waste like real flowers. Another bonus benefit is that this could also improve our economy as we help out local craftsmen who make artificial goods gain a source of income.

Put aside the social status. It is now time to learn what will be best for our planet in the present and our future as well. This will be a win-win situation so it is high time we started working on improving this situation for a brighter and better tomorrow. 

This practical work carried out under supervision of Sir Sohail Sangi, at Media and Communication studies, University of Sindh Jamshoro