Mother's Day Tributes?

There has been considerable debate about the environmental and economic impacts of flower growing for the European market in Kenya (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/02/ethical-investment-flower-power-editorial?INTCMP=SRCH ). The original concerns related to the water requirement for flower production (it resulted in shortages for humans and local wildlife) as well as the very low wages that some of the workers growing and packing the flowers received. As a consequence of 'ethical investment', progress on these issues has clearly been made. Problems remain, however, about the diverting of efforts from local food production, the land use and the very large carbon 'footprint' associated with transporting the flowers to market.