Sustainability Glossary for Floriculture
Navigating the world of sustainability in the floriculture industry means becoming familiar with various specialized terms and phrases. Our sustainability glossary is crafted to clarify these concepts, offering clear and accessible explanations. Recognizing that the field of sustainability is continuously evolving, we are dedicated to keeping this page updated with new terms and current insights. Whether you’re a professional in the industry, a sustainability enthusiast, or simply curious, this resource is designed to enhance your understanding and engagement in the sustainable practices that are shaping our industry and the environment.
Floriculture Sustainability Terminology & Definitions
- 9 planetary boundaries: A framework to describe limits to the impacts of human activities on the Earth. The nine planetary boundaries are climate change, biosphere integrity (functional and genetic), land-system change, freshwater use, biogeochemical flows (nitrogen and phosphorus), ocean acidification, atmospheric aerosol pollution, stratospheric ozone depletion, and release of novel chemicals.
- Biobased: Refers to materials made from raw natural sources such as plants and other renewable resources.
- Biodegradable packaging: Packaging that microorganisms can break down into natural substances to blend back into the Earth.
- Biodiversity: The variety of life found in a particular habitat or the entire world.
- Bioenergy: Renewable energy produced by living organisms.
- Bioplastic: A plastic produced from biological substances rather than from petroleum. These bioplastics are often biodegradable.
- Biorational: Low-impact substances or products that are typically biologically derived.
- Carbon credit: A permit that allows a country or organization to emit a certain amount of carbon emissions.
- Carbon dioxide equivalent: A unit of measurement to indicate the global warming potential of greenhouse gases.
- Carbon emissions: The release of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels, changes in land use, and manufacturing processes.
- Carbon footprint: A measure of the amount of carbon dioxide and other carbon compounds (greenhouse gas) emitted due to the consumption of fossil fuels by a particular person, group, etc.
- Carbon Neutral: Any carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere from a company’s activities is balanced by an equivalent amount being removed.
- Carbon offsetting: A process that involves reducing, or removing, carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere to compensate for emissions made elsewhere.
- Carbon Positive: A business entity produces a number of emissions that are above zero- which worsens climate change.
- Carbon sequestration: The capture and storage of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
- Carbon zero (or zero carbon): Describes a product or service that creates no greenhouse gas emission during production and/or operation.
- Circular economy: A model of production that reduces waste by keeping materials and products in circulation for as long as possible.
- Climate change: Refers to the long-term and global shifts in temperatures and weather patterns.
- Compostable: A product that can disintegrate into non-toxic, natural elements.
- Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Management concept where companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their operations.
- Cradle to gate: An assessment of the carbon impact of a partial product life cycle from resource extraction (cradle) to the factory gate.
- Cradle to grave: An assessment that considers the impacts at each stage of a product’s life cycle, from extraction (cradle) through each subsequent stage of manufacturing, product use, and disposal.
- Crop Rotation: The practice of growing different crops in the same field in sequence to improve soil health and reduce pest and disease problems.
- Deforestation: The clearing of forested land for other uses such as urbanization or agriculture.
- Eco-labels: Marks placed on product packaging that help consumers quickly and easily identify products that meet specific environmental performance criteria.
- Embodied Carbon: Refers to the greenhouse gas emissions arising from the manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance, and disposal of building materials.
- End of life: The final stages of a product’s existence, what happens to the product after it is discarded.
- Energy Efficiency: Reducing the amount of energy used in floriculture production.
- Energy efficient: A device or building that uses relatively little energy compared to alternatives to provide the power it needs.
- Environmental Footprint: measures the impact of people or organizations on the environment, whether positive or negative.
- Fairtrade Floriculture: Floriculture production that meets specific social and environmental standards.
- Fairtrade: a way of buying and selling products that help producers in developing countries through better prices, decent working conditions, and a fairer wage.
- Freshwater biodegradable: a product that is biodegradable in natural aquatic environments.
- Global Warming: the long-term heating of Earth’s surface causing the current rise in the average temperature of Earth’s air and oceans.
- Greenhouse Gas: a gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect by absorbing infrared radiation in the atmosphere.
- Greenwashing: When an organization spends more time and money on marketing itself as environmentally friendly rather than reducing its environmental impact. Falsely promoting environmental stewardship.
- Home Compostable: products made of materials that fully decompose through biological processes at lower temperatures over a longer time than industrial composting.
- Industrial Compostable: products made of materials that require controlled conditions such as temperature, moisture, amount of oxygen, particle size, and the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio to decompose fully. The required temperature is much higher than home composting.
- Integrated Nutrient Management (INM): A plant nutrient management system to optimize plant growth and production while minimizing environmental impacts.
- Integrated Pest Management (IPM): A system of managing pests to maintain populations below economically damaging levels while minimizing the use of pesticides.
- LED Lighting: A type of lighting that is more energy-efficient than traditional fluorescent or incandescent lighting.
- Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): a systematic analysis of environmental impact throughout the entire life cycle of a product.
- Local: description of products sold within a certain distance of origin.
- Marine Degradable: a material that can be wholly biodegraded under marine environmental conditions within a specific timeframe, leaving no toxic substances or residue.
- Microplastics: tiny pieces of plastic debris in the environment due to the disposal and breakdown of consumer products and industrial waste.
- Modern Slavery: situations of exploitation in which a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, or abuse.
- Natural: existing or caused by nature.
- Naturally Derived: ingredients or materials originating from plants, minerals, microbes, or animals.
- Net Zero: when the carbon dioxide that your business emits is equal to the amount of carbon dioxide that has been sequestered through carbon removal activities
- Organic: Produced or involving production without the use of man-made chemicals, fertilizers, or pesticides.
- Paris Agreement: A legally binding international treaty that aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change.
- Phytosanitary: Relating to, or being measures for the control of plant diseases, especially in agricultural crops. A phytosanitary certificate verifies agricultural products have been inspected and are pest and disease-free.
- Pollinator Friendly: A plant or garden planted with flowers that provide nectar or pollen for a range of pollinators.
- Post Consumer Recycled: Material that is made from the items that consumers recycle every day, such as; aluminum, cardboard, paper, and plastic bottles.
- Post Industrial Recycled: Material created from the waste materials generated by the manufacturing process.
- Recycled content percentage: The total percentage of recovered materials of a product, including post-industrial and post-consumer materials.
- Renewable: Capable of being replaced over time by natural ecological cycles or sound management practices.
- Shrink/Waste Reduction: Reducing the amount of waste in your business’s inventory.
- Slow Flowers: A movement encouraging consumers to support their local economy by purchasing locally grown cut flowers, seasonally and ethically.
- Social Footprint: A context-based approach to measuring, managing, and reporting the social sustainability performance of an organization.
- Social Sustainability: A process for creating sustainable, successful places that promote well-being by understanding what people need from the places they live and work.
- Substrate: Any material that provides anchorage and sufficient water and oxygen levels for optimal plant development.
- Sustainability: Use of resources in a manner that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
- Sustainable Business: An economically viable, socially responsible, and environmentally conscious business.
- Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): A universal call to action to end poverty and protect the planet, with goals in 17 areas set by the United Nations.
- Traceability: The ability to discover information about where and how a product was made. Labeling and traceability are key issues.
- Transparency: The act of being open and honest in actions and accountable.
- Waste Management: Refers to the various schemes to manage and dispose of waste. It can be done by discarding, destroying, processing, recycling, reusing, or controlling wastes. The prime objective of waste management is to reduce the number of unusable materials and to avert potential health and environmental hazards.
- Water conservation: Reducing the amount of water used in floriculture production.
- Water Footprint: An environmental indicator that measures the volume of freshwater needed to produce the goods and services demanded by society.
- Water Management: The control and movement of water resources to minimize damage to life and property and to maximize efficient, beneficial use.