1. Choose Organic or Locally Grown Flowers

A rose is a rose is a rose, but on Valentine’s Day, you can expect about 214 million roses to be the flower gift of choice. In fact, according to the Society of American Florists, fresh flowers are the number one gift choice for Valentine’s Day. But if you’d like to give a green floral gift, try to choose either locally grown flowers or those that are grown organically. If you live in a warmer climate, where farmer’s markets are still up and running (not so much in the northern half of the United States), buy your flowers this way.

“Organic flowers are easy to find online and often at boutique flower shops in large cities,” suggest Courtney Hamilton, a spokesperson for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NDRC). “Why buy jet-lagged flowers at the cost of the environment or the health of workers, when you can get fresher cleaner ones down the street?” I just heard of a new organic florist and gift shop in New York City called Gardenia Organic, and I’m sure other major cities have similar kinds of shops. I’ll bet you can find locally grown flowers in small towns, too. Where I live there is a shop that has its own greenhouse that operates year-round, meaning that I can get locally grown orchids and hydrangeas whenever I want. As far as online options for organic flowers, check out Organic Bouquet.

2. Share a Sustainable Meal Together

By now you’ve heard about the 100-mile diet and folks who eat locally grown foods and call themselves locavores. This Valentine’s Day, why not take a page from their culinary book and share a sustainable meal together. You can cook this meal at home or dine out at a nearby restaurant known for its local and/or organic fare.

One such restaurant in Philadelphia is the White Dog Cafe. Its commitment to the Earth and to good causes is exemplary-the restaurant buys from local, organic farmers, uses alternative energy and recycles religiously. Is there a restaurant like this near you? Make a reservation for Valentine’s Day dinner there–and walk or take public transportation to get there, if you can.

3. Raise a Glass to a Local Spirit

These days you can get great wines from places other than California and France. If your goal is to enjoy a fine, green wine, try looking in your own backyard (or at least a nearby state) for your spirit of choice. Local wines “don’t travel as far, from grape to table,” says the NRDC’s Hamilton. A hot trend in wine growing is doing so organically (no surprise there). “Organic wines don’t cost much more, particularly in the era of discount wine markets,” Hamilton adds. “As an added bonus, organic wines are made without added sulfites, which makes them more friendly to people with asthma and those who are allergic to the common vino additive.” Google “organic wine” and the area where you live, and see what you come up with. I’m confident you will find lots of local options. Once you find a great bottle of local wine, remember: after you’ve enjoyed it, don’t forget to recycle the bottle.

4. Green Your Jewelry Gift

I’m not talking about giving a ring that turns your finger green. No, this year why not shop for jewelry in a consignment or antique shop? This would totally qualify as reusing and recycling. Or how about purchasing jewelry made from recycled materials? One of my favorite companies is Uncommon Goods, which sells a ton of jewelry made from recycled materials. How cool is that?

I’m still waiting for more information on organic chocolate options, since chocolate is a favorite go-to gift for Valentine’s Day. Once I’ve got my research complete, I’ll post more about that. In the meantime, if you’ve got resources to share on green chocolate–or any other green ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day–post a comment and let me know.

Here are a few more nifty suggestions I’ve picked up lately:

* Give laundry the cold shoulder
Washing your clothes in cold water is the best way to save energy, resources and money–even if it you have a water-guzzling, top-loading washing machine, so writes Eileen Smith in her recent Courier Post money column. (Smith also has a fun blog about shopping called Shop ‘Til You Drop.) So is making sure that your spin cycle really whips out the extra moisture in your clothes so that they’ll need less time in the dryer. Another wash cycle suggestion: let your clothes soak for an hour or two, then restart the washing machine on the light cycle. You’ll need less time to wash them because of the soaking, meaning you’ll use less energy in the process.

* Have a dryer dry spell
If at all possible don’t use the dryer as much, and you’ll save energy. In our house, clothing spends five to 10 minutes in the dryer, then I pull items out and hang them up on a drying line in the laundry room. (I can’t dry clothes outside due to pollen and my allergies.) Another benefit to this drying method: my clothes last longer, which is a money saver in and of itself, so says the Consumer Reports GreenerChoices.org website.

* Ditch the answering machine
I don’t believe that any of my friends and family members still have answering machines (all have moved on to the modern equivalent, voice mail), but it seems that a lot of Americans still have these now-relics around–18 million Americans according to The Daily Green website– and these machines are using up lot of energy. If everyone just switched over to voice mail, you would save in energy and emissions the equivalent of taking 250,000 cars off the road. That’s a lot of kilowatts!

* Eat and grocery shop locally
I remember reading about fruits and vegetables that have to travel thousands of miles to make it to my local grocery store–and how often times this produce was forced chemically to ripen so that it looked more palatable to shoppers like myself. In the end this was bad for the produce, bad for me (chemicals), and bad for the environment. These days the best way to save the world is to eat locally, as I discovered in a recent Portland Press Herald article that my mother in Maine sent to me. This article talked about the amount of energy consumed in transporting fruits and vegetables some 4,000 miles. (This mileage stat doesn’t surprise me, given that I recently saw New Zealand Gala apples in my Pennsylvania supermarket. In my mind apples should come from Washington, New York, or Maine, where my grandfather was an apple farmer.) This notion of eating locally to save resources, find fresher fare and support local businesses fits right in with the 100-mile diet challenge that some folks follow, whereby they try to have everything in their diet come from within a 100-mile radius of their home. I’m sure that isn’t easy but probably an eye-opener and well worth the effort.

* Check the baking aisle for creative cleaners
I can remember my mother teaching me to use vinegar as a way to clean out the gunk in my coffee machine without poisoning myself in the process. (It sure did speed up brewing time but it took many, many pots of hot water to clean out the awful smell.) I can also remember her showing me how baking soda and vinegar can clear a clogged pipe better than a chemical cleaner, and the same combination works great to clean a toilet and a bathtub. It seems that these days, cleaning is baking soda and vinegar chic. I’ve recently seen a number of articles touting baking soda’s benefits–from keeping HEPA filters in vacuum cleaners clean to degreasing your hair–and would you believe it? There are books out on baking soda and vinegar. They are Baking Soda: Over 500 Fabulous, Fun, and Frugal Uses You’ve Probably Never Thought Of and Vinegar: Over 400 Various, Versatile, and Very Good Uses You’ve Probably Never Thought Of, both by Vicky Lansky and both with pretty impressive Amazon rankings. I’m going to have to see if my local library has either or both books!

What other “out of the recycling bin” green, money-saving steps have you picked up on lately?