Stamps of Disapproval

ISW reader Jeremy C. from the Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog sent in a tip about some interesting new Dutch wildflower stamps that feature plantable wildflower seeds in a piece that peels away from the actual postage. According to the Postzegel blog a sheet of the "Bloemetjes Cadeau" feature images and contain seeds of the following five species:

• Petunia (Petunia multiflora) [seems to be benign]
• Moroccan toadflax (Linaria maroccana) [naturalized on both US coasts, on the "early warning" list for the Hell's Canyon SWAT Team in Idaho, adventive in the UK, Australia and New Zealand]
• Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus) [considered a weed in the UK, adventive in New Zealand and the US]
• Edging lobelia (Lobelia erinus) [naturalized in Australia, native to South Africa and considered a "problem weed" there]
• Hybrid pinks (Dianthus chinensis x barbatus) [Not invasive as far as I can tell, though considered a weed in its native China]

Should we be concerned? It looks like TNT Post, the Dutch post office, is either restricting these for internal use only or recommending it - I cannot tell from the translation. The fact that most stamp collectors will want to preserve the stamps in their entirety and not plant the seeds makes this a fairly low risk situation, but perhaps pathogens are an issue? The Postzegel blog notes that the Dutch post office will mail these out to collectors worldwide with a statement in English describing what the stamps contain, and also points out that customs regulations might prevent these stamps from getting through to other countries. Hopefully this will alert countries with strict regulations to the "surprise" inside the stamps. Of course, you can already purchase them on eBay from sellers in the US, no customs sheet necessary.

Right now it is just me and the Babel Fish trying to figure out the story, so if anyone can translate Dutch feel free to add details (or corrections) in the comments below.

Corporate Response Ability

Not Green Enough
Originally uploaded by urtica.

Starbucks has a new environmental activism campaign - I think it is called "Planet Green." It seems to be centered around an internet game that aims to educate us about global warming and reducing our carbon footprints.

So what's the best way to get the word out about your company's new campaign to reduce the world's carbon footprint? By giving out free bookmarks, of course...free bookmarks with paper disks containing wildflower seeds that you can plant and presumably make the world a better place.

Sounds nice, doesn't it? Except someone needs to tell Starbucks that "wildflower" is not the beautiful, perfect embodiment of do-gooding they seem to think it is (I tried, but they have yet to respond). What species are these? Where are they native to? Are they potentially invasive? I could not find out the answers to these questions, and that is why I am concerned.

Don't get me wrong, I see good parts to the Planet Green campaign - the game itself was informative (though I got 300 points for visiting a Starbucks and not so many for visiting the mayor to talk about climate change). Starbucks is also running a reusable mug campaign to reduce the number of disposable cups - that's a good thing.

But this is an environmental campaign - isn't anyone looking at the big picture? Sowing seeds from who-knows-where is equated with doing environmental good? The campaign is done in partnership with Global Green USA. They're an environmental organization, aren't they supposed to know better?

Are these wildflower seeds from invasive plants? Probably not. So why am I making a big deal out of this? Because by not informing the public about just what is in those little white disks, Starbucks is ignoring the issue of invasive species and encouraging its customers to do the same.

I promise to report back here when I find out the rest of the story, if you promise to be responsible gardeners and not plant anything without finding out what it is and where it came from :-).

Update 4/6/07: As per an NPR report this morning, looks like we can add BP (British Petroleum) to the list of corporations that think being green=spreading seed. The NOTCOT blog has photo proof. I have contacted BP as well and will post updated here.

Update 4/13/07: One seedling has already sprouted, but still no word from Starbucks. I did get a short note from BP saying that they were forwarding my concerns to the manager of marketing at Helios House.

Update 4/23/07: A second email has been sent to Starbucks, still no response, and no response yet from BP. Plus thisnext posts about some super cute Starbucks gift card holders containing...you guessed it...strips of paper embedded with wildflower seeds. Is plain recycled paper just not cool enough anymore? Why not try some treefree stuff, or my personal favorite, Bluejean Bond?

Also, as John Peter points out in the comments below and on the Invasive Notes blog, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society sends out packages of invasive forget-me-not seeds (Myosotis scorpioides) with their donation requests.