As a single lady, I have paid off cupid to aim his sweet little arrow at some fabulous hottie for me this year. That being said, that arrow better strike someone who knows their stuff…their eco-conscious stuff that is. There is nothing sadder than thinking you found "the one", only to be handed a Hallmark card, gas station roses, and a Hershey's heart of chocolates.

So, in the interest of ensuring that you Valentine's givers don't end up being shown the proverbial door this holiday, I give you…  Shannon's Guide to a Greener Valentine's Day.

The Card
The card is a delightful and inexpensive way to show your love (or strong-like for those of you who aren't quite at that level yet) for your Valentine's Sweetie. I imagine that is why 180 million people sent Valentine's Day cards last year.

Let's do some informal math. First, I will assume that each of these 180 million folks sends one card (I'm eliminating the outliers, aka Tiger Woods). The average card costs $3. That is a conservative total of $540,000,000 spent just on cards for Valentine's Day.

A little more math fun. One tree makes about 90,000 sheets of paper. If we assume each card is approximately equal to one sheet of paper, then each Valentine's Day 2,286 trees are decimated to tell that certain someone we really dig them.

I bet you expect me to say, "Send an E-card!" Not this girl. I love cards. I think they are a beautiful way to show you care, or love, or lust. I do, however, believe you can be more green in your card giving ways.

Three easy alternatives, my little love muffins…

Buy Local
Let's give that $540,000,000 to our small, local businesses and avoid the Hallmarks of the world this year.

There are a lot of talented (and super smart) folks who are making cards from recycled/repurposed and reclaimed materials. This will cut down/eliminate the thousands of trees being sacrificed for love.

And because I want to make this as easy for you heartthrobs as possible, here are a few of my favorite Chicagoland card makers: Art School Girl, Hannah Handmade, and WomanCraft.

DIY
There is nothing more personal than a handmade card. Gather up some recycled paper, soy crayons, an old magazine, some leftover holiday wrapping paper and bows, and go to town!

Flowers
Nothing says Valentine's like an $80 bouquet of roses; which is why 187 million roses were produced last year just for Valentine's giving.

Unfortunately, 70% of the roses sold in the United States are imported from South America, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This not only means a huge carbon footprint, but let's not forget about the workers, most of whom are women and children, who are underpaid, overworked, and unprotected from the deadly pesticides used to produce these roses. Not looking so romantic scattered all over your bedspread anymore, are they? Don't fret, Shannon to the rescue:

Buy Fair Trade Certified Flowers (you can even buy roses!), or even better, find a lovely, locally grown alternative to roses at Illinois Specialty Cut Flowers.

Of course, nothing symbolizes a long-term relationship like living potted flowers.  They will not decompose in a week (if they do, you have then learned an important lesson about your potential partner's nurturing skills), and they introduce a healthy carbon cycle into your home.

Better yet, turn flowers into a Valentine's Day date by heading over to the Garfield Park Conservatory to the Spring Flower Show!

Oooh, how about just buying your love a garden?  A $50 contribution to Openlands provides the tools and materials necessary to start new community gardens and keep existing ones flourishing in underserved urban areas.  Warm Fuzzies abound.

Chocolates

Rounding out the Valentine trifecta is, of course, the chocolate. An estimated $345 million was spent on chocolates for Valentine's Day last year.

I am a girl who loves my chocolate. But the only guilt I want to feel when devouring the goods is due to overindulgence, so I carefully select where those little bits of heaven in my mouth come from.

In 2001, it was uncovered that in West African cocoa farms, millions of farm workers were actually child slaves. Since then, the oligopoly of U.S. chocolate companies signed what is known as the Harkins-Engel Protocol, which promised big change in their sourcing methods. Unfortunately, according to the International Labor Rights Forum, no one is actually delivering on these promises (insert surprised face here).

Since no one wants to support child labor or de-forestation, one of the other ugly sides of the chocolate industry, I encourage you to replace that trail of Hershey Kisses to the bedroom with more sustainable chocolates.

Some of my favorites include Cru Cacao, Katherine-Anne Confections, Green and Black's Organic, Divine Chocolate, and Endangered Species Chocolate.

You can find these decadent delights at Whole Foods Market and/or Green Grocer Chicago.

Remember, nothing says sexy like sustainability. Now go out there and get yourself a Valentine (and find me one too while you're at it)!