by Grace Hood

It's the third-largest retail holiday of the year, according to the National Retail Foundation (NRF). One in five men plan to purchase jewelry, while the average consumer is expected to spend $97 for the occasion, reports the NRF 2005 Valentine's Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey.

Love it or leave it, Valentine's Day is upon us. And while some of us have the time for a handmade valentine or two, most of us will hit the stores to find our oh-so-unique-way to say "I love you."

But there's bad news for all you roaming Casanovas out there. Typical Valentine's Day favorites—chocolate, roses and diamonds—offer surprisingly few options for those who want to spend their money in a socially responsible way. Cocoa beans are often picked by child laborers. Rose farms present a grim picture of working conditions and often cause severe health problems for workers. Diamonds mined in conflict regions are sometimes used to support bloody internal wars.

Fortunately, there are some Valentine's Day alternatives that encourage fair labor and improved working conditions around the globe. With a little background and knowledge, you'll be spreading love way beyond your valentine this holiday.

Guilt-free chocolate

Each year America spends $13 billion dollars on chocolate, according to the Chocolate Manufacturers Association. What corporate chocolate producers don't want you to know is that children are sometimes used as unpaid laborers on West African cocoa farms. Some media reports have even found that these children were sold or tricked into slavery and shipped from poorer West African nations to Cote d'Ivoire, from which the U.S. imports most of its cocoa beans.

The fair-trade label is one of the few ways to make sure you're not supporting child slavery. While many Boulder stores carry fair-trade items, no store is quite as familiar with the label as the Boulder Co-op. Andrew Kreps, who manages bulk grocery purchases for the Co-op, recommends fair-trade chocolate brands like Dagoba and Endangered Species.

In addition to child slavery, there's a second issue at stake when considering fair trade, says Kreps. The label ensures that small family farms stay in business. While fair trade is more expensive, it makes sure that workers have enough money to educate their children, buy medicine and provide for their families, he says.

And that's not the only benefit to fair-trade chocolate. Because it's produced on a smaller scale with higher-quality goods, the chocolate tastes a whole lot better than your average Hershey's bar.

Ultimately, the beauty of this gift comes down to giving something you know was produced in a safe and supportive environment. "I don't see what could be better than giving someone the best piece of chocolate you possibly could that was ethically manufactured and harvested," says Kreps. "Really, there's no losing in that situation."

Roses are red

In the weeks and months preceding Valentine's Day, life as a rose worker is often unfair and difficult. Workers are required to labor from 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. in extreme heat and receive little overtime pay. During one hour, they cut as many as 600 stems just to stay out of trouble. Due to the rushed production, workers feel hurried and are often prone to injury.

Perhaps the worst health condition for laborers comes from the chemicals that greenhouses use as pesticides. While there are laws that restrict workers from being present during chemical spraying, Nora Ferm, program manager for the Labor Rights Fund, says that these laws are loosely enforced. Ferm has visited flower farms in Columbia and Equador several times and coordinates the Fairness in Flowers Campaign. She says these conditions often result in respiratory issues, rashes and vision problems for flower workers.

Considering the conditions that most rose workers endure, buying Florverde roses makes good sense. Florverde certification monitors self-elected Columbian flower farms for fair environmental and labor practices. This Valentine's Day, Wild Oats Natural Market is offering a full bouquet of roses that carry the Florverde label.

While the Florverde certification program is a good start, Ferm says that the flower industry as a whole still has a lot of work to do. Perhaps the largest inhibitor to this program is that many consumers remain happy with the status quo. By asking flower sellers about labor conditions, buyers can do a lot to raise consciousness about the issue and ultimately change the landscape of this industry, says Ferm.

Bloody diamonds

Diamonds are arguably the most controversial Valentine's Day gift. Diamond corporations advertise heavily around Feb. 14, going to great lengths to assign sentimental meaning to diamonds. What they don't want you to know is that this gemstone has funded deadly conflict in African nations like Sierra Leone, Angola and the Congo.

For Dr. Susan Erikson, director of Global Health Affairs at The University of Denver, the conflict in Sierra Leone hits especially close to home. Dr. Erikson lived in Sierra Leone during the mid-'80s and served in the Peace Corps. While the Sierra Leone conflict did not escalate until the mid-'90s, Dr. Erikson has personal stories of friends lost and families torn apart due to the armed conflict, which was largely funded by diamonds.

In 2002, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme was instated to monitor how diamonds are produced and to ensure that they are no longer used to fund armed conflicts. While Sierra Leone's political situation has drastically improved since then, Dr. Erikson says that there's no way of knowing for sure how accurate the Kimberley Process is at certifying diamonds because there's no authentic seal on the certificate.

There's still a glimmer of hope, says Erikson. She believes we need to re-evaluate the cultural value we assign to diamonds. "In the end it's a pretty arbitrary assignation of what that thing means, and we can decide as a global community that the stone just doesn't mean that anymore," says Dr. Erikson. "It would probably take a couple lifetimes, but we could."