Ever wonder how much owning a car impacts the Earth? Zipcar, the world’s leading car-sharing network, and a company that provides a greener alternative to car ownership, has created a one-of-a-kind display today that brings carbon emissions to life in an effort to showcase the wastefulness of car ownership.

A personal car engulfed in 32 bags of trash is parked head-to-head with a Zipcar overflowing with colorful flowers and lush greenery to highlight car sharing as an environmentally-friendly option compared to car ownership. Studies show that when people switch from owning a car to sharing one, they reduce their carbon footprint by up to 1,600 pounds,[1] which is the same as saving 32 bags of trash from landfills! [2]

Zipcar teamed up with sustainable flower companies Bloomerent and Larkspur Botanicals to bring this showstopping installation to life by using thousands of locally-sourced foliage, flowers and eco-fresh bouquet wraps made of plant composition, which is biodegradable, compostable and reusable.

This one-day pop up is part of Zipcar’s #StartSimple Earth Month campaign, which encourages people to adopt simple habits that have a big impact on the Earth (like joining Zipcar). Learn more at www.zipcar.com/startsimple.

About Larkspur Botanicals:

Larkspur Botanicals is an eco-friendly floral design studio that makes eco-conscious decisions from petal to vessel. Larkspur has been on the New Jersey Sustainable Business Registry since 2015 and prides itself on being the only florist on this registry. The company aims to source flowers domestically and locally during peak growing seasons and has a test-garden where it grows a portion of florals used in arrangements. Larkspur composts all plant waste (petals, stems, leaves) and uses only bio-degradable floral foam and plant-based cellulose instead of plastic.

About Bloomerent:

Bloomerent is a one-stop shop to find and book a florist for weddings and events. From the very beginning, Bloomerent’s mission has been to reduce floral waste by creating a marketplace that allows two events in close proximity to share their fresh flowers. The company has curated a community of top-rated local florists for customers to connect with directly on their website and have the option to list their floral centerpieces for another event to reuse, allowing both customers to save money and make a sustainable decision with their flowers. Huffington Post has called Bloomerent a "genius way to make sure your flowers don't go to waste.”

[1] Martin, Elliot and Susan Shaheen. “Greenhouse Gas Emission Impacts of Car Sharing in North America” (June 2010).

[2] EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalency Calculator