orchid growing and sustainability

A large part of my day was spent repotting, dividing, spraying and fertilizing my orchids. It made me come to face (again) the fact that growing orchids is not a sustainable practice, especially the cattleya orchids that I favor (like the Cattleya walkeriana 'Pendentive' shown). It certainly enlarges my carbon footprint.

Orchids take a lot of purified water. I have a reverse osmosis unit for the job, though I save the waste water for use in the garden.

They take a lot of light (like 2000fc), so I have fluorescent light fixtures for those that don't fit in the windows. And use a certain amount of electricity, and produce a certain amount of toxic waste in the process.

They also need humidity, so I have an automatic (electric) misting system in a glass case for the more delicate ones. But the glass case stops air movement, which causes fungal diseases, so I also have muffin fans to give the plants gentle breezes (more electricity).

They also need nutrition, so I have fertilizer, non-ammonia based since they don't grow in soil which can break down the ammonia into a form the plants can absorb. This fertilizer is likely to be petroleum based.

Then there is the growing medium. Fir bark chunks have been the medium of choice for orchid growers for many years, but the quality fir bark came from old growth forests, and those are becoming scarce. Before fir bark became popular, Osmunda fiber, and tree fern chunks were popular. These were the dried roots of ferns, the production of which killed the plants. So many ferns were destroyed in the process, that supplies are limited. Should we be detroying other plants for this hobby of growing plants outside of their natural habitat? There have been trials of growing plants in chunks of coconut husk, but some orchids hate this, and it still requires fossil fuels to transport from tropical countries. People have tried crushed tires, but there is some hazzard in handling the radial belted tires: people have cut their hands. They also off-gas in the home. Some orchids refuse to grow in tire chunks, their roots dying as they hit the tires. People have grown orchids in peat, but we are realizing that peat is essentially a non-renewable resource.

I've looked on-line for more sustainable growing methods, but ultimately, I must realize, orchid growing requires a lot of energy, and is not an environmentally sound practice. So orchid growing, while something that I enjoy immensely, is an activity whose ethics I have been questioning. I've been whittling down my collection. I now have about 46 plants. But I'm thinking of getting rid of most of them as well.

I'd welcome thoughts.