In a nutshell, unless you live in Florida: Not very.
This week, I was touched in two ways by Tropicana’s new effort to tell the world it’s green. First, I got an e-mail from some cousins in California telling us that they had used their OJ code to protect 100 square feet of rainforest in Mlle. Cheap’s name. That led us to click on the link in the e-mail and learn more about Tropicana (PepsiCo’s) sustainability efforts.
Then, this morning, I saw this post on yesterday’s Green Daily, titled What is Your OJ Doing for the Planet?.
And that in turn reminded me of a more objective article in The New York Times that a reader sent to me back in January. Among other things, the article addresses PepsiCo’s study of the carbon impact of orange juice production:
PepsiCo finally came up with a number: the equivalent of 3.75 pounds, or 1.7 kilograms, of carbon dioxide are emitted to the atmosphere for each half-gallon, or 1.9 liter, carton of orange juice. But the company is still debating how to use that information. Should it cite the number in its marketing, and would consumers have a clue what to make of it?
PepsiCo’s experience is a harbinger of the complexities other companies may face as they come under pressure to calculate their emission of carbon dioxide, a number known as a carbon footprint, and eventually to lower it.
In the past year or so, carbon impact as a measure of environmental damage or lack thereof became a buzzword, then fell out of favor. Now I hear very little about it. So it’s great to see a large company like this taking action to keep the momentum going — even 100 square feet of rainforest at a time.
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Comments ( 3 )
I am interested in this post mostly because I am interested in why you drink OJ. We don’t drink it in our house because a) it is very sweet and b) we have two guys alleric to citrus in our family. I probably order it at a restaurant maybe 1 time per year. What are you getting from OJ? Could you get it another way? Or do you just love it? Hope you are doing ok. It sounds like your staycation didn’t go so well. Sending good vibes to you (and contemplating my own staycation…).
erin added these pithy words on
Aug 14 09 at
1:12 pm
@erin – I drink OJ very seldom. Sometimes for a mimosa — we don’t have any local tropical fruit juices to give a similar effect, and I don’t think apple would be the same.
And I squeeze some at Christmas when I make candied orange peels. I think some people do drink it out of habit — “it’s part of breakfast.”
Anyone else – how much OJ do you drink?
Cheap Like Me added these pithy words on
Aug 17 09 at
9:44 am
I hardly ever drink OJ, but I’ve decided to give the Flat Belly Diet a go and I’m going to try to go vegan for 21 days in Sept. (wish me luck) and in the first 4 days of the FBD, you have to drink 10 oz. of OJ, so this article interested me. Other than that, OJ and I don’t see much of each other.
I wonder if the same carbon footprint applies to oranges? If not, you could always do fresh squeezed.
Slick added these pithy words on
Aug 21 09 at
8:54 pm
