and has kindly made the information available to all of us.
"This might not be news to some of you but it was an eye opener for me. At least the numbers anyway. I mean, I knew my orange juice didn’t just appear in the grocery stores like magic and that it needed to be grown and transported but I didn’t think about the details of how it creates such a huge carbon footprint.
So here is the low down on orange juice.
Did you know…..?
To produce a 64 oz carton of Tropicana orange juice emits 3.75 lb of greenhouse gases?
* 60% Agriculture and Manufacturing ( 58% Fertilizer production and application, 30% Natural Gas, 8% Electricity, and 2% Transportation)
* 22% Distribution
* 15% Packaging
* 3% Use and Disposal
According to TIME and NY Times, PepsiCo who owns Tropicana enlisted Columbia University’s Earth Institute and the environmental auditing firm, Carbon Trust to help assess the carbon footprint of each gallon of Tropicana orange juice.
The study found that the biggest contributor to the carbon footprint isn’t the gas guzzling trucks that deliver these delicious refreshing drinks all over United States but the agricultural and manufacturing practices – fertilizer production and application being the biggest.
Ha! Should have known that.
So what do you do?
Drink organic orange juice! Since there won’t be any fertilizers or pesticides used in growing organic oranges, the carbon footprint would be so much less!
In all fairness though, PepsiCo is trying to be greener since this report. Pepsi is working with Yara International and Outlook Resources, PepsiCo will test low-carbon fertilizers at one of its producer farms in Bradenton, Fla. If successful, the greener fertilizers could lower the carbon footprint of PepsiCo’s citrus growers by as much as 50% and reduce the total carbon footprint of Tropicana orange juice by up to 20%. (TIME)
But until then, I’ll be buying organic orange juice…Or squeeze my own OJ at home. They taste better anyway.
Now…only if I can find organic oranges."
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