How Green Is My Orange?—How much does your morning glass of orange juice contribute to global warmi…

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/business/22pepsi.html?ref=business

How Green Is My Orange?

By ANDREW MARTIN
Published: January 21, 2009

BRADENTON, Fla. — How much does your morning glass of orange juice contribute to global warming?

PepsiCo, which owns the Tropicana brand, decided to try to answer that question. It figured that as public concern grows about the fate of the planet, companies will find themselves under pressure to perform such calculations. Orange juice seemed like a good case study.

PepsiCo hired experts to do the math, measuring the emissions from such energy-intensive tasks as running a factory and transporting heavy juice cartons. But it turned out that the biggest single source of emissions was simply growing oranges. Citrus groves use a lot of nitrogen fertilizer, which requires natural gas to make and can turn into a potent greenhouse gas when it is spread on fields.

PepsiCo finally came up with a number: the equivalent of 3.75 pounds of carbon dioxide are emitted to the atmosphere for each half-gallon 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?

…

[kestrel91316]

1. Shipping cartons of WATER around the country is simply insane.

I never buy OJ in cartons - only ever the frozen cans. Water I can get out of the faucet.

And mostly I just buy ORANGES.

[Captain Hilts]

2. I saw the Tropicana train rolling through DC just last week. nt

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. Carton vs. Canister - Is frozen orange juice concentrate better for the environment? (A: No)

…

Growing the oranges accounted for a larger share — about a third — than PepsiCo had expected, almost entirely because of the production and application of fertilizer.

…

http://www.slate.com/id/2184700/

Carton vs. Canister

Is frozen orange juice concentrate better for the environment?

By Brendan I. Koerner
Posted Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008, at 4:03 PM ET

I like to start my day with a glass of orange juice. I've always used the fresh-tasting juice from the carton, as opposed to those frozen crystals you have to mix with water. Is my preference eco-hostile? Those cartons contain fewer servings per cubic inch of packaging than the aluminum freezer canisters. That results in lots more fuel being expended during the trip to market, right?

…

In the end, not-from-concentrate orange juice sold by the carton comes out slightly ahead of frozen OJ sold by the canister in terms of energy use. As a green consumer, your worst choice would be to buy juice that's been rehydrated by the supplier, then placed in cartons (such as http://www.minutemaid.com/products/OrangeJuice_and_Blends/Original.jsp">Minute Maid Original). If you prefer juice from concentrate, whether for the lower price or more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_(drink)">Tang-y taste, it's better to rehydrate it yourself.

What about squeezing your own OJ? Keep in mind that, unless you live in Florida or California (the nation's No. 2 orange producer), chances are those http://www.imok.ufl.edu/citrus/bfg/valencia.htm">Valencias traveled a long, long way to get to your grocery aisle. And transporting enough oranges to yield six servings of juice requires nine times more cardboard waste than transporting a 12-ounce canister of FCOJ.

The juice industry also claims that its manufacturing process is much more efficient than drinking squeeze-your-own, since factories waste no part of the orange: The rinds are turned into cattle feed, the oils into food flavorings. Some researchers even contend that the byproducts of OJ manufacturing can be http://www.sptimes.com/2006/05/30/news_pf/Business/Squeezing_fuel_from_o.shtml">made into biofuel—though, given the http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1151861v1?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=ethanol&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=date&resourcetype=HWCIT">recent controversy over ethanol, the Lantern remains highly skeptical of such innovations.

…

[drm604]

6. That article on the ethanol controversy isn't relevant in this context.

It talks about how the conversion from grasslands and croplands to biofuel production increases greenhouse gases. But in the context of oranges, we're talking about using the waste from crops grown on already existing cropland (orchards). This is waste that's already being produced, so the article isn't relevant. I don't know if the author didn't read his link, didn't understand it, or is trying to mislead his readers.

[excess_3]

4. airfreight and seafood

Why?
It is praiseworthy for politicians to feast
on endangered fish that are transported by airfreight,

but it is bad for poor people to drink orange juice

[drm604]

5. What does seafood have to do with an article on OJ?

:shrug:

[excess_3]

7. transport by rail should be encouraged

airfreight should be discouraged.
just my 2 cents

[drm604]

8. You mentioned politicians feasting on endangered fish.

What's the context of that?

[tom_paine]

9. I think he or she means the King and the Peasants have vastly different rules

I think he means that the King's State-Controlled Media frames our issues for us, and most Americans are now so mentally atrophied from years of TV, advertising, and the deliberate destruction of the teaching of critical thinking at all levels, it tells us how to think about peasants drinking OJ being BAD while the King's Men gorging on endangered fish flown in is GOOD (or at least ignored, which in the current laughable context of the American Nation Dialogue, means the same as "good").

Admittedly, this is a cynical interpretation, though after the last 8 years and really the last 28 years, cynical interpretations seem to be the most often valid.

And, yes on it's surface, the idea of the American Media being essentially the King's State-Controlled Media seem almost laughable..from inside the False Bushie Reality the M$M creates. But, to repeat an old cliche If ol' B'rer Rabbit can't get his way one way...then bye and bye, B'rer Rabbit got to think of another way. And in the end, if ol' B'rer Rabbit didn't get his way one way, he'll get it another way.

With that phrase in mind, consider this: What if the American M$M was rendered into a rough equivalent of Third World or Authoritarian Medias in terms of censorship and state-control, using other softer "kinder and gentler" methods such as corporatization combined with the failing backbone of the soft American National Character, making us ever more ready for "Virtual Enslavement" which is just another way to say that ol' B'rer Rabbit was stopped from doing it one way, but now ol' B'rer rabbit found himself another way to get his way.

Consider these new "B'rer Rabbit" ways also gives our newest generation of global tyrants, the Bushies, that which all tyrants need before they have certain levels of intimidation and control...Plausible Deniability.

How can the American Media be State-Controlled, one might ask? There are no KGB Men standing behind reporters with guns and no family members being murdered in retaliation for open reporting.

My reply? "Ol' B'rer Rabbit just found another way. Family members are killed anymore, their lives and careers are harmed or destroyed. No KGB Men are required, just the threat of job loss for ignoring the Corporate Consultant for News Worthiness Evaluation."

Human beings are just as tricky as ol' B'rer Rabbit when we REALLY want to do something, aren't we?

As I said, I present this as food for thought, and while I strongly suspect that this or something like it is the case, I am not 100% certain. But I do think it or something quite like it is probably going on.

Finally, I can't speak for the poster, so I am only speculating. I would love to hear what the poster in question has to say about it.

[drm604]

11. Actually, I think he was referring to a specific incident.

I could be mistaken but he was most likely referring to the misleading and debunked story that Al Gore's daughter had an endangered fish served at her wedding.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3300915/Al-Gore%27s-fish-dinner-turns-out-green.html

But the fish enjoyed by the Gores were not endangered or illegally caught.

Rather, the restaurant later confirmed, they had come from one of the world's few well-managed, sustainable populations of toothfish, and caught and documented in compliance with Marine Stewardship Council regulations. The Gores' spokesman, Kalee Kreider, admitted that the fish has been on the menu, but said: "The Gores absolutely agree with this humane society and the rest of the environmental community about illegally caught Chilean sea bass.

I understood the point he was trying to make (or trying to appear to make), but I have to wonder why he would feel the need to indirectly bring up this particular urban legend.

[Nihil]

10. (That poster is in the group of "what's a thread topic?" DUers)

He has had several incarnations here (e.g., Razzleberry) and has the
same detachment from thread topics as certain other single-themed
posters (e.g., our resident Appalachian mountain saver).

Don't expect much in the way of coherent response if your question
isn't one of his pet subjects.

:shrug:

Pat him on the head and move on.