We like pina coladas (and getting caught in the rain)

Dole will make some tropical-fruit distribution carbon-neutral

Posted by Grist at 4:32 PM on 20 Aug 2007

Read more about: news | food | carbon neutral | business | greening biz operations

U.S. residents have a heckuva hard time finding a local pineapple (Hawaiians respectfully excluded, of course). But now you can nosh your tropical fruit with less guilt; Dole Food has pledged to offset 100 percent of the CO2 emissions that come from growing bananas and pineapples in Costa Rica. Working with government agencies, the company plans to carbon-neutralize its entire supply chain, from growing the fruit to packing, transporting, and distributing it in North America and Europe. And those emissions are far from insignificant: Dole ships some 31 million boxes of bananas and 13 million boxes of pineapples annually from Costa Rica, which aims to be a carbon-neutral country by 2021.

source: Environmental Finance

For story: We like pina coladas (and getting caught in the rain)
3 Comments | Post a Comment

Mixed Fruit

So, does this mean my bags of Dole frozen mixed fruit will become green? I mean especially since they offload the boats just 20 mile south of me?

by gwboyd at 5:17 PM on 20 Aug 2007

Green Wash!

Sorry, but even if they're "carbon neutral", it still doesn't mitigate the vast amounts of petrochemicals used to ship their product thousands of miles away.

This just looks at what comes out the tail pipe and not what goes into the engine!

Buy Local, in season, and, where possible, within economic realities, organic. N. Americans have been so spoilt by the ability to purchase things from anywhere at any time. We can use our energy = money in far better ways than by purchasing tropical goodies from far away. They're great as a treat, but definitely detrimental when they become a mainstay and are seen as "normal" table fare.

Perhaps we should be shipping icebergs to hell?! Make that carbon neutral, eh?

Security is an illusion, it does not exist in nature... Life is either a daring adventure ... or nothing! Helen Keller

by mmmoongoddess at 11:25 AM on 21 Aug 2007

The devil will be in the details

"It did not disclose details of how it plans to achieve carbon neutrality, or the degree of offsetting which will be involved."

As a tropical country, it looks like the best thing it could do is add to its eco-tourism forests.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 1:41 PM on 21 Aug 2007

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