Wednesday, August 20, 2008

300

WOW, here it is people----POST No. 300------enjoy.

Here in California where we are overly in love with anything that smacks of a healthier life style, I read an interesting article in my Local newspaper, "The Daily News". The topic was titled, "Boxed vino can reduce wine's footprint". I am not a snob by any means---well maybe I am but I will deny it in public.---but hello, nobody that's anybody drinks Wine sold in boxes. At least that has been my understanding since back in College where I first developed my sense of sophistication. (Why is the LP sitting over there laughing himself sick at me??)
The article went on to explain that the vast bulk of American wine production is here on the West coast, whereas the bulk of the wind drinkers are East of the Mississippi. To meet the demand a lot of wine bottles are trucked to the east coast. The carbon-dioxide emissions created trucking the wine across country is calculated to be 5.2 POUNDS per 750 milliliter bottle. (That's a lot of soot people). Whereas if the Wine was packaged in boxes, (the newspaper story mentions 3 liter boxes in the study, that's an equivalent of (4 ) 750ml bottles) the carbon-dioxide emissions) would be about 2.6 pounds .
In summary if 97 percent of all the wine made to be consumed within a year, were shipped in those 3 liter boxes, it would eliminate about 2 MILLION TONS of greenhouse gas emissions per year, or the equivalent of retiring 400,000 cars from the road.
I guess its a fact that the United States has now surpassed Italy in our total consumption of wine, and is closing in on France. (Talking total volume, not per person consumption, we are waaaay behind on that statistic). I neglected to mention that the article did make reference to the fact that Italy's Agriculture Ministry has recently announced that some wines that receive the government's quality assurance label may now be shipped in boxes.
It would seem that this trend to go to boxes is ultimately going to be the "green" thing to do, but I kinda have to ask myself----we already have with the problem of what to do with the zillions of plastic bags----has anyone thought about the tons of empty wine boxes we will have??

13 comments:

  1. I suspect you wrote this with you left pinky perched high in the air?
    Not sure if the fact that there are now so many "wind" drinkers in America (the bulk of the wind drinkers are East of ) that we are surpassing Italy on closing in on France is something to brag about? Hmmm ...does that mean we are a nation of winos?? Congrats on #300

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  2. I am so with you on this issue since I am a consumer of wine. And I am a snob from way back, and my friends have always apologized to me about offering me a glass of wine out of their box, because they are real winos and money is an object. I of course, graciously refuse while I bring the best wines putting big smiles on their face. I guess everthing about this country is going down the tubes and to the boxes. But, trust me, boxes will never win over bottles unless you are from the back hills of Arkansas and a real lush.

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  3. I'm strictly a beer drinker. And I recycle my cans thank you very much. Just trying to do my part.

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  4. (LOL) I'll drink to that Leslie(hoisting my Natural Lite in a mock toast)

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  5. Nice way to put your friends down Trish..or are they? ...WOW

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  6. My Niece TISH IS a snob in her tastes, fortunately she has to exist on a "beer" budget so in real life she is okay, but God help us if she wins the lottery (LOL)

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  7. Make mine grape juice in a recyclable plastic bottle. I don't drink anymore. Hey wonder if we could make ethanol out of all those wine boxes?

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  8. I doubt that the wine boxes are as recyclable as the bottles are.

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  9. I'm not a fan of wine ... it all tastes the same to me ... and burns as it goes down.

    Why does it matter if it's in a box or a bottle? I know the bottles are pretty and all ... but seriously, it's the wine that matters not the container.

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  10. I'm not a wino in any way shape or form, so I really can't make a comment. Back in my drinking days, I was a beer bottle baby. Those days are over for me.....Gary, you can drink my share. I'm sure the cardboard is recyclable as are the bottles. I say just enjoy the time with your friends and family and who cares what you drink or what type of container it comes from.

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  11. Interesting. Your clarification about the US wine consumption (it's NOT the per capita leader) is JUST what that my whole FantaCo thing is about - getting it right. http://rogerowengreen.blogspot.com/2008/08/bissette-tackles-fantaco-legacy.html

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  12. It's a fact that if you are on the sidewalk in the eastern or western part of america, you are surrounded by thin people (who HAVE to walk daily) in the midwest, you're surrounded by what looks like "beef on the hoof". We don't walk anywhere.

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  13. dana, been trying to instruct my niece Tish how to expand her blog list---advising here to add Your blog to her listings (she had a dog like yours, but lost it a couple monthes back)---have now pushed her on to wayne, so time will tell.

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Speak up, don't be a nebish---your opinions do count.