Fossil Fuels: What & How

We use biologically-based fossil fuels to power most of our locomotive machineries. Fossil fuels are naturally made from the anaerobic decomposition of dead animals.  In fact, the ones we use today are typically millions of years old (some fossils exceeding 650 million)!  When animals and plants decompose, they release carbon into the atmosphere at an incredibly slow rate. However, when fossil fuels are burned in order to make fuel energy, the carbon from the decomposing organisms are released at a much higher rate. So, the amount of carbon that should have been released over the span of tens of millions of years is ultimately released in the span of a few hundred years. This extreme release of carbon as carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gasses drives the greenhouse effect responsible for climate change. While it would be difficult to regress back to environmentally “healthy” shipping options such as horse and buggy, it is important, as a consumer, to know your different shipping options and their individual impact on our fragile environment.

Up in the Air

Airplane rides are not just for that family vacation anymore. Tons of cargo is being shipped world-wide everyday with the help of these mechanical birds. Unfortunately, planes require a lot of fuel to keep them up in the air. Plane fuel consumption depends on the size and weight of the aircraft as well the altitude and duration of the flight. When you consider all these factors, a plane that flies internationally, such as the Boeing 747, may burn approximately one gallon of fuel every second.  These fuels used to power the plane are responsible for the plane’s CO2 emissions. Researchers now believe that in 2025, aviation CO2 emission could reach 1.5 billion tons!* While planes are very helpful in facilitating world-wide commerce and trade, shipping a gift by plane for your Aunt Susan two states over may not be the most eco-friendly option.

Choo Choo’s and CO2’s

Depending on where you live, you may not see a train very often. However, these railroad bound locomotives are still actively used in the movement of cargo and goods. Train fuel consumption is based on the train’s maximum speed and stopping patterns. A higher speed is directly related to more fuel usage. Also, a greater number of stops a train has along the way are also directly related to more fuel usage. This is because there is a greater input of fuel to get the initial motion of the train. Train transportation is considered to be one of the more efficient ways of shipping. On average, a train emits only .1 kg of CO2 per ton mile compared to the .81 kg of CO2 per ton mile of air cargo emissions.**

Trucking along the USA

Even though most trucks use diesel, they are not exempt from the growing number of harmful CO2 emissions into our environment. Vehicle transportation in general constituted about 27% of the United States total greenhouse gas emissions in 2005.*** Between 1990 and 2003, CO2 emissions increased by 20%, despite the many automotive improvements to increase fuel efficiency and decrease CO2 emissions.**** However, trucks emit less CO2 than cars per pound of vehicle mass. Trucks are also considered a better shipping alternative to airplanes emitting fewer CO2 per ton mile.

The Educated Consumer

As climate change becomes more and more evident, it is up to us to take an active role in decreasing CO2 emissions and eliminating our individual carbon footprints. With this important role in mind, Arbor Teas offers the Earth Friendlier Parcel Post Shipping option. Parcel Post shipping through UPS is a ground shipping option that eliminates air travel (making it a greener option) and is available in the lower 48 states. While this shipping option may delay the arrival of your order of delicious organic tea by about a week, this shipping option greatly reduces shipping fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. With Earth Friendlier Parcel Post Shipping, you can sip your tea in confidence knowing that you selected a greener option in its delivery.

* “Airline Emissions: Even Worse Than You Think”, Wired, http://www.wired.com/autopia/2008/05/airline-emissio/
** “Transport and the Environment”, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_and_the_environment#Rail
*** “Truck: Environmental Effects”, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truck#Environmental_effects
**** “Truck: Environmental Effects”, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truck#Environmental_effects

What Does Carbon Have To Do With Cold Brewing Tea?

Actually, there is even more you can do to reduce your CO2 emissions when it comes to tea-making. We covered a variety of “green brewing” techniques in a previous post.  These are certainly great ways to reduce your carbon footprint, but there is yet another easy and practical alternative to the regular brewing process: cold-brewing! As its name suggests, this technique involves making your favorite tea with cold water, slashing energy consumption by eliminating the water-heating process.

Of course, there are pros and cons to brewing tea this way. Cold-brewing will produce a lighter-bodied tea with less astringency and bitterness, as this method draws out a fewer tannic compounds, which is great for a mellow, even sweet, iced tea. Cold-brewing is also more time efficient, since you can make a pitcher of tea and store it in the refrigerator for a few days without having to brew a batch every day.  On the flip-side, it is also suggested that cold-brewing will draw out as little as half of the caffeine and half the beneficial antioxidants derived by hot-brewing, but our “research” can’t speak to that. Some suggest that splashing the tea leaves with a little bit of hot water “opens up the leaves”, helping release stronger flavor, more caffeine and higher antioxidant levels.

How To Cold Brew Tea

All you need to cold-brew tea is some good-quality loose leaf tea, a quart-size glass jar with a lid (if you don’t have a fancy cold brew tea pitcher), and cold water.  Any black, green, oolong or white tea will brew well. Herbal teas are generally not recommended, since they don’t usually undergo heat processing and may therefore harbor impurities and bacteria that are killed through standard hot-brewing.

Here are the simple steps for cold-brewing the perfect batch:

• Measure four to eight teaspoons of loose tea and give them a quick rinse (to remove dust and impurities, etc).
• Put the tea into the jar and fill to the top with cold water.
• Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 to 8 hours.
• Strain the tea leaves before storing or drinking to minimize bitterness.

You may want to experiment with the ratio of tea leaves to water and the length of steeping, depending on how strong you like your tea. You can also play around with the flavor of the tea by adding cut fruit or mint to it while it’s steeping. Cold-brewed tea is naturally sweeter, but you can sweeten it further with simple syrup, honey or agave nectar. Adding lemon or other citrus juice to the tea can also help sustain the tea’s antioxidants.

By cold-brewing your tea, you not only get easy, delicious iced tea, you also get peace of mind knowing that you took a small step in the right direction toward lowering your carbon emissions! Give it a try, and leave a comment telling us about your cold-brewing experience!

Now, unless your super-power is to boil water spontaneously, energy will certainly be required to boil (or nearly boil) water to brew tea in the traditional fashion.  So what’s an environmentally-conscious tea drinker to do?  Here are a few suggestions:

• Only heat as much water in your kettle as you need for the amount of tea you’re making.  In other words, don’t boil a full kettle for a single cup of tea!
• If you’re making iced tea, experiment with cold-brewing your tea in the refrigerator (results may vary depending upon the type of tea you’re brewing, however).
• If you’re going to be brewing tea one cup at a time over the course of a day, consider using an insulated electric kettle instead of the stove — we haven’t tested this one yet, but I have a suspicion that it would result in lower energy consumption.
• Last, but not least, make the most of that energy used to heat your water, and brew tea in groups – it’s certainly going to be more efficient to brew one large pot of tea than several individual cups!