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Earth Day, a vintner's perspective
Red, White & Green:
Top 10 Reasons California Wines
Are an Eco-Friendly Choice
California’s Vintners and Growers…
1. Subscribe to California’s Sustainable Winegrowing
Program (SWP), which establishes eco-friendly standards and practices from
ground to glass.
2. Have embraced alternative energy sources such as solar and wind,
including biodegradable fuel, produced from vegetable oils and animal
fats.
3. Use sheep, goats, chickens, falcons, owls, dogs, beneficial insects
and other creatures to provide a low-impact, natural method
to cultivate vineyards and manage pests.
4. Use “green” building materials – straw bales,
rammed earth, earthen plaster, recycled lumber – in winery construction.
5. Preserve vernal pools, oak woodlands, and other wildlife habitats,
and create nest boxes for owls, raptors and other beneficial
birds when designing vineyards. Are at the forefront of habitat restoration
and preservation efforts.
6. Use cover crops and compost in the vineyards to prevent erosion,
attract helpful insects that prey on pests, and to enrich healthy
soils with biomass and vibrant populations of microbes and worms.
7. Have employee-run recycling and solid waste management programs.
8. Have adopted winery and vineyard water conservation practices,
including drip irrigation systems that use technology to sense soil
moisture and monitor plant stress.
9. Have committed themselves to measuring and reducing their
greenhouse gas footprint by working with international partners
to develop the Wine Industry Greenhouse Gas Accounting Protocol.
Are sharing the
accounting tool worldwide at no charge. Are increasing their energy
efficiency with methods such as insulating tanks and installing new
lighting fixtures, and adopting innovative new packaging.
.
10. Are good neighbors by not only caring for the environment but
giving back to communities with generous support to non-profit and
charitable organizations amounting to $115 million annually.
For consumers interested in learning more about California’s
sustainable winegrowing practices, the Wine Institute and CAWG invite
them to go to www.sustainablewinegrowing.org,
the web site of the California Sustainable Wine Alliance, a nonprofit
formed by the two trade associations to implement the sustainable
winegrowing program.
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