Fandango’s Provocative Question this week was a bunch of questions, and I already responded with a spoofy response here. But there was one question in the pack which, I think, deserved a serious answer, and having read several answers over the last few days, nobody gave it.
4. Apples or oranges?
The serious answer to this is, I’m afraid, nothing to do with personal taste. If people answer according to personal taste, that just highlights why the world is in the state it is in.
The real answer to this question surrounds water consumption. And in most of our climates, an orange consumes much more water, as it grows, than an apple. Apples grow in climates where there is generally water around anyway, they make use of natural irrigation. Oranges, generally, require artificial irrigation. And therefore all the infrastructure required to make irrigation possible. Not to mention all that fresh water that must be pumped in from someplace else.
Take these things into account and the answer is a no-brainer. In the UK and Ireland anyhow.
I’m sure there are exceptions. I’m sure, if someone gets their apples flown in from another continent, that makes a difference to their footprint.
M&S, here, used to get their Red Delicious apples flown from the USA to the UK. They might still do this, for all I know – check the origin when you are next in. In my book, anybody who flies a basic, domestic foodstuff so far, does not give a stuff about the environment, just about getting their hands on your cash. *Not* to buy something is the easiest decision we can make.
This is the general case.
So please, if you have never considered water when you have made your choice, you should be. It is a choice you are already making, whether you are aware of it or not.
Mister Bump 
A great answer I never thought of. Oranges and many varieties of apples are locally grown here in Southern California so I never gave that a thought. I try to buy locally grown fruits and veggies. It makes the most sense.
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It’s really a paradigm shift, isn’t it? Rather than just like and dislike, we start to think in terms of how many resources are consumed in the making of…
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We are fortunate here where I live because so many thigs are local.
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We are the opposite, we went globalization-mad and nobody bats an eyelig when they are eating a pineabble in the middle of January. You have to really do your homework here.
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Thought provoking.
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indeed.
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Something I had never even considered. Very environmentally aware, and we all need to become more so. A very good post.
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yep it is difficult especially in the first world because we have become used to having what we want, when we want it, and the price if food is generally cheap.
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Wed used to find that the fruit and veg sold in France were more seasonal.
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It’s weird isn’t t? I think people want to eat local, eat low carbon, but supermarkets are good at hoodwinking us. The French supermarkets often seemed behind the times to us, but maybe that’s a good thing?
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Perhaps so.
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Interesting, Pete. I never gave it much thought, but I will going forward.
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That’s the thing. They hoodwink us that we can buy anything without revealing the full cost.
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I never thought of this but gosh yes! Its so true! And flying apples from the US to UK just is beyond stupid!
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