Sophia Willinger
11/29/13
Ethics and the environment
Self-analysis
Ice cream can be
traced back to at least the 4th century B.C. There are references to
Roman Emperor Nero who ordered Ice from the mountains with fruit toppings. King
Tang of Shang ruling China also had means of creating ice and milk
combinations. The first ice cream parlor opened in America in 1776 and it has
continued to grow worldwide since then. Ben Cohn and Jerry Greensfeild grew up
in Merimack Long Island. They became friends in junior high and their friendship
stuck. They both were not getting what they wanted out of college so after
taking some courses together on ice cream making they gathered their life
savings and got a loan from a bank to start up their ice cream making venture. In
1978 Ben and Jerry’s opened for business and the rest is history. The
difference between the ice cream back when it was first invented, verses now is
the ingredients in which it is made as well as the effects it has on the world
while being made. When we were assigned the poster project, one of the first companies
that came to mind was Ben and Jerry’s.
It seemed like a perfect fit because Ben and Jerry’s was started in Burlington
Vermont, I knew they were environmentally conscious and I love ice cream. It
seemed like a perfect fit, but I didn’t know just how perfect a fit it was. It
didn’t take too long for me to realize Ben and jerry’s was a company that I
want to support for the rest of my life.
Ben and Jerry’s
needs to keep their ice cream in freezers which unfortunately takes up energy.
Ice cream must be kept in containers, these containers are made out of paper.
Creating Ice cream creates waste. All of these factors make it nearly
impossible for Ben and Jerry’s to exist without having an effect on the planet but
they are doing just about everything they can think of to reduce their waste to
the smallest amount possible. In 2009 they started using a different type of
paper for their containers. They got in on something called Forest Stewardship
Council, this means the paper they use for their containers are made from trees
that are managed for the protection of wildlife. This paperboard has reduced
Ben and Jerry’s waste by 1000 tons per year. They made a major difference with
just one simple change and it doesn’t end there. Ben and Jerry’s is committed to reducing their carbon
footprint as much as possible. Their product requires refrigeration so they
have spent the past couple years trying to incorporate the use of natural refrigerants,
which includes hydrocarbon refrigeration. They’re calling these new freezers HC
freezers. These HC freezers are not only more energy efficient but also cheaper
to use. The Environmental Protection Agency just approved the petition for
commercial use of these freezers so Ben and Jerry’s is hoping more companies
will join the new HC freezer trend.
Ben and Jerry’s is
a huge supporter of Fairtrade. Fairtrade is a global movement to make sure
small farmers worldwide, including in developing countries ,can thrive in the
global economy. The way Fairtrade works is; the farmers who produced the food
that went into the Ben and Jerry’s ingredients will in return receive a fair
split of money for their harvest. Not only is this beneficial to developing
countries but it is also a way for Ben and Jerry’s to support a different kind
of environmentally friendly farming . It’s a nice way for the company to
support not only their ethical policies but to also give back to other
countries.
People as a whole
tend to forget that when we enjoy ice cream, there is a whole long process the
dairy took to get to that point. While working on the poster project however
the steps taken to get to the cone was all I saw. The way Ben and Jerry’s has
made the process as environmentally ethical as possible, made it hard for me to
support other means of producing Ice cream. What I was really impressed about
was how seriously Ben and Jerry’s feels about their environmental awareness.
Not just the affect they have on the earth, but the effect on the creatures that
live on earth as well. They show this support in various ways one being taking
milk only from cows that have not been fed artificial hormones like rBGH. They
like the dairy they use to be natural and that in itself is the most ethical
decision they could make. On top of that they only use eggs laid by cage free
chickens. They do not support growing food using Genetically modified organisms
(GMO’s) and they are campaigning to have GMO foods labeled as such.
“Man
is not alone on this planet. He is part of a community, upon which he depends
absolutely.” This quote from
Ishmael is very fitting with Ben and Jerry’s as a company. Ben and Jerry’s at
its root, is a company and therefore a major aspect of taker society. Despite
their taker ways, they are aware of the truth that lies in the Ishmael quote
and that is why they have such ethical ways to their business. They try to make
the world better for the creatures that live here.
When
the project started my main idea was that ice cream would be fun to learn about
and that was why I suggested we research Ben and Jerry’s.
What I didn’t realize at the time
was how much I would end up liking the company. I never really looked at the
company out side of occasionally eating their ice cream. I came to realize that
I really like the ideas that the company supports. It made me want to support
Ben and Jerry’s more than I normally do. I know all the scary things that
people put in food these days and it’s important to support the companies that
aren’t putting junk in the food we eat. I also learned a lot about working with
a group and actually being successful in doing so. I’ve had a lot of group
project experiences that have ended up with one student being stuck with a ton
of work while everyone else does nothing. That was not the experience I had
during this project. We were able to equally share our work and we were all
pretty proud of what we were able to come up with.
I really enjoyed doing the poster project. what i really enjoyed was that we had to go out and visit the company that we were looking at. seeing it in person really puts it into perspective and got me noticing what foods I'm eating or what ingredient are on the labels of what I'm buying. The project has me way more conscious and I was happy with the results.
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