Save the Rain Forest and Get Your Vitamin C

While grocery shopping about two months ago, I went to grab our usual Tropicana orange juice but was flummoxed by its nondescript packaging. In fact, many people were, so the company is switching back to their older packaging—the iconic orange with a straw in it.

But one part of the new packaging will survive—the tout that says “Rescue the Rain Forest.” I’ll admit that I didn’t take the time to fully read about the program the first couple of times I looked at the carton. Turns out, Tropicana is beginning a new initiative with Cool Earth, a UK-based group that has protected more than 40,000 acres of endangered rain forest since 2007.

To preserve 100 square feet of rain forest, just go online to www.tropicanarainforest.com, register, and enter the code that’s printed on your OJ carton. Even for reluctant environmentalists, the process is pretty easy. You can register codes that appear on 12-, 64-, 89-, and 128-ounce Tropicana Pure Premium containers and on the new Trop50 containers through the end of 2009.

For people like my husband who are obsessed with Google Earth, starting March 20, you can see the area of land being saved by Cool Earth grow over time.

As someone who wore my “Save the Earth” sentiments on my sleeve during college but now only has time to recycle, this little initiative has me feeling pretty darn good about myself. And the best thing is that since we go through about a carton a week in my house, I can potentially save up to 4,000 acres through the rest of the year—and get my daily dose of vitamin C!

Previous posts by Frances Largeman-Roth: