OUR ENVIRONMENTAL NOTICEBOARD
The DogRidge Environment Statement and Policy:
We at DogRidge (Vineyards & Wine Company) are proud of our environmental record. Our property management is focused on sustainability and includes minimizing the impact of the things we do on the environment, the incorporation of biodiversity into our vineyards, management and renovation of remnant areas of native vegetation, recycling both oak and green waste and conserving valuable water resources. Cleaning out semi-trailer loads of rubbish from creeks at DogRidge “THE DIGS” Vineyard, removing feral non-native vegetation and rebuilding eroded creek banks so that we could revegitate them with native species grown from seeds collected from close by have all been completed.
DogRidge “DUCK CHASE” vineyard was established in 2001 on a severely neglected elevated site overlooking McLaren Vale on the edge of the Onkaparinga Gorge National Park. The site was cleared again of all feral species and the valuable ancient gravelly soils brought back to life in preparation for the establishment of this state of the art vineyard. In our planning for this we retained significant open space which, with the help of Greening Australia and Urban Forrest Biodiversity Programme, has been revegetated by planting 6,000 trees and shrubs, all local native species, which has introduced some biodiversity into the project.
This has created the beginning of a wildlife corridor which when finally completed will link the Onkaparinga National Park in the north to the Aldinga Scrub in the south.
The joy is that the birds and animals have already moved back in and taken up residence.
We are acutely aware that the entire planet is under threat from nearly everything we do. The balance of scientific knowledge and thinking is that CO2 production caused by whatever means is causing global warming and climate change. These pundits also agree that unless we change the way we do things, generate and use energy and burn fossil fuels this climate change will be irreversible by 2050.
DogRidge is a family business with the youngest member not yet born so as a group we have made a decision to do our bit for the planet while climate change is reversible, and before permanent damage is done not just to our near-perfect winegrape growing region of McLaren Vale but to the rest of the planet. It’s a big call but small contributions all add up and the power of the people is not yet dead. The more we talk about the problem the more interest we generate and the greater impact we will have directly on climate change but indirectly by influencing the attitude of government decision makers.
DogRidge is taking action on many fronts, starting with a good hard look at our CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2) FOOTPRINT - that is we want to assess our systems to reveal where we generate and use up CO2.
In descending order of significance –from the biggest producer of CO2 to the least significant of our activities are:
- Motor vehicle use both domestic and on farm – say 40 tonnes
- Electricity both domestic and on farm—say 21 tonnes
- Air travel—say 18 tonnes
- Wine making—say 12 tonnes
To balance these we actually use up quite a bit of CO2 during the vineyards active growing season. This is not an exact science but if allowance is made for the many influencing factors –such as number of vines per hectare, leaf area, days of growth, hours of sun per day, water stress, aspect, variety and pruning level etc then a vineyard may use around 35 tonnes of CO2/ha/season. Vines also respire above and below ground which produces about 14tonnesCO2 /ha/season just to complicate the equation. Simply put a vineyard could use about 20 tonnes of CO2/ha/season.
DogRidge manicures about 47 hectares of vineyard, so we actually use up about 940 tonnes of CO2 per annum.
However, we make about 100 tonnes of grapes into wine each year which is estimated to produce about 12 tonnes CO2.
So if you add all this up it looks like we produce about 100 tonnes of CO2 a year and use up about 940 tonnes.
Of course these are rough estimates but they give you a good idea of how your activities affect the planet. We are not complacent with this result as comforting as it may look because there are many other factors at play which have not been taken into account. These include transport, the CO2 released by the other grapes we sell being vinified, CO2 released by breakdown of prunings, other machinery use by contractors etc.
DogRidge has decided to take a leading role in management of climate change by doing the following:
+ Upgrading our domestic hot water to solar heating system
+ Contracting with our power supplier to supply us with 50% Green Energy
+ By committing to monitor the availability and efficiency of alternative renewable fuels for use in vehicles and farm machinery.
+ Become aware of advances in motor vehicle technology which reduce the dependence on fossil fuels and change over to these as vehicles need replacing.
+ By passing on the word to promote the concept of CO2 reduction to stabilize global warming and reduce climate change to save the planet. We are able to do this by placing a simple message on each bottle of wine we sell to alert the reader to the issue and lead them to a web-site that deals with the issue and explains how they can make simple changes that can help save the planet. DogRidge produces about 7,000 cases of wine each year which means 84,000 bottles will carry 84,000 messages. A small but significant contribution to spreading the word.
“DogRidge is on a CO2 Emission Mission”
We're not just thinking or talking about it.
Save YOUR Planet!
Please look seroiusly at these links;
Good Environmental Choice - Australia
Climate Change: SA's Greenhouse Strategy
David Suzuki Foundation: What Can You Do?
SafeClimate carbon footprint calculator