Cherries are red, round and surprisingly rewarding. They are a fruit that comes from plants of the species genus Prunus and can come in a variety of shape, size, colour and flavour. Due to the fact that they are a fruit, they must be healthy or at least have some health benefits. Thus, cherries are filled to the brim with fibre, nutrients and the vitamins C, A and K. They also contain antioxidants and are low in calories.
That being said, I still hate cherries.
But just because I loathe these bottomless pits of berry flesh, doesn’t mean you have to too. I just simply judge fruits all the time by their taste, even though I do appreciate what they bring to this lovely world. And what do cherries bring, apart from baby names and beneficially healthy lives?
Environmentalism!
First and foremost, cherries create new seeds and hence, new trees to grow. After you eat one, you can actually retrieve its seed and perhaps plant it into the ground to improve our ecosystem. Like many plants, cherries are actually self-sufficient. They are able to reproduce or provide blooms and fruits in abundance, and this not only saves our environment from depletion but helps keep the production of the fruit relatively sustainable. It’s an ongoing natural life cycle, if no man-made destruction intervenes, and a cycle that doesn’t hunt the environment through any artificial ways. In short, they are a life-support system, harmonising with other living organisms.
Secondly, they provide resources and food for not only human beings, but also animals. This means they can aid both themselves, the environment and the ecosystem. Fruits, like cherries, are popular food options for creatures such as birds, deers, raccoons and bearded dragons. Their producer lifestyle enables them to be a help to the food chains of nature, as they are a resource to many animals, especially the herbivores.
Moreover, similar to most plants, they still possess the usual advantageous characteristics of their said kingdom. Cherries, when part of a tree, can also generate oxygen (sequestering carbon effectively) and if they fall onto the ground, they can slowly decompose and break down into nutrients for the soil, insects, micro-organisms and many more. In part to these features, they are used metaphorically to describe or better clarify “eco-effective principles” as nowadays, cherries and their trees especially are used as an inspiration for biomimicry.
Although cherries are indeed naturally produced, some produce them in greenhouses to yield a larger quantity. However, the greenhouse production of cherries recently is what helps differentiate the fruit from many others. Compared to those, normal cherries only consume 169 gallons of water for one pound, and 1411 litres for one kilogram, if they are sour. Additionally, one kilogram of cherries, the equivalent of 2.2 pounds, only creates 0.78 kg of CO2e. It’s the same amount as a car driving for 2.75 kilometres. Apart from these benefits, cherries furthermore cause no other damage to air, water, land and any surrounding areas. If there was any significant harm, it would mainly be contributed by the use of any toxic or chemical pesticides which should be restricted to not contaminate both cherries and our biosphere.
In conclusion, cherries have both a low carbon and water footprint, a self-sufficient life cycle and are a great resource to many. Therefore, it’s important to always treasure them (as well as other fruits) and produce or grow them in the safest yet best way possible. In terms of both their own benefits and the ones they give to others and the ecosystem, cherries stand out on their own and are a great help to today’s ecosystem. It’s just an added bonus that our leader of GiC happens to have the same name :)