Toward a More Conscientious Cup:
Coffee, Co-ops, and Climate Change
I consider myself a concerned citizen of the world, and an enlightened consumer. There are foods I will not eat, products I will not use on my skin, and businesses I will not patronize. However, there are an equal number of foods and products that I do consume, and brands I do support, about which I have misgivings. I live in the Northeastern U.S., but have a penchant for avocados, mangoes, bananas, and yucca, none of which can be grown locally. I love dark chocolate, red wine, and fresh lemons. My nightly cooking often depends on distant wheat and rice farmers, dried bags of beans and exotic spices. But by far, my biggest global habit is coffee.
Coffee and I have been through thick and thin together, becoming all but inseparable. I never cared for the stuff until at eighteen, frequently breaking day with a friend, she introduced me to the light-and-sweet variety made at a local bodega. Yo quiero! In a few short years I owned a grinder and bought my beans whole from the Puerto Rican Coffee Company on Bleeker Street (which begs a visit, if for the aroma alone). I was rarely without a cup in-hand. My caffeination level reached ridiculous proportions; I was regularly startling people in my office building, jumping with fright every time I ran into someone coming around a corner in the long, dark corridors. But you don’t dump a good friend just because they drive you a little crazy, do you? We searched for a compromise: sweet, creamy, black, decaf, half-calf… Kona, Mocha Java, Kenya AA… Today, I swear by a few good cups of espresso a day. Rising prices have given me pause, and caused me to reflect a bit on the sustainability of my habit personally, and the coffee industry as a whole.
Coffee is the world’s second largest commodity. As a commodity, its prices rise and fall on the speculations of market analysts and traders. This is important for two big reasons. One, to the commodity market all coffee is coffee, irrespective of variety or source. Two, the sole aim of these traders is turning a profit, the fate of the world’s 22 million-odd people who depend on coffee for their livelihood be damned (“Cup of Joe”).
Specialty coffees and Fair Trade coffees are selling well, but present a catch-22. These are traded outside of the commodity market. Indeed, the Equal Exchange co-operative which helps small, sustainable farmers get their goods to market “was designed to avoid the commodity market, and distorting affects like speculation. [Their] very mission is to connect consumers with producers, and circumvent the anonymity, unpredictability, and downright inhumanity of the C-market” (“Speculate”). But as more quality coffee is being traded directly through farmers and co-ops and outside of the commodity market, the market perceives this as a drop in supply, and the price of coffee rises (“Speculate”).
This perceived drop in supply exacerbates an all-too-real drop in supply caused by changing weather patterns. Coffee is a very condition-specific crop. Once, Columbia’s climate was ideal for coffee growing, but this is changing. Global warming has caused temperatures to rise 1 to 2 degrees Fahrenheit over the last several years in the prime coffee growing regions of Columbia, and rainfall to increase a full 25 percent. Not only does the weather itself directly damage the crops, but it creates prime conditions for pestilence. Ironically, Americans are both the world’s largest consumers of coffee, and the world’s largest producer of greenhouse gasses (“Heat”).
The problem can also be linked to IMF and World Bank austerity measures which demanded an expansion of coffee production as a means to generate currency to pay off Columbia’s $34 billion in foreign debts (Frank). This led, for a time, to a massive oversupply of beans, and did much ecological damage. Land was cleared to make room for maximum coffee planting, forests were uprooted rather than planted beside or among - a practice known as shade-growing - which would benefit both the local ecosystem and the coffee trees. The roughshod farming methods insisted upon by the IMF and World Bank led to soil erosion, massive release of carbon dioxide from felled trees, and changing rainfall patterns.
If global warming proceeds apace, it is a guarantee that coffee prices will rise – both on the commodity market and in the supermarket – and that coffee farmers will suffer tremendously. There is also a very real chance that if climate change is not tackled head on, and soon, there may one day in the near future be no coffee at all, it disappearing along with many other agricultural products we take for granted today.
Admittedly, my coffee own purchases have often been dictated more by taste and convenience than by social-conscience. I buy an embarrassing quantity of Starbucks’ Espresso Roast. My other go-to-bean is Peace Coffee’s Espresso Blend. Both retail for twelve dollars a pound. Both are premium Arabica beans, which hail from Latin America (only Arabica beans can withstand the roasting required of espresso without turning to ash). Each makes varying claims on its packaging. Starbucks claims, “100% Responsibly grown. Ethically traded.” Peace Coffee claims: “Fair Trade… Shade-Grown… Organic.” I have been led to believe that Fair Trade is always the ethical choice, and that Starbucks, being the capitalistic enterprise that it is, could never be.
Visiting the Starbucks website, I clicked my way to an aesthetically pleasing Ethical Sourcing page, which extolled the virtues of their Coffee and Farmer Equity Practices (C.A.F.E.). I found a report card of sorts that summarized their progress toward goals ranging from front-of-store cup recycling (only 5% of stores) to water conservation (21.6% decrease in consumption since 2008); on the issue of ethical sourcing of coffee, the report card claimed that in 2010, 84% of Starbucks coffee was ethically sourced, with this caveat:
We define ethically sourced as coffee that is third-party verified or certified, either through C.A.F.E. Practices, Fairtrade or another externally audited system. Total coffee purchases in 2010 are lower than in the previous year due to carryover of inventory from 2009 (“Goals & Progress 2010”).
Their goal is to achieve 100% ethically sourced coffee by 2015. Conservation International, who has partnered with Starbucks to aid them in the attainment of this goal, offered its own report on Starbucks’ progress. Conservation International is a reputable group, endorsed by Charity Navigator. Conservation International’s mission statement reads:
The challenges confronting our global environment and the needs of the world's human populations have never been greater; the future, quite literally, is in the balance.
Every person on Earth deserves a healthy environment and the fundamental benefits that nature provides. But our planet is experiencing an unprecedented drawdown of these resources, and it is only by protecting nature and its gifts – a stable climate, fresh water, healthy oceans and reliable food – that we can ensure a better life for everyone, everywhere (“CIs Vision”).
Knowing that Starbucks is working with Conservation International (which, by the way, is hiring) makes me give more credence to the “ethical, responsible” claims made on their packaging. This was seconded in a 2009 report by Trading Visions, a UK organization whose About Us statement says:
Our aim is to alleviate the poverty of small-scale producers in the South by amplifying their voices in the supply chain so that they themselves can challenge and change consumer behavior and industry practice.
In particular we seek to connect producers and consumers in a popular and accessible way through education and campaigns (“About Us”).
Looking more closely at the Peace Coffee package, I found, in impossibly fine print: “Peace Coffee is a subsidiary of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.” So I made my virtual visit. The IATP, I learned from the website, is a fantastic Minneapolis, Minnesota-based organization, whose goals are local and global sustainability, safe food, and healthy ecosystems. The coffee line was originally named Guatemalan Peace Coffee, and was begun in collaboration with Guatemalan Nobel Peace Laureate Rigoberta Menchu. A descendant of the Maya, she has spent years fighting for the rights of indigenous peoples.
As for products labeled Fair Trade, I am a believer. The aims of the fair trade movement are quite simple: living wages for workers who produce agricultural goods, and sustainable farming practices to maintain the health of workers and the environment. Those supporting the movement seek to re-humanize and de-commodify the people and communities who make their living off of the land. Purchasing products marked fair trade is a revolutionary act that everyone can do in their daily lives to improve the lives of millions and turn back the hands of climate change.
An excellent 2006 documentary, Black Gold, details the struggles of 74,000 Ethiopian coffee farmers through the eyes of Tedesse Meskela, General Manager of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Co-operative Union. His job is to connect these farmers with coffee buyers willing to pay a better price for their products than can be found on the commodity market. The Director’s Statement explained the impetus behind the film:
We wanted to urgently remind audiences that through just one cup of coffee, we are inextricably connected to the livelihoods of millions of people around the world who are struggling to survive.
Coffee is a universal experience enjoyed by billions of people on a daily basis and is part of an industry worth over $80 billion a year. But the people behind the product are in crisis with millions of growers fast becoming bankrupt. Nowhere more evident is this paradox than in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee (Francis).
This one habit, common to so many Americans, has tremendous global consequences that most of us never consider. From environmental degradation and economic injustice, to famine and poverty, our continued consumption without questioning from whence it comes, how it reaches us, and who is affected along the way, has consequences that are undeniably global in scope. It is time to wake up and smell the coffee, while you still can.
No one should be allowed to profit at the expense of Mother Earth and her peoples. No company should be free to expand its operations to the ends of the globe without being held accountable for its actions in every country, not just in Western nations. Being accountable to local governments provides inadequate protection, as too often, these are poor countries where corruptions is rife, and bribes easily sway leaders to overlook wrongs that affect the health and well-being of their people, while they, the leaders, insulate themselves with their wealth. Globalization is an unstoppable process, as old as time, and accelerated in this new era we call Web 3.0. However, the shape that globalization takes in our world, and its impact on our people and planet is not a forgone conclusion. Sustainable globalization is both possible and essential to the survival of human kind. The gains and losses associated with today’s global systems of production, distribution, and cultural mixing must be shared equitably among all peoples if we hope to end the desperate poverty of millions that is a cause of so much other suffering. The good news is, in today’s flat-world local social movements are gaining global momentum, as the real consequences of our actions here in the West are easier to see, even if they manifest on the other side of the world. No longer can the results of our rampant consumerism stay out of sight, out of mind. I urge everyone to take a closer look at their own consumption, particularly their global habits, and look for small ways to reduce negative impacts: on the lives of farmers, on the environment, and on our global future.
One quick note: the U.S.-Columbia Free Trade Agreement looks very likely to be inked this week. While many American companies and industries stand to benefit, the free trade agreement further jeopardizes agriculture in Columbia, forcing farmers there to compete with U.S. produce that is very cheap thanks to our government’s farm subsidies. Farmers who cannot keep up will, in short order, be forced to sell their lands to corporations looking to increase their mono-crop operations. Mono-crop agriculture has destroyed much of the world’s arable land already, and is hungrily devouring more.
Works Cited
Conservation International. “CIs Vision.” Conservation.org. Web. 11 May 2011.
Equal Exchange. “Equal Exchange Travels to Chiapas, Mexico.” YouTube.com: Equal Exchange Channel. 3 Apr. 2008. Web. 14 May, 2011.
---. “Why Are Coffee Prices So High?” YouTube.com: Equal Exchange Channel. 5 Apr. 2011. Web. 14 May. 2011.
Francis, Nick and Marc. “Director’s Statement.” BlackGoldMovie.com. Web. 11 May 2011.
Frank, Josh. “Coffee In The Times of Globalization.” Countercurrents.org. 5 Jan. 2004. Web. 11 May 2011.
Globalization 101 News Analysis. “Cup of Joe: Globalization and Coffee.”Globalization101.org. 12 Aug. 2009. Web. 11 May. 2011.
Reid, Nicolas. “The Heat Is On: Global Warming and Sky-Rocketing Coffee Prices.” SmallFarmersBigChange.coop. 7 Apr. 2011. Web. 11 May 2011.
---. “Speculate This: Commodity Markets vs. Fair Trade.” SmallFarmersBigChange.coop. 6 Apr. 2011. Web. 11 May 2011.
Rosenthal, Elisabeth. “Heat Damages Colombia Coffee, Raising Prices.” NYTimes.com 9 Mar. 2011. Web. 11 May 2011.
Trading Visions. “About Us.” TradingVisions.com. Web. 11 May 2011.
