Coffee with a Conscience
By Jacque Shannon-McNulty
Many busy, sleep-deprived parents jump-start their day with
a cup of java. Now coffee lovers can pack even more into their
morning cup. With so many options for eco-friendly coffee, consumers
can have a significant impact on the environment, rainforest
ecology and conditions for coffee farmers in the coffee growing
regions of the world.
The coffee production industry is breaking new ground in the
world market, blazing trails in sustainability and ecological
responsibility. Every cup of coffee and bag of coffee beans consumers
buy can support this sustainable trend and encourage it to flourish.
There
are several designations for different types of eco-friendly
coffees: organic, fair trade, shade-grown,
Smithsonian Bird-Friendly ® and
Rainforest Action-certified coffees. Each of these certifications
seeks to improve conditions at the source of coffee cultivation:
the coffee fields.
Organic
coffees are defined by The Specialty Coffee Association of
America as “Coffee that is certified by independent
agencies as organically grown, processed, stored and roasted.
This means that no synthetic chemical pesticides, fertilizers,
cleaners, etc., have come in contact with the coffee tree or
beans.” The most profound benefit of choosing organic coffee
is the impact that coffee production has on the ecosystem.
Coffee is grown in mountainous, equatorial regions. Conventional
coffee trees are sprayed with pesticides, fungicides, fertilizers
and other chemicals, which flow down the mountain during the
rainy season, contaminating rivers, streams and drinking water
sources. Many of the chemicals sprayed on coffee trees have been
banned in the United States and Europe after scientific evidence
proved these chemicals to be carcinogenic (cancer-causing) or
mutagenic (causing birth defects). These harmful chemicals then
impact local populations and rainforest wildlife.
In most agricultural operations, farmers and producers are clamoring
to become certified organic. Coffee production is unique, however,
in that 85 percent of coffee farmers are very small-scale, impoverished
family farmers cultivating tiny plots with fewer than five acres
of coffee production. Certification is an expensive process for
the farmer, so many coffee growers are not certified organic
even though they may use the less expensive, traditionally organic
farming methods. Other coffee growers essentially cultivate coffee
that grows naturally without agricultural management in the rain
forest. Coffee beans from those origins are naturally organic,
though they are not certified.
Without the organic certification, these organic beans may be
mixed with non-organic beans or even sprayed with chemicals later
in the production process. Certification requires audits to assure
the buyer, roaster and consumer that the organic beans are unquestionably
organic. For coffee drinkers passionate about organics, choosing
certified organic coffee is the only guarantee that coffee has
passed through rigorous controls and checks from farm to distributor
to roaster to guarantee organic purity of the coffee.
Shade-grown coffees originate from coffee trees that grow beneath
the protective and biologically diverse canopy of the rainforest.
Mass-produced, low-quality robusta coffee beans are grown in
full sun, often on deforested rainforest land. This land is vulnerable
to severe erosion and endures heavy chemical applications.
Shade-grown coffees are much more beneficial to the environment.
The process of shade growing ingeniously integrates coffee production
into the rainforest ecosystem and uses natural biological checks
and balances to nurture and protect the coffee trees. The canopy
of the rainforest protects sensitive coffee trees, which naturally
thrive in the understory. The rainforest flora provides a natural
source of nitrogen in the soil for the coffee trees. The coffee
trees themselves provide a habitat niche for a wide variety of
rainforest species to flourish.
Rainforest Alliance-certified “farmers can reduce costs,
conserve natural resources, control pollution, conserve wildlife
habitat, ensure rights and benefits for workers, improve the
quality of their harvest.” The Rainforest Alliance created
a comprehensive certification program encompassing environmental
stewardship and fair treatment of workers. The Rainforest Alliance
uses the same criteria for coffee, bananas, cocoa, citrus, ferns
and cut flowers with an overall goal of protecting biodiversity
in the rainforest.
Smithsonian Bird-Friendly ® designation is given to shade-grown
coffee farms who distinguish themselves by following a very specific
set of criteria aimed at protecting bird species. Guidelines
for species of canopy trees, percentage of direct sunlight coffee
plants receive, even biodiversity guidelines ensuring the survival
of bird species are included in this certification. The coffee
trees become a haven, providing a habitat for migratory birds
that winter in the rainforest, some of which are the songbirds
that visit our back yard bird feeders in the United States.
Fair
trade-certified coffees do not directly address environmental
issues, focusing instead on the human
cost of the coffee trade.
The World Bank notes that second only to petroleum, coffee is
the world’s most important and high volume commodity, with “approximately
25 million farmers worldwide depending on coffee incomes.” Coffee
beans are almost entirely grown in developing countries. Most
of the workers involved in coffee production live in profound
poverty with most of the profit in the coffee trade going to
middlemen rather than to farmers.
A
fair trade certification breaks the cycle of exploitation and
poverty by ensuring that
farmers earn a fair price for their coffee, enough to guarantee
a living wage. Fair trade certification also strives to improve
life in coffee-growing communities by working with communities
to create projects that provide long-term benefit to the community,
such as building schools and healthcare clinics.
A
notable advantage of the fair trade certifications is the reduction
of poppy and
coca cultivation, the primary ingredients in heroin and cocaine.
When impoverished farmers have a viable alternative agricultural
crop that pays a living wage, many choose to grow fair trade
coffee instead.
With
so many important causes to support, how are consumers supposed
to decide which certifications to choose? “Most
fair trade-dertified coffee is also organic and shade grown,” according
to TransFair, the agency the offers the fair trade certification.
Dual and triple certification is common in the sustainable coffee
industry. So drink up! With so many benefits for the environment
and for the coffee growers in the developing world, coffee drinkers
can enjoy that morning cup of coffee knowing that with every
languorous sip, they begin each day making the world a better
place.
© Jacque
Shannon-McNulty
NFO
Babies & Children Editor Jacque Shannon-McNulty is a
freelance writer, childbirth educator and entrepreneur. She is
president of the nonprofit Chicago
Community Midwives and has worked crafting
legislative strategy, lobbying and testifying before the Illinois
legislature. Jacque holds a degree in social
science and child development and has worked professionally counseling
women and children, working and volunteering for social service
agencies in the United States and France. She is co-owner of
the Prairie Croissant
Café,
an organic, fair-trade coffee shop offering simple, natural,
gourmet fare in French café tradition. She lives near
Chicago with her husband, three homeschooling daughters, two
cats and a puppy.
