IVN
(Independent Voter News)
January
20, 2013
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Photo: Walter Rodriguez / Creative Commons
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America’s Largest Food Import
Not many people realize that the crude they pour into their cup
everyday is the second most traded commodity, beat out only by petroleum. In
fact, coffee is the largest U.S. food import. It is estimated by GlobalExchange.org that over 130 million consumers in the
US are coffee drinkers. All coffee is grown between the Tropic of Cancer and
the Tropic of Capricorn on some 11 million hectares of land and growing.
Shade Grown vs Sun Grown Coffee
A few decades ago a hybrid of the coffee tree was developed that
yielded twice as many coffee beans per crop because of extreme demand for the
bean. The thought was that this would equal more money for farmers, but these
sun grown trees have half the life span and require expensive pesticides,
fertilizers, and herbicides to grow. These chemicals destroy the soil over time
as well as the natural habitats of local birds, insects and reptiles. The
result of favoring sun grown coffee: mass deforestation, pollution of natural
water sources, and as stated above loss in biodiversity. Shade grown coffee is
grown under tropical canopies, which helps preserve the land and environment of
coffee growing regions. It yields less coffee per crop and is slower growing,
but many believe it makes up for it in taste.
Unsustainable Soil Loss
Aside from extensive environmental degradation and grave losses
in biodiversity, the larger concern is top soil depletion. U.S. farming
practices that favor conventional monoculture farming currently deplete topsoil
at 1%
per year. And According to the National Academy of Sciences,
cropland in the U.S. is being eroded at least 10 times faster than it can be
replaced. The highest percentage of
degradation is occurring in Central America although every country is facing
this crisis. The Earth’s natural systems simply cannot replace the lost soil
fast enough, and this is why local movements for organically grown or
sustainably grown foods have taken off.
The Human Impact
There are millions of people living in the environments being
depleted and polluted. 25
million farmers and
their families in these tropical farm zones live in a cycle of poverty and debt
designed to keep prices
artificially low on
coffee as well as other exports cherished by US Consumers, such as chocolate.
Alongside sustainable growing practices toward a safer environment, Farmer’s
CoOps, Fair Trade and Direct Trade modes of compensating farmer’s have grown up
around addressing this issue.
Agitators: Climate Change & Population Growth
Whether you believe in Global Warming, cooling, or simply that the
Earth’s weather patterns have changed in the past and will change again, we
only have so much topsoil. It seems almost redundant to discuss the effects of
projected world population growth on the Earth’s limited topsoil. Given the
present conditions, without the added complications of climate change and
population growth, we’re still depleting our soil 10 times faster than it can
be replaced.
Fertile Grounds for Change
While visible chains like Starbucks make up 30% of the Coffee
Industry, Independent Coffee Roasters and Cafes still make up the other 70%. Many of these local
coffee alternatives already buy sustainably grown coffee. Wherever you see labels,
such as Organic, Shade Grown, Fair Trade, Direct Trade, or Farmer’s CoOps,
you can be sure that the Cafe Owner or Roaster considered the environmental,
social and economic impact of buying these coffee beans. Could creating
subsidies, or legislative bills that continue to motivate businesses in this
direction be helpful, sure, but the rationality and desire are pre-existing, so
it may not be necessary. Café Virtuoso, just one such Coffee Roaster, prides
itself on choosing organically grown fairly traded beans and defines
sustainability as,
“A
process that can go on indefinitely; environmentally, socially and economically.”
In fact, the world’s largest coffee trade association, the Specialty
Coffee Association of America (SCAA), believes that
“Coffee
is uniquely positioned to drive globally sustainable concepts that produce
positive outcomes across multiple industries and points on the supply chain.”
The SCAA also contends through its Low Impact Café program that
the more common these sustainable farming practices become, the lower the cost
will be for all those in the industry, which translates to lower long term
costs for the consumer.
The Power of Consumer Activism
Consumers can buy the change they want to see. U.S. consumers
are strategically positioned as the largest consumers of coffee to support this
already “organic” trend towards sustainability.
Since the Citizens United decision in 2010, consumer activism has
taken center stage as one of the most effective tools for change. Consumers en
mass realized for the first time that how they spent their hard earned dollars
had direct political, social and economic ramifications. Remember the $5 dollar
debit card fee that was going to be implemented by Bank of America in 2011, and
the resulting “Bank Transfer Day”? And GoDaddy’s back pedaling on its support
of SOPA in 2012? GoDaddy not only dropped its support, but also began to take
action against the bill.
By buying into this already “organic” trend in the coffee
industry, US consumers are uniquely positioned to amplify the impact on topsoil
erosion taking one giant leap for mankind in the direction of sustainability.
The cost of ignoring this ripe opportunity will be far greater than buying a
sustainably sourced cup of coffee.