- We need to reconsider the impacts our preferred morning coffee has on the world surrounding us.
- Coffee is a commodity, the second-most tradable commodity in the world after oil. Because it’s so high in demand, more than 100 million people grow coffee around the world, meaning the pressure for fast and cheap goods can often come before the quality of the product.
- Coffee is part of a commodity market, which continues to drive prices to levels well below the cost of production, and can encourage producers to generate quantity over quality, forgoing environmentally sound practices in the process.
- With regards to production, sustainability is an important element in everything — growing, processing, transport, roasting, consumption — and these processes can impact things like soil health, water supply and even the migratory paths of animals like whales, birds and deer.
- Unfortunately, to meet the current global demand for coffee it’s nearly impossible for all coffee to be produced in shade-grown conditions.
- Deforestation not only depletes birds of their habitats, but can also cause a lack of homes for several other species of plants and animals, harming the natural biodiversity of any given area and ruining the soil (and even the air and surrounding environment) coffee grows in.
- Still, certification is not the only way to ensure a specific type of coffee is sustainable. Getting shade-grown coffee officially certified can also be an ordeal, with international audits, paperwork and cash costs that may not be affordable for small farmers.
- Being mindful and aware and knowing about direct relationships (if you can’t achieve them yourself) are perhaps the best ways to ensure your coffee isn’t doing excessive harm to the environment.
- Beyond purchasing specialty coffee from companies who source from small-scale producers, purchasing coffee roasted locally (to avoid surplus transportation costs) and to be wary of certifications are recomended. And, of course, avoiding disposable materials, often inherent in our grab-and-go coffee culture, will still make an impact.
- No one wants to be undercaffeinated if we have to face a dystopian tree-less planet.
Our coffee addiction is destroying the environment
Published
News Articles SYBMS 17 