How DC's Coffee Habit Destroys Wildlife HabitatsThe coffee market is booming in the US. In DC, Starbucks and Cosi coffee chains are popping up on every corner. But for coffee farmers from Nicaragua to Uganda to Vietnam there is little to cheer about. Coffee prices have hit an all-time low. So while corporate coffee giants such as Procter & Gamble and Kraft are making windfall profits by buying coffee at rock-bottom prices and selling it to the consumer at a considerable markup, coffee farmers are facing job loss and starvation. As farmers are forced to leave or sell their land, coffee growing regions are falling into the hands of those who are clear-cutting the forest for profit and leaving destroyed wildlife habitats in their wake.
Co-op America has launched a campaign right here in DC to get more Fair Trade Certified Coffee both on the supermarket shelves and into the hands of consumers. They're asking Safeway, Washington's largest supermarket chain, and Procter & Gamble, which supplies much of the store's bulk coffee, to put more Fair Trade Certified Coffee on the shelves. To send an e-mail to Safeway, click here
On Thursday, May 1, from noon to 2 p.m., you are invited to a brown bag lunch sponsored by the DC Environmental Network, with Erin Gorman from Co-op America. It will be hosted by Friends of the Earth at 1025 Vermont Ave. NW on the third floor (McPherson Square Metro). For more information, call Chris Weiss at Friends of the Earth, 202/783-7400, ext. 120.
