More than just a cup of joe
Now that I've integrated some of the easier steps into my daily routine, I took another look at my pull-out to see what else I could do to help save the planet.
I've been studiously avoiding #16 - Drink Shade-Grown Coffee. There are some things I hold sacred, and my morning cup of coffee is one of them. I have tried all sorts of coffee, from the simplest and cheapest to the fanciest coffee beans grown on only the shady side of the finest azure mountain in the Caribbean picked by hand by virgins under a full moon.
In the end, I settled on good old Chock Full o' Nuts.
It's one thing to talk the talk, and another to walk the walk. Shade grown coffee encourages farmers not to clear cut the land, saving the habitat of over a hundred different species of birds and decreases the use of pesticides and fertilizers.
So off I went to Starbucks today for my first cup of organic shade grown coffee. It has been years since I've been in Starbucks, for the sole reason that I just don't like their coffee.
What struck me was not only the availability of Shade Grown and Fair Trade coffee but the Ethos water, the bleach-free 100% recycled-fiber napkin, my cup had 10% post-consumer recycled fiber (and if I had brought my own cup, I would have received 10 cents off my coffee), even the sleeve was made of 60% post-consumer fiber.
There were even pamphlets by the sugar outlining Starbuck's commitment to Social Responsibility, although judging by slight discoloration, it didn't look like it was the most popular of reading. No big surprise there - who wants to deal with something like that before the morning's first caffeine injection?
Although Starbucks may seem like the typical 800 pound gorilla, seemingly intent on taking over every other corner in Manhattan and across the globe, kudos to them for trying to use their size and prominent position to be a resonsible corporate citizen.
For more about what they're doing, click here. (Disclaimer - I own .0000001 of the company)
By the way, the coffee wasn't bad.
I've been studiously avoiding #16 - Drink Shade-Grown Coffee. There are some things I hold sacred, and my morning cup of coffee is one of them. I have tried all sorts of coffee, from the simplest and cheapest to the fanciest coffee beans grown on only the shady side of the finest azure mountain in the Caribbean picked by hand by virgins under a full moon.
In the end, I settled on good old Chock Full o' Nuts.
It's one thing to talk the talk, and another to walk the walk. Shade grown coffee encourages farmers not to clear cut the land, saving the habitat of over a hundred different species of birds and decreases the use of pesticides and fertilizers.
So off I went to Starbucks today for my first cup of organic shade grown coffee. It has been years since I've been in Starbucks, for the sole reason that I just don't like their coffee.
What struck me was not only the availability of Shade Grown and Fair Trade coffee but the Ethos water, the bleach-free 100% recycled-fiber napkin, my cup had 10% post-consumer recycled fiber (and if I had brought my own cup, I would have received 10 cents off my coffee), even the sleeve was made of 60% post-consumer fiber.
There were even pamphlets by the sugar outlining Starbuck's commitment to Social Responsibility, although judging by slight discoloration, it didn't look like it was the most popular of reading. No big surprise there - who wants to deal with something like that before the morning's first caffeine injection?
Although Starbucks may seem like the typical 800 pound gorilla, seemingly intent on taking over every other corner in Manhattan and across the globe, kudos to them for trying to use their size and prominent position to be a resonsible corporate citizen.
For more about what they're doing, click here. (Disclaimer - I own .0000001 of the company)
By the way, the coffee wasn't bad.
Posted at 11:44 AM on
Saturday, July 22, 2006
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