Spring Break
How I like my coffee
Nia Richardson
Issue date: 4/9/09 Section: Opinion
Maybe it is my Western suburbia frame of mind, but I tend to be more benevolent when I'm buying things. For instance, I bought a collection of T-shirts because a portion of the profit goes to charity. I bought those spiral-shaped light bulbs because they help the environment. I drink fair trade coffee because I feel it is the right thing to do.
Doing things like that makes me feel good. I think the coffee buying affects me the most. I drink coffee more than I eat food. I know that for a fact because my doctor has tried -- and failed -- to wean me off of it by encouraging me to eat more, but I'll save that story for another day.
Coffee is no doubt a big part of my lifestyle. I depend on it to get me started in the morning and to energize my mind to get more work done at night. That is why I choose to drink fair trade.
I remember the first time I heard about the coffee crisis. It was a few years ago, and I received an e-mail report from a global charity organization that I donate to saying something along the lines of "farmers want fair price." It dramatically explained how coffee farmers in Vietnam, Kenya and Ethiopia were not getting paid enough to buy food, medicine and pay school fees for their children.
Included was a picture of an Ethiopian farmer with calloused hands holding a pile of coffee berries with a proud grin on his face; underneath his picture was a "click here to donate" button. I didn't donate. I guess my heart strings were knotted up or they didn't have anything to sell me. However, the report did prompt me to do some research on why coffee farmers were in an economic crisis at that time.
It really was as simple as an oversupply of coffee beans in a mismanaged market driving prices down to nearly nothing. The poor farmers suffered and the rich coffee roasting companies made all the profit. Enter the fair trade movement and the reinforcement of export regulation that pressures companies into ensuring that their farmers are properly paid. These ideals caught on quickly with consumers as brands with the fair trade label began to fly off the shelves. Nowadays, most coffee companies claim to be fair trade.
Today the fair trade coffee industry is not perfect, but it is effective. In most coffee-producing countries, the value of coffee has gone up 30 percent. Farmers can sustain themselves in a growing market, creating eco-friendly and cost effective ways to harvest their crops. In Kizi, Rwanda, money made from coffee trade is helping to stabilize the hill region of the country after a civil war.
I like knowing that the bag of coffee that I bought is helping to sustain life in another part of the world. To me, that is the cool thing about trade. As much as I love and practically depend on coffee, that Ethiopian farmer and others like him depend on the same coffee to make an adequate living.
I find that buying fair trade is not charity, but the ethical thing to do.
This writer can be contacted at opinion@theeastcarolinian.com.
Doing things like that makes me feel good. I think the coffee buying affects me the most. I drink coffee more than I eat food. I know that for a fact because my doctor has tried -- and failed -- to wean me off of it by encouraging me to eat more, but I'll save that story for another day.
Coffee is no doubt a big part of my lifestyle. I depend on it to get me started in the morning and to energize my mind to get more work done at night. That is why I choose to drink fair trade.
I remember the first time I heard about the coffee crisis. It was a few years ago, and I received an e-mail report from a global charity organization that I donate to saying something along the lines of "farmers want fair price." It dramatically explained how coffee farmers in Vietnam, Kenya and Ethiopia were not getting paid enough to buy food, medicine and pay school fees for their children.
Included was a picture of an Ethiopian farmer with calloused hands holding a pile of coffee berries with a proud grin on his face; underneath his picture was a "click here to donate" button. I didn't donate. I guess my heart strings were knotted up or they didn't have anything to sell me. However, the report did prompt me to do some research on why coffee farmers were in an economic crisis at that time.
It really was as simple as an oversupply of coffee beans in a mismanaged market driving prices down to nearly nothing. The poor farmers suffered and the rich coffee roasting companies made all the profit. Enter the fair trade movement and the reinforcement of export regulation that pressures companies into ensuring that their farmers are properly paid. These ideals caught on quickly with consumers as brands with the fair trade label began to fly off the shelves. Nowadays, most coffee companies claim to be fair trade.
Today the fair trade coffee industry is not perfect, but it is effective. In most coffee-producing countries, the value of coffee has gone up 30 percent. Farmers can sustain themselves in a growing market, creating eco-friendly and cost effective ways to harvest their crops. In Kizi, Rwanda, money made from coffee trade is helping to stabilize the hill region of the country after a civil war.
I like knowing that the bag of coffee that I bought is helping to sustain life in another part of the world. To me, that is the cool thing about trade. As much as I love and practically depend on coffee, that Ethiopian farmer and others like him depend on the same coffee to make an adequate living.
I find that buying fair trade is not charity, but the ethical thing to do.
This writer can be contacted at opinion@theeastcarolinian.com.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 2
JB
posted 4/09/09 @ 8:07 PM EST
have you noticed that the first 4 paragraphs are about u...anyways this article is not at all informative, what a waste of space.
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