Sunday I took my peeps to the good ol’ Bronx Zoo. Always educational for all. In addition to staring down the Eco Toilet for 20 minutes and excitedly talking about what eats poop, besides the weird kid at the playground, we also visited the recently renovated Madagascar House. There we met a 10×20 foot screen showing footage of the devastating deforestation of the island. 80% of 99% of its land animals’ habitat is gone. Just gone. The evil culprit…the poor farmers trying to make a living. Not so evil, huh?

Well…apparently, I learned, there is a solution…one that we all can be a part of. By supporting shade-grown coffee we can send the message that we are willing to pay a little more to save a whole lot…an entire eco-system to be exact. Shade growing not only keeps the much needed animal habitat, but also lessens soil erosion, requires less pesticides,and lessens the plants’ vulnerability to climate changes. It’s a win-win…as long as the farmers can still make a decent living with less crop output.

Costa Rica has already launched their own shade-growing effort to save their migratory birds’ habitat. Hopefully their success will encourage others that economy and ecology do not have to work against each other.

So send a message to coffee growers around the world that we want them to have fair wages, lessen their chemical output, and keep their lands in tact. Here is a list of resources to find exactly what you are looking for in your morning cup. Demanding little group, aren’t we?

Gosh golly…you know what would go perfectly with your new organic, fair trade, shade-grown coffee? An organic cotton reusable coffee filter, of course. (I am nothing if not subtle.)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 at 7:31 am and is filed under coffee filter, energy, organics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.