http://www.care2.com/greenliving/7-tips-for-green-eating.html
7 Tips for Green Eating
7. Love Your Coffee Farmer.
Lord knows I try to be good about my eating habits, but then, there’s coffee. I can manage to eat straight from my farmer’s market all winter long, but I can’t seem to shake the coffee. And until someone figures out a way to grow coffee beans in New York’s climate (which isn’t going to happen any time soon–fingers crossed), it’s a decidedly not-local item.
Especially with coffee, the consumer’s spending power can really make a difference. Coffee is the world’s second most valuable traded commodity, behind only petroleum. Second, isn’t that interesting? Imagine the impact of our shopping? According to Global Exchange, there are approximately 25 million farmers and coffee workers in over 50 countries involved in producing coffee around the world. Coffee producers are kept in a cycle of poverty and debt by the current global economy designed to exploit cheap labor and keep consumer prices low. Buying Fair Trade Certified coffee ensures a proper wage and working conditions for those who harvest and handle it, and has strong environmental standards built into its certification process that protect watersheds and virgin forests, help prevent erosion, promote natural soil fertility and water conservation, and prohibit GMOs and many synthetic chemicals. Look for the Fair Trade Certified label on your beans or in your coffee shop.
For more on the topic, see Fair Trade: It Just Makes Sense.
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54 comments
add your comment »*eats the dandelion salad*
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Very informative Article, I live in Australia on the east coast, we have been growing our own Vegetables for years. We have a son with a disability and we try to keep our food as Fresh as possible.
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Very informative,thank you
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I live in Michigan its hard for us we only get our local fresh foods Aug, Sep,Oct...i buy fresh farm eggs year round though
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Very informative. I had no idea you could eat your weeds! thanks for the helpful advice.
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It's so refreshing to see there are like-minded individuals. I live in a small farming community in Canada where conventional is mainstream and natural or organic is marginalized.
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Aurelys, congratulations! It can be tough at first, but keep up the good work. It is so worth it. I will have 20 YEARS in October and I am only 33!
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yummy!
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Enjoyed this article, it is very informative. Thanks
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Enjoyed this article, very informative. Thanks
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