5 Ways to Value a Cup of Coffee

1. Organic

"Coffee and tea that bear organic certification are more eco-friendly," writes Jacob Gordon, "because they are grown and processed without toxic chemicals, are cultivated and harvested in ways that protect sensitive ecosystems, and spare workers from exposure to harmful pesticides and herbicides."

The use of pesticides not only turns coffee into a toxic brew, it also threatens workers on coffee plantations.

Statistics can be scarce from so-called Third World countries, but some incidents are documented; for example, more than 200 people became sick from drinking water contaminated with agricultural pesticides and fertilizers in the western Mexican state of Jalisc,o and the Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA) reported more than 200 human poisonings and four deaths were attributed to endosulfan use in Colombia.

2. Fair Trade

Fair Trade refers to actively putting the concepts of "fair price, environmental sustainability, fair labor conditions, direct trade, democratic and transparent organizations, and community development" into everyday action.

News flash: Business interactions don't have to be entirely about maximizing profit through cutthroat competition. The growing fair trade movement gives consumers and activists the powerful choice to vote with their hearts and their wallets. 

Fair Trade is green, it's humane, and it's unifying. Fair Trade coffee sales in the US increased from $50 million to $500 million between the years 2000 and 2005.

3. Shade Grown

According to the Northwest Shade Coffee Campaign, shade-grown coffee is "grown under a canopy of diverse species of shade trees, often on small farms using traditional techniques."

Perhaps coffee is not the first thing that comes to mind when greening our lives, but as Grounds for Change reminds us: "By purchasing shade-grown coffee, you send a message to coffee farmers that there is economic viability in returning to traditional methods of coffee cultivation." 

Shade-grown coffee requires less fertilizer, prevents soil erosion, requires fewer or zero pesticides, and promotes biodiversity.

4. A Mug of Your Own

"Americans drink more than 100 billion cups of coffee every year, 16 billion of which are purchased in disposable paper cups," writes Molly Smith.

"Placed end-to-end, these cups would wrap around the Earth five times and weigh around 900 million pounds, equal to the combined weight of 927,747 airplanes."

Suggestion: WeAreHappyToServeYou cups. Say goodbye to disposable coffee cups and hello to your very own ceramic symbol of New York. 

Graham Hill, the man with the plan behind our sibling site, TreeHugger, is the mastermind of these ingenious mugs.

5. Re-Purposed

Cara Smusiak suggests a few ways to reuse your coffee grounds. For example: keep away unwanted insects, eliminate odors, condition your hair, and of course, add to your compost pile. 

Emma Cooper sez: "The carbon to nitrogen ratio of coffee grounds is around 20:1, which means that it adds a nitrogen boost to your heap that can kick-start the composting process or compensate for a lot of carbon-rich 'brown' materials (woody plant stems, crumpled paper or cardboard)."