Earth Day β π SPECIAL π EDITION π
π Sustainability in Coffee and what we can do this Earth Day to earthconsciousizise. π
Earth Day is tomorrow, which is good.
Whatβs great is that here in NYC, enough people care to make Earth Day impact things, like:
free 30-min bike rides via Citi Bike w/code CARFREE24.
Plus, events everywhere. Thereβs juggling, rollerblading, curling, DJβs & artists, screen-printing, football, canoeing and sailing, a circus, rock walls, and more!
Check out free stuff to get from brands as well.
Iβm taking advantage and walking βTop-to-Tipβ in Manhattan, starting at 9am sharp. If you want to join, hit me up, thereβs an open invite to anyone! Itβs a 14.4mi walk, which usually becomes around 17 after detours, breaks, coffee shops, and checking out whatever Earth Day stuff is going on.
However, this is a coffee newsletter! I canβt spend all day telling you to go outside. Letβs talk about coffee.
Why do I hate starbucks?
Thatβs a great question, Jack! And itβs not just because they burn their coffee beans1.
A quick lesson:
Coffee can only grow in the βcoffee beltβ for the most part, because of the stable 64Β°β70Β°F range most consistently found in upland elevations of tropical countries [scroll down to the map in that link].
At least arabica coffee2, that is. Robusta is colloquially known as a tougher plant, and it is, as itβs got more caffeine [an anti-pest], but a recent study shows that robusta is also temperature sensitive.
As climate change encroaches on these countries, available coffee growing regions will decrease, yeilding the mountains they grow on to pests and fungus as the heat creeps upwards.
Yikes.
Companies like Starbucks are putting money towards farmers for yield of coffee, not necessarily quality. Burnt, bitter beans canβt tell the difference between good and bad.
That means farmers and governments are clearing trees, rainforests, and canopies and putting coffee to grow in the sun.
It turns out that traditionally, coffee is grown in a natural forest, under a little canopy of trees where birds can perch and helpful insects can grow and erosion can be resisted.
Instead of that, we are cutting down trees and sun-growing coffee, requiring pesticides, more water, money towards erosion prevention, wind shieldsβ¦
And a push for yeild over health-of-farmers encourages farmers to employ poor business practices, sometimes needing 100lb of coffee picked just to make $3. It also pushes farmers to require children to help.
How can you help?
This week, itβs Earth Day, so just ask your coffee supplier/shop where their coffee comes from. Thatβs it, start there.
Break time!
Some Earth Day Tips π:
Your lights and electronics are using more water than your actual water is, at a rate of 42gal/kilowatt. An average desktop computer uses about 600kWh/day, or 25200 gallons of water, and your heater about 7kWh/day. For those from London, thatβs a lot of water [in liters this time].
Use dark mode when browsing the web
If youβre leaving your computer for more than 20 minutes, turn it off or βhibernateβ it
Use cold water when doing laundry
Request to plant a tree on your street for free at this link. Do this every week with different e-mails and within 6moβ2yr youβll have a couple trees on your sidewalk. Nice!
Choose organic. Organic coffee [and everything] incorporate natural pesticides and fertilizers, which are mostly renewable and harm helpful insects less [like bees]. Itβs also better for soil health and doesnβt contaminate our water supply with pesticides and chemicals as much.
It maybe costs you an extra 50Β’ at your coffee shop and $1.50 if youβre paying for a bag for your at-home brewing. It can even be cheaper sometimes.
Google some local street fairs and local green markets/farmerβs markets and get something from there. Get your vegetables and fruit from a farmerβs market this weekend. If youβre in Union Square, UWS, UES, East Village, etc., the farmerβs markets will probably be a little pricey, but elsewhere youβre probably saving money.
Even the fruit stalls on the street are better for the environment, because these are often fruits that are near-ripe or near-expiry. Still good, you just have to eat them within a week.
Talk to someone about the weather.
In Londonish fashion, chat up a rando, like your barista, about the weather. Notice how nice itβs been! And how nice itβs going to be! And that weβve had 3 winters [caused by a weather pattern cycling every 7 years]! And how Dubai flooded this week because theyβre zapping clouds with drones! And the eclipse!
There, now youβve made a friend.
And nowβ¦
Ack! What do I do now?!
Iβve got you worried about your coffee hey wait, did you skim this newsletter just to get here and now youβre reading this? How dare you! Go back up and read properly.
If you want to read more about coffee & climate, check out this extremely informational article from NOAA: https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-and/climate-coffee
If you want to support a discovery of more resilient strains/species of coffee, get heirloom Ethiopian coffee, and read this article about their wild coffee forests. At the very least, Ethiopia is beautiful and the article is full of pictures.
If you want to learn more about unsustainable farming practices that have nearly destroyed this planet, check out Mark Bittmanβs Animal, Vegetable, Junk. Itβs a historical informational about how crops shaped the Earth and the 21st century. Like, for example, how Britainβs addiction to tea was motivated in large part by their colonization/sugar farming; the more tea/the more black [+bitter] tea the citizens are drinking, the more sugar they are eating. Then, you know, they quintupled the amount of opuim they were exporting to China when China was like βnah, we donβt want to give you more teaβ.
And you can also just ask your coffee shop where your coffee comes from.
Thanks for tuning in!
Enjoy your coffee!
I had a reference at one point, but the response from a Starbucks rep is that they roast for a latte, as thatβs their βmainβ drink [and therefore the coffee flavor still comes through]. It also helps Starbucks add more sugar, adds uniformity to vastly different beans, and is perceived as having more caffeine here in the states.
Pretty much everything you get in a specialty coffee shop is arabica, including Starbucksβ, Dunkinβs, and Dennyβs. Robusta, with the exception of Vietnamese robusta, is Folgers/pods/etc.