Each day more than 2 billion cups of coffee are consumed around the world. Black Gold: Wake Up And Smell The Coffee reports that four multinational coffee companies (Nestle, Proctor & Gamble, Kraft and Sara Lee) dominate an estimated $80 billion dollar industry, making coffee the most second most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil.
Yet unbeknownst to most coffee drinkers, coffee farmers continue to live in extreme poverty. Even though consumers pay US$2-4 dollars for a designer cup of coffee, the farmers who grow the coffee are making an estimated 23 cents per kilo of coffee. If you drink coffee, you need to see the award-winning film Black Gold —everything you didn’t want to know about coffee: http://www.blackgoldmovie.com/
Solar Roasted Coffee
Considered to be the most sustainable coffee under the sun, Solar Roast Coffee, is organically grown, chemical free, roasted with solar thermal coffee roasters and the company purchases carbon offsets for times when the sun doesn’t shine — making this innovative coffee company carbon neutral: http://www.solarroast.com/
Carbon Neutral Coffee
Salt Spring Island, on the West Coast of Canada, is home to Canada’s first carbon neutral coffee brand – Carbon Cool: Cool Coffees For A Hot Planet. Salt Spring Island Coffee Company has purchased BC Hydro Green Energy Certificates to offset electricity and purchased green-e certified renewable energy credits to offset emissions from their operations. A delicious cup of joe you can feel good about drinking: http://www.saltspringcoffee.com
TransFair Fair Trade Label
TransFair offers Fair Trade certification for coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar and rice to the US market. Fair Trade Certified coffee is the fastest-growing segment of the US specialty coffee market. In the past six years, TransFair has certified more 74.2 million pounds of Fair Trade coffee: http://www.transfairusa.org/
Coffee & Conservation offers information on the effect coffee has on the environment, covering the erosion of habitat when sun coffee is planted to the links between coffee consumption and the impact on local bird populations. The Green Book reports if just one household switches to certified organic coffee for a year it would result in the protection of 9,200 square feet of rainforest: http://www.coffeehabitat.com/
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