Green Up Your Morning Cup
The good news is that you don’t have to give up your morning coffee or tea. By making a few adjustments though, you can really have an impact on the environment. Find out what you can do to green your brew.
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Certified Fair-trade - indicates that the producers and worker receive a fair price for their goods and their production process considers social, economic and environmental factors. Buying fair trade gives coffee growers a fair shake and is worth supporting. Certified Organic - means that your coffee beans have avoided most if not all chemical inputs like fertilizer, pesticides, antibiotics and food additives...and don’t forget sewage sludge! Certified Shade Grown - makes more sense if you learn some biography behind your morning brew; Coffee comes from the roasted and ground-up beans of coffee plants. Traditionally, coffee has been grown under a canopy of shade trees. But lo and behold, new trees have been developed to produce more beans cheaper and faster. This doesn’t sound so bad to a java junkie, but there are some environmental repercussions...of course. Although the sun coffee produces more coffee per acre, it requires lots of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. These chemicals create serious water and other pollution problems and expose workers to serious health risks. Moreover, when the land is stripped of trees to grow coffee, numerous species of animals, plants and birds are stripped of their habitat. So now do you see how one person can make a difference? Look for these certification labels next time you’re buying beans. Ditch your disposable cups...and I don't mean in the landfill. Will it help if I recite the waste we create and the trees we kill by using a cup or two or three each day and tossing it? That would be 14 billion cups of coffee served every year wrapped in a single-use, cardboard coffee sleeve, adding up to 2.8 billion pounds of trash and killing more than 6.5 million trees each year. Now are you ready to consider another option?
Change your coffee filter from paper to permanent (mesh) It all comes down to waste and taste. Paper filters a one-time use item that you have to purchase over and over again. If you prefer the paper kind, consider switching to filters made from bamboo and composting your grounds. Sure it’s a little thing. You won’t save the planet by saying goodbye to paper coffee filters, but you might save a few dollars and make a better Monday morning cup of coffee. Or take a cue from coffee enthusiasts who swear by French-press coffee makers. No filters, a fast brew, and rich coffee flavor! |
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Expense: The cost of a multi use coffee filter is under $15 and will save you from a recurring expense on disposable filters.
Reduce/Reuse/Recycle - REUSE with a mesh coffee filter, REDUCE by only brewing what you drink, RECYCLE your grounds to compost.
Reduce/Reuse/Recycle - REUSE with a mesh coffee filter, REDUCE by only brewing what you drink, RECYCLE your grounds to compost.