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bird habitat and coffee



A e-letter about socially conscious investing recently offered a long piece
on the international coffee scene -- low prices, oversupply, and lots of
desperate third-world farmers.  Of interest to birding enthusiasts, the
e-letter said:

"Along with the economic and social cost, the mass-production methods of
coffee growing that have helped drive down prices also carry a severe
environmental cost. Traditional shade-grown coffee is raised, often without
the use of pesticides, under a canopy that provides shelter for birds and
other wildlife. It is cultivated by using fruit, avocado, and other cash
crops to provide shade for coffee bushes. When 'sun-grown' coffee is
produced on clear-cut industrial plantations, this vital habitat is
destroyed."

The e-letter urged folks to buy Fair-Trade coffee (a system of guaranteeing
farmers a decent price, which leads them to leave shade trees in place and
use less poison)  and offered these links for more information:

Equal Exchange
<http://www.equalexchange.com/>

TransFair USA
<http://www.transfairusa.org/>

"bird friendly" coffee
<http://natzoo.si.edu/smbc/Products/Factsheets/factsheets.asp?fxsht=1>

Len Pardue,
Asheville NC