Re: bird habitat and coffee

["Kerry Turley" <kdturley@bentonrea.com>]

Hello from a far off lurker,

I am a member of the Yakima Audubon Society (in Washington State) and we
have a small sale table set up at our monthly meetings and one of the
hottest items on it is the shade grown coffee that we sell.

We also make sure that this is the only coffee we serve at our functions. I
like to think that in our small way we are setting a good example by
practicing what we preach.

Just a few ideas from a fellow birder (and lurker) who'll be visiting your
fine area in March.

Kerry Turley
kdturley@bentonrea.com
Sunnyside, WA


----- Original Message -----
From: "E/L Pardue" <eljeep@mindspring.com>
To: "carolina birds list serve" <carolinabirds@duke.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, January 01, 2003 2:30 PM
Subject: 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
>
>
>