Green Options

You drink coffee. Tea. When it’s at home, it’s organic, and when you’re out, you do your best. In so many ways, you live a green lifestyle. And yet, there’s one sticky point: the cup.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is getting a little greener.

The Waterbury, Vt., coffee maker is adding 530 solar panels to the roof of its distribution center. When complete it will be the largest solar installation in Vermont, the company said.

The 100 kilowatt system will only provide a small percentage of the power the coffee company needs, but the real value of the system is demonstrating that solar can work for business in the Northeast, the company said.

“Renewable energy must be a part of our overall energy strategy,” Paul Comey, Vice President of Environmental Affairs for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., said in a statement.  “We
want to show our state and federal governments that solar energy works, and that we need
a policy that provides a broad-reaching structure for renewable energy.”

I considered myself a seasoned coffee junkie.  I jump-start every morning with a cup of Sumatra, with Fair Trade, organic and shade grown stamps of approval.  A fair – and delicious — start, but after meeting the folks running Peace Coffee, my coffee awareness, appreciation and activism was jolted.  Issues I never thought about – cooperative buying, aromas, local roasting – now percolate and affect my next buying decision.

Engaging customers to become activists.  Don’t think that’s in the McDonald’s “Premium Roast” marketing plan.  But Peace Coffee doesn’t play by anybody’s business rulebook. As a successful, Minneapolis-based coffee company with an ecopreneurial zest for leaving this world a better place, Peace Coffee uses their java beans to do more than brew coffee.

Their coffee serves as a change agent, positively changing and greening the lives of everyone involved in the process.  From the farmer in Guatemala now supporting his family thanks to a fair living wage to me direct to me, drinking my morning cup on my Wisconsin farm, this innovative business changes people through their purchases ever since they started as a fledgling brainchild of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) in 1995.

“We’re not out to be the biggest coffee company in the universe,” explains Melanee Meegan, marketing manager at Peace Coffee.  “When people choose our coffees, their purchases go directly toward improving the quality of life for farmers across the globe.”

Here are three innovative approaches Peace Coffee uses to engage and inspire their customers:

1.  Keep Local Priorities
Peace Coffee doesn’t want to sell me coffee.  Trust me, I asked. 

I am NOT a coffee addict.

Am not.

But I dare say I might become one.

I do enjoy a good cup of coffee, but caffeine sometimes makes me edgy.  Though I have managed to mostly avoid the lure of Starbucks, I have been known to indulge in a white chocolate mocha at Second Cup, or a French Vanilla at Tim Horton’s… and don’t get me started about Iced Cappucino in the summer!!

Then I read 5 Ways to Green Your Coffee and I got the itch.

So I bought myself a french press and some fresh-ground, organic, Fair Trade coffee.  And I just had to share a little about the company behind my coffee.

Tired of being tired?  It tends to go with the season.  Everyone is still catching up from the holidays and getting ready for spring.  With work, school and social lives who has time for sleep?

With a little help, you can still look your best even if you are running on less than a full night.

Another wave of caterpillars is moving through crop fields in Liberia eating their way through plantains, bananas, coffee and cocoa.

The current wave is a different species than the first. Experts say the second caterpillar is black and white, while the one responsible for the damage in January is black and yellow (Achaea Catocaloides). The first damaging caterpillar has moved into the Ivory Coast and is eating crops there. Ivory Coast is the top cocoa producer in the world.

I am a stay-at-home mom of three.  I wake up at 4:45 a.m. every morning to help my husband get ready for work.

I drink a lot of coffee.

I’m not alone.  More than half of Americans are coffee drinkers, and many of them procure that morning cup of coffee outside their home.

In 2007, Starbucks alone used 1.9 billion disposable paper cups. That’s a lot of non-recyclable paper headed for the landfill, not to mention the water, trees, and energy used in production!

Here’s some tips to shrink your coffee footprint:

Crazy Rumors vegan-friendly lip balms have come out with a new line to compliment their coffee and tea flavors.  A La Mode Lip Balms combine the most

delicious ice cream flavors with nature’s most moisturizing ingredients for a totally sweet experience.

Available in six luscious flavors, like Banana Split and Mint Chocolate, these fun little balms will keep lips moisturized and are good for you and the environment.  Made with organic Shea Butter and Jojoba Oil for maximum softness (without the ”greasies”) and vitamin enriched.  A hint of natural Stevia makes them super yummy!

This morning I stopped at Starbucks for a treat - a soy gingerbread latte.  As I walked through the door berating myself for not bringing my travel mug, I noticed again all of the disposable cups and associated waste we now accept as part of our morning coffee ritual. 

Over 50% of adult Americans, more than 150 million people, consume coffee daily.  That’s a lot of joe, and a huge opportunity to caffeinate more sustainably.  Here are a few tips to green your morning coffee.

1. Brew Your Coffee at Home

Or, in the words of Bon Appetit, become your own barista.  In addition to reducing landfill waste, you’ll save money and have more control over the beans you brew, not to mention any sweetener or milk you add.  I’m currently in love with coffee made with a French press, and ask for a medium grind when I buy beans at my local specialty roaster.

As the mercury drops this winter season, the Grande Latte is in vogue again - but will set you back almost $4. Here are 5 tips for how to have your cup o’ Joe without breaking the bank.

I’m in love with Baby Blend Tees!

The images are super cool and only organic cotton is used.  The shirts and onesies are packaged in unbleached coffee bags, which are easily then reused at the coop for organic coffee.

The bag lists the ingredients, “one unbleached organic cotton t-shirt roasted with love, laughter and comfort”.  Thus, Baby Blend Tees are T-Shirts for the Daily Grind!

My fave shirt is the Beach Cruiser; I’d wear it if it came in my size!  Of course, the tee or onesie is made from 100% organic cotton and printed with water based inks. Why organic?

We, at Baby Blend Tees, buy organic fruits and vegetables and shop regularly at all of the environmentally friendly stores around, yet it is very difficult to find hip, fun clothes that are made with organic cotton for our children.   We decided to look into printing our designs on organic cotton and found it to be a feasible idea - so along came Baby Blend Natural Tees.

Conventional cotton farming makes up less than 3% of the agricultural farmlands in the world, but it accounts for 25% of the insectcide [sic] and pesticide use.

Like many of the eco-friendly companies we feature on Eco Child’s Play, Baby Blend Tees was started by a mom and is socially responsible. The company is a member of 1% for the Planet.