Photo by Milo Miloezger on Unsplash
Every choice a Bahá’í makes—as employee or employer, producer or consumer, borrower or lender, benefactor or beneficiary—leaves a trace, and the moral duty to lead a coherent life demands that one’s economic decisions be in accordance with lofty ideals, that the purity of one’s aims be matched by the purity of one’s actions to fulfil those aims.
Universal House of Justice, 1 March 2017 – To the Bahá’ís of the World
by Christine Muller
Many of us enjoy our daily morning coffee—let’s make sure that coffee will be available to us in the future! Did you know that climate change is affecting coffee plantations and that there are ways you can help keep the coffee plants and their farmers thriving?
Your first tool for that is knowledge:
The World Counts explains: “Traditionally, coffee beans were grown in the shades of trees and other plants. Shade-grown coffee conserved the soil and original forests. However, the huge increase in demand for coffee has transformed more and more production from shade to sun-grown coffee. Sun-grown coffee requires the clearing of forests, and because the topsoil is eroded also the use of chemical fertilizers”
“More than 40 percent of the coffee area in Colombia, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean has been converted to sun coffee. An additional 25 percent is currently under conversion.”
“The conversion of coffee production to sun-grown coffee is a major source of deforestation since the forest is cleared to make room for coffee plants. According to some estimates, every cup of coffee consumed destroys roughly one square inch of rainforest, making it a leading cause of rainforest destruction.”
“The clearing of forests reduces biodiversity and plays a critical role in the extinction of species.”
Loss of forests is also a major cause of climate change.
Climate change now seriously threatens coffee growing. Coffee plants require mild temperatures, regular rain, and rich soil. Climate change brings extreme heat, worsening droughts, and extreme rainfall. While it is possible with the warmer temperatures to grow coffee farther north and at higher elevations, the overall land area suitable for growing coffee is shrinking, and farmers are struggling with lower yields due to heat, plant diseases, and pests such as leaf rust, a parasite.
So what can we all do?
- We can buy sustainably grown coffee, which means shade-grown coffee. Fair Trade coffee certifies that coffee farmers are taking care of their workers and the environment, paying fair wages, and not using child labor.
- We can also do our part not to contribute to climate change, for example by reducing the amount of flying, driving, and eating meat.
The two points above are the important ones. Here are some additional tips:
- If your coffee machine requires coffee pods, perhaps you can switch from single-use coffee pods to reusable ones.
- If your coffeemaker is broken and you must buy a new one, look for an energy-efficient one that uses a thermos container to keep your coffee hot instead of a glass container that must be continually heated.
- Compost your coffee grinds! If you put them into the trash, they will end up in the landfill where they will slowly decay, thereby producing methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to the heating of the Earth.
- And most importantly: Only brew as much coffee as you will surely drink!
References:
Expected global suitability of coffee, cashew and avocado due to climate change
Grüter R, Trachsel T, Laube P, Jaisli I (2022) Expected global suitability of coffee, cashew and avocado due to climate change. PLoS ONE 17(1): e0261976
A Systematic Review on the Impacts of Climate Change on Coffee Agrosystems
Bilen, C., Chami, D. E., Mereu, V., Trabucco, A., Marras, S., & Spano, D. (2022). A Systematic Review on the Impacts of Climate Change on Coffee Agrosystems. Plants, 12(1), 102
Environmental effects of coffee production
(TheWorldCounts.com, feature article on global challenges)
Wonder about the impact of your daily cup of coffee on the planet? Here’s the bitter truth
(Ideas.TED.com article by Ceri Perkins, July 2022)
