The Fight for a Decent, Fair Cup of Coffee

By Susan Lutz

One week coffee gets a bad wrap, the next a good one. Which is it? Is coffee good for us? Killing us? Destroying the environment? Causing cancer? Delightfully tasty? Or all of the above? From the deep grind of espresso to the convenient, light fair of the K-Cup, we love it. However, are we taking care of the earth and the growers as we sip down our brew and satiate that morning, afternoon, and even evening desire?

One day with a few minutes to spare on an errand run, I stopped in Dunkin’ Donuts. When I was growing up, the brand stood for doughnuts – lots of them. It was a sinful, delightful treat and soon became a sign of too much. Yet, Dunkin’s found a way to turn the focus more on coffee and a bit less on the doughnut part. In part, getting a sugary latte-something will replace a hole a doughnut is waiting to fill. When I approached the door, I saw a Fair Trade sticker on a poster advertising that Dunkin’ Donuts buys Fair Trade beans for espresso. I was thrilled to get my double espresso over ice knowing it was Fair Trade. The joy goes down a notch when I’m handed the disposable cup – a glitch in all take-out facilities. The cup I received wasn’t Styrofoam, though I know Dunkin’ was famous for those white cups. NYC banned Styrofoam take-out containers. Dunkin’ says it’s working on phasing out the material all together.

On the other side of the block, Starbucks takes on the same issues: the material of the take-out cups, the origin of the coffee, and the treatment of the people who grow and pick the beans. Starbucks purchases from Fairtrade International and other sources, including the company’s own Coffee and Farmer Equity Program called Ethically Sourcing. Starbucks claims 95% of their coffee is ethically sourced:

The cornerstone of our approach is Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices, one of the coffee industry’s first set of sustainability standards, verified by third-party experts. Developed in collaboration with Conservation International (CI), C.A.F.E. Practices has helped us create a long-term supply of high-quality coffee and positively impact the lives and livelihoods of coffee farmers and their communities.

On the other side of taste and quality comes the K-Cup. Sales tripled just a few years ago. The convenient one-cup brewer tripled, making an increase of over 200% and over 31 billion in sales in 2011. Perhaps campaigns to kill the small plastic cups with just a one-time use put a dent in sales.

Today, the outlook looks a bit bleaker for the convent cup. Holiday sales reported a sixth straight quarter loss in sales by Keurig. The sale of the little cups is down too. Consumers are heading back to the barista and other traditional ways to make coffee. The first time I saw one of these machines, a natural “yuck” look came across my face like I’d just sucked on a lemon. Instinctively, I imagined that all that plastic making one little watery cup of coffee was just a bad idea. Today, I notice the machines pushed further back into the corners of offices, the dying K-Cup tossed asunder, forgotten, and ignored. Keurig’s slow response to changing the plastic cups into something recyclable by 2020 must not have sat well with coffee drinkers. Really? 2020? (Read my article on The Many Shades of Green for more information). The consumer has spoken.

This year, the Dietary Guidelines for the U.S. looked at coffee and health. They concluded that coffee was part of a “healthy lifestyle.” Not just one or two cups of coffee but up to five.

“Strong and consistent evidence shows that consumption of coffee within the moderate range…is not associated with increased risk of major chronic diseases.”

Eating five celery sticks is healthy; five glasses of water is great, but five cups of coffee? Studies like this succumb to our coffee desires. We will continue to get reports about the good and the bad of coffee. I’m waiting for more studies to look at the high level of pesticides used to grow the crop and the effect this has on workers and consumers.

Though sales go up and down, the desire grows and the consumers of coffee get younger. I watch kids order from coffee houses with ease and authority. They sit at tables with a steamy cup of joe. Coffee hooks us with the smooth image of connection. At the coffee house, neighborhood store, coffee machine in the corner, we’re drawn towards getting along for that sweet amount of time it takes to brew a cup of coffee.

Commodities inherently demand we get along on a global scale. We can’t drink, eat, and wear things when we have no idea where they came from. We can’t ignore the people planting and picking the crop. A simple map quickly shows who wants the coffee and who grows it.

We can no longer take for granted whether or not a product is good for us, environmentally sound, and treats the farms well just because it’s packaged well or the latest scientific study says it’s healthy. We’re smarter than that. We have the power to demand more from the giants who sell us our daily grind.

1608: Going Nuclear

This week’s show goes “nuclear” as we talk to John Kelly, former Director of Licensing at the Indian Point Nuclear Energy Center

This week’s show goes “nuclear” as we talk to John Kelly, former Director of Licensing at the Indian Point Nuclear Energy Center, which is currently operated by Entergy. He was also the radiation protection manager at the plant, and has vast knowledge of plant operations, and how nuclear power works to create energy. Tune in to find out how spent fuel rods are stored, and other facts about the nuclear industry. For more info go to nrc.gov (see nuclear reactors).

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1607: The Essence of Effluence

My guest this week is Carl Gilpatrick, Senior Sewer Operator for the Town of Stony Point, NY. We discuss the essence of effluence a/k/a how waste gets treated when it is flushed, what sludge is comprised of, and what goes through the sewer system. The process is quite interesting, and sewage treatment plants are crucial to proper waste management, as well as the health and safety of the citizenry. There are things that should never be flushed or be put down the drain. Tune in to find out what those items are. You can get more info by visiting www3.epa.gov

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Women Farmers Turn Over the Land with Success

By Susan Lutz

The roles of farmers often seem to go to men. Perhaps rooting from generations of roll assignments – the men work the land, the women raise the children and support their husbands. My family’s roots stretch back to farming. I remember the stories of my grandmothers supporting their husbands, doing the chores, and feeding the family and the extra farm hands. Without these women, the farms wouldn’t run. As times change, the farm is changing, too.

Organic lifestyles are creating demands for less pesticides, more local crops, and food grown without GMOs. Farms used to rely on the next generation of children, usually the son, to step up and take over. As large corporations took over acres, they created a mass production and marketing system and small farms couldn’t compete. We watched family farms collapse in the ’80s. Today, women are finding ways to farm with new insight and success.

The US Department of Agriculture reports that, beginning in the 1980s, women farmers were the “fastest-growing sector of the country’s changing agricultural landscape” and they will continue to be well into the next 25 years. The number continues to rise and women farmers are gaining visibility. The economic challenge for farmers has shifted from the tradition of turning the farm over to their children, especially to the boys, to the unknown. Many families turn away from the farm for work, but today more girls and women are choosing to stay. Some enter farming for reasons such as wanting to raise children in the rural lifestyle while others may see it as a profitable way to live. Some simply want to promote organic living. Some women choose sustainable farming and some undertake a larger scale.

Where does a woman, either working alone or with a partner, turn for resources? The growing number of women farmers has created new opportunities in education, management, production, and financial resources. The Internet, blogging, and social media have opened up a new avenue of community to women farmers. With a quick click, any woman can look up how to attack a cucumber beetle without pesticides or when the best time to plant a certain crop is, and they can share stories and develop friendships with other farmers.

Women are taking back the earth. Not from men, but together as partners. My grandmother and grandfather left the farm even before the economy suffered. Over time they gravitated closer to factories and industries offering steady pay. I wonder, if the resources today were available to them, would they have had a chance to grow their farm and adapt with help rather than flee in the hopes of just staying alive and making ends meet. The organic movement is so important to so many women I know. One farm at a time, we may see the land and its caretakers turn over a whole new leaf.

Man Swarm

Overpopulation is one of the biggest problems ever faced by mankind. With limited resources such as edible food and clean water, our society needs to greatly curb our population. In Ethiopia, the average woman has 8.5 children, while typically only one child can be fed. In the non-fiction book, “Man Swarm,” Dave Foreman takes the reader through an in-depth conversation about overpopulation. First, he introduces the topic and puts our population growth into context, and it’s quite ghastly. After introducing the historical context, he discusses the topic of “carrying capacity” and the relevant damages inflicted by humans. Lastly, he explains what can be done and presents his own solution to the environmental problem of immigration to the United States. Throughout the entirety of the book, Dave Foreman backs up his arguments with highly convincing, concrete scientific evidence.

Dave Foreman was able to powerfully affect my view on overpopulation. He did this through use of creative arguments, easy to understand context, and the incorporation of hard facts. An interesting point Dave makes is that immigration to the United States is absolutely terrible for our earth. As Americans have a bigger carbon impact than any other nation in the world, immigration to the United States only increases overall greenhouse gas impact even further. In another example, Dave indulges in some interestingly disturbing facts. He states, “Overall, each one of us in the U.S. burps more CO2 and other greenhouse gases than do folks in any other country in the world, and we are each burping more every day.” (48) Not only did Dave include unusual facts about overpopulation, but he also used lots of context throughout the book. For example, “This is where we get matchups such as one American having as much impact as seventy Nigerians or thirty-five Indians.” (99) Additionally, Dave used the context of money to further his point, “Based on a ‘social cost’ of carbon dioxide of $85 a tonne, the report estimates the climate cost of each new Briton over their lifetime at roughly £30,000 ($63,240).” (46) Dave also exposes the “cornucopian” mindset, which is basically the idea that technology will solve our problems and overpopulation is nothing to worry about. Dave Foreman delves into the “cornucopian” mindset and explains why it’s wrong on many different levels.

My level of understanding on the topic of overpopulation greatly increased as I read Dave Foreman’s book. In addition to understanding the harms of overpopulation directly and indirectly, I have been able to think about my personal decisions, such as leaving lights on and taking hot showers, which affect the world I’m living in. Dave Foreman goes over the top with this book (in the best way possible) and explains everything there is to be explained about the issue of overpopulation.

This book is an absolute must read for anyone with any interest, big or small, in the environment. Every time I read this book, I was taken aback by Dave Foreman’s creative habits in supporting his arguments in addition to his incorporation of science and research. This was a very powerful piece that will stick with me. To put the cherry on top, this book is a short read that is written in an easy to understand manner, and it’s sure to enlighten and entertain!

#1606: Redu

“Human Beings Throw Away Their Greatest Achievements in the Trash” enter my guest this week, Amber Lasciak, designer and founder of REDU NYC, a company which rescues and transforms waste into functional design. It is so very important to reuse, reduce, recycle and reinvent, in order to lower our carbon footprint, and keep waste out of the landfills. #REBORNINTHEUSA. Send Amber a tweet @REDU_NYC

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Getting Green on the Road

Electric cars are cool, electric cars are fun, electric cars don’t pollute the air we breathe, so why aren’t there more of them on the road? My co-host Brian Horowtiz and I chat about this and other topics, with my guest Seth Leitman, Green Living Guy. Seth is an EV car aficionado, and author of a series of books called the Green Guru Guides. He is working with the Solarize initiative in Westchester County to promote solar energy. Seth will be lecturing and touring colleges this Spring, to spread the word about green living. For more information go to greenlivingguy.com

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How the Purchase of Cotton Pants and Panties Can Change the World

By Susan Lutz

When shopping, the world sits on my shoulder. I feel it. Products scream at me: buy me! I’m a deal! Good for your pocketbook! Just what you want – what your kids need – stylish! I slide shirts down the rack, wondering who made it, what chemicals were used in the fields, and if the product is GMO. Food tops the list when we think of buying organic and fair trade. However, cotton must be added to our list and be a part of our consciousness as it’s an important crop to choose organic and fair trade.

The Organic Consumer’s Association highlighted aspects of a report by The Institute of Science in Society. It called cotton a “triple-threat…because it produces fiber, food, and feed….Monsanto Corporation has been a major source of genetically modified (GM) cotton lines.”

Cotton ranks as one of the highest producer of GMOs, falling in line with soy, canola, and corn. The Environmental Justice Foundation put out a report siting the commodity of cotton and the dangers it poses to workers, which include children, in the fields.

Pants, shoes, shirts, yoga clothes, and even panties, can be produced with organic cotton and fair trade certification. So much bedding, pillows, shoes, and of course clothes contain cotton. The cotton crop is estimated at $32 billion yearly.

With children, and especially with teenagers, grabbing the latest styles is tempting so many brands sell at cheaper prices due to the above-named factors. By dusting the crops with chemicals and using non-fair trade labor tactics, the price point goes down. I look to several practical solutions to introduce the use of organic cotton into our lives. I won’t be able to buy everything fair trade or organic. So, I work on choosing one area I can commit to and get as much out of my dollar while also supporting environmentally friendly products.

Going to the thrift store can stretch an item’s use – no one had to work in the fields a second time to put it up for sale. The second use recycles and produces less of an environmental impact all-around.

Decide on choosing a few items that will last – a great t-shirt made from organic cotton or a pair of organic cotton fair trade jeans – probably love them more, appreciate them more, and enjoy them more, too!

Pick one item and buy only fair trade and/or organic within that department. Green panties are a good start. Just like food, I can’t swing buying all organic; however, I commit to a few items and stick with it.

Never underestimate the power of our voice through out purchases

There is Still Time

My guest this week is Peter Seidel and we discuss his new book, There is Still Time: To Look at the Big Picture and Act. The book delves into how our modern habits, which are intertwined with evolutionary psychology, are causing a disconnect with nature. What is causing this dilemma, and how can we become more emotionally connected to create a more sustainable planet? Tune in to find out why we need to take action to bring forth positive solutions to environmental problems. There Is Still Time is available on amazon.com and peterseidelbooks.com.

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The Fight for Food: Who’s Got the Right?

By Susan Lutz

We change all the time. We adapt and learn to survive in new ways. When it comes to food, we fight for the right to know what’s in it, eat organic, and buy local. Often these steps all seem logical. We must continue to move forward and build a better food-making machine.

Enter the GMO. Are they good for us? Bad for us? Huge corporations say they are not only fine but needed. How can GMOs be good for us? While sipping my organic, fair trade coffee one morning I saw a report on CBS Sunday Morning about GMOs, examining both sides. I have to admit, after seeing the papaya grower’s woes about a bug that wiped out all of their crops, I could understand why the farmer chose to use GMO seeds to grow a new papaya that was bug-resistant. Both sides gave logical reasons as to why we should allow or ban GMOs.

It’s easy to say something is “all bad”. McDonald’s, for example, encompasses many things I deplore. Yet, I’ve eaten there. I took my kids to the indoor play areas when I lived in a country that either didn’t have parks for kids or had parks that were too dangerous to play in. Did I understand that I was being “sold” a brand in hopes that not only I but also my children would remember those golden arches for a lifetime? Yes. (My son still points to any McDonald’s we pass and asks to play there years after he’s been in one.)

Both sides have a point. The organizations that are against the corporations developing GMOs are passionate about stopping their use. To date, about 19 European countries have banned GMOs. But what about that farmer and those dead papaya trees? He’s now farming again, profitable again. Would that happen with non-GMO techniques? Perhaps that’s the bigger question. Much research and development goes into the creation of GMOs, helping to solve difficult problems for farmers. But could there be another way?

The world moves so fast. Rather than understand all of the ramifications of choice, we sometimes move in a direction that can be narrow-minded, one that doesn’t look at the big picture. What if we had found ways to destroy bugs with other bugs? I see reports of farmers finding ways to tend crops with organic solutions. Climate change is a response to our decisions and the impact those choices place on the environment. The decision to buy fair trade coffee or not impacts the people who pick it and the communities they live in. Our decisions- the paths we choose in our oil drilling, animal breeding, crop growing, and automobile design, to name a few, lead us to where we are today.

GMOs are creeping into our crops, in such a way that soon it will be hard to find foods, especially processed foods, that are GMO-free. I know that we eat some GMO foods, even though I read my labels religiously, and when we do, I let it go because I know that we are in a process, one that will teach us to make it back to middle ground.

#1603: Beyond Global Warming

My guest this week is Victor Provenzano, eco-consultant and author, who has written articles for clean tech websites. His article for Clean Technics, entitled The Intermittence of Wind and Solar, has been well received, and has been widely circulated. In addition, Victor is currently working on a new book, Beyond Global Warming, which will emphasize that solutions to current ecological problems are being developed, and will hopefully be put into place within the next decade. You can also check out Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions For The New Energy Era, by Amory Lovins, to get more detailed data, analysis and modeling regarding the future of energy. For more info go to Rocky Mountain Institute: rmi.org

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Organic Humor: Videos to Check Out, Share, and Enjoy

By Susan Lutz

The food wars rage on. Good things are happening. We as consumers are getting savvy about what’s in our food and the path it takes to get to our table. Here is a quick look at some of the funny, poignant, and entertaining clips I love. Humor gets the point across like no other. As Mark Twain said, “Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand.”

The more we share these clever ideas, the more it will reach an audience, open a door, and perhaps, start a conversation and a new way of thinking.

Cuke Vador? Ham Solo? My kids love this video and it makes me chuckle every time I see it. The Grocery Store Wars is perfectly timed to circulate again with the new (and old) audiences o Star Wars. The props are funny; the lines are cheeky and clever.

This video captures the ridiculous concept of marketing and the power of the written word. Every time I shop, I laugh and gasp at corporations’ claims that their product is “all natural.” After reading the ingredient list, there’s nothing natural about the preservatives, the dyes, and unpronounceable things that start with “p.” I giggle at the amazing pull of advertising and marketing to make us all feel better about paying for close-enough to organic products. Great script. Hilarious.

This video is clever. The satire is on the mark. Simply and with razor-sharp wit, it questions why we had to mess with nature at all. Guess the job just wasn’t up to Monsanto’s standard.

Genetic Scientists Develop Sheep With Brain Of A Goat – The Onion published this short clip showing the overall ridiculous world of altering life on the planet. I realized that I smiled from beginning to end.

Climate Change Deniers Anthem: Beau Bridges plays the Koch brothers; the singers gather to offer up an anthem, We are the World style, that we’re just fine. The climate’s not changing – polar bears are fine; Al Gore’s a liar; and the earth’s temperatures are not rising. We’re fine!

When something’s funny, it hits a chord. The power of video can spread consciousness in a way that isn’t so preachy. Humor may save us all, as nothing can stand against the wave of its assault. Watch and see.