Posts with the tag coffee

Picks of the Week

canow.environment — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 23:52:50 EDT

On the web

Follow the Oil Money is an interactive tool that tracks the flow of oil money in US politics. Click on one of the search tools on the right to find out which companies are pumping their dirty oil money into politics, who is receiving it, and how it correlates to key climate, energy and war votes.

On the shelf

Teaching Rebellion: Stories from the Grassroots Mobilization in Oaxaca, edited by Diana Denham and CASA Chapulin, is a compilation of testimonies from longtime organizers, teachers, students, housewives, religious leaders, union members, schoolchildren, indigenous community activists, artists and journalists--and many others who participated in what became the Popular Assembly of the People's of Oaxaca.

In your cup

Add Equal Exchange's Organic Love Buzz coffee to your grocery list this month (also makes a great gift!). For every 12 oz. package sold, Equal Exchange will donate 20 cents to the Small Farmers Green Planet Fund.

On the screen

Battle in Seattle illustrates that even against incredible odds, ordinary people can change the world. See it in a theater near you. Also, Watch this video, then show it to all your friends.

From the heart

"...we must fight to bring domestic violence out of the darkness of isolation and into the light of justice...." -- Sen. Barack Obama

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. In the United States, a woman is raped every 6 minutes; a woman is battered every 15 seconds. Worldwide, the rape of women is widespread in armed conflicts such as Colombia and Darfur. Trafficking of women has become a global phenomenon where victims are sexually exploited, forced into labor and subjected to abuse. We must stop this NOW.

Vote for justice. Vote for peace.
Take a self-defense class.
Organize your community (see these sites for resources: http://toolkit.ncjrs.org/ and http://www.amnestyusa.org/violence-against-women/resources/page.do?id=1051025
Sign the petition

The Church of Good Coffee

Katherine — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 20:41:12 EDT

Ebenezers Coffeehouse is one of my favorite local places to get a cup of joe. Yesterday I learned that in addition to making delicious iced espresso drinks, they also have concerts and events including dance lessons and open mic nights.

Giant Coffee Bean for Justice

pdelatorre — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:25:07 EDT

The University of Houston Students for Fair Trade, who have received a Campus Progress Action Grant, were featured in the Houston Chronicle yesterday for their long running and energetic campaign make all coffee sold on campus fair trade certified.

Check it out:

Students carrying a giant replica of a coffee bean stormed Chancellor Renu Khator's office at the University of Houston on Monday, the latest skirmish in their two-year campaign to force the school to offer only fair-trade coffee in a library kiosk. […]

The student government association last year approved a resolution supporting the proposal. Letters and other documents distributed by the student group indicated Aramark plans to install a Starbucks in the library, building the kiosk with $60,000 in student fees. (Starbucks buys some fair-trade coffee but not exclusively.)

What Hath Our Chemical Age Wrought?

Jesse Singal — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 09:43:46 EDT

Overheard at the spot where I buy my iced coffee:

"I'm trying to switch to real sugar so that when I get to the bottom of my coffee it doesn't taste all chemical-y, but sugar just isn't sweet enough."

Look whose screwing small coffee growers now. (It's not who you think)

Graham — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 14:05:09 EDT

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently reacted to prohibited practices at one organic farm collective by banning all together a system that let collectives gain certification by having a random sample of the member farms inspected, Salon has reported.

Inspectors under ideal circumstances can inspect four or five farms a day, and it currently takes about 20 to 30 days at $150–270 per day to certify a grower group. Under the new rules, these farmers who are supposed to benefit from their collective organization will all have to be certified individually in order to use the "organic" label in the United States. For some, this means they're getting screwed in new and original ways!

[C]onsider the case of one co-op of Peruvian banana farmers, for whom the USDA ruling is especially ironic: The 1,500 growers formerly worked as tenants on a single plantation, but with agrarian reforms in the 1960s each family got a plot of the landlord's land. Had that plantation been maintained, it could have had one visit a year from an inspector. But because the property is now split among 1,500 families, inspectors will need to visit each farm on the land.

Let's hope a better policy can be developed.