About Coffee & Conservation
Coffee is probably one of the most poorly understood food products in the world, especially considering how ubiquitous it is in our lives -- Geoff Watts, coffee buyer, Intelligentsia.
The purpose of Coffee & Conservation is to provide information about the connection between coffee and the environment -- especially bird habitat.
The huge worldwide surge in demand for coffee has resulted in a shift from traditional, sustainable coffee growing methods (with coffee plants grown in the shade of a diverse understory) to intense monocultures that require large inputs of fertilizer and pesticides which bring about a loss in biodiversity and quickly deplete the land. In the Western Hemisphere, traditional coffee plantations harbor a wide variety of birds, and they are crucial as wintering habitat to dozens of species of birds that breed in North America but winter in the tropics.
Worldwide, habitat destruction is the leading cause of bird population declines. The link between poverty and environmental degradation is inescapable. Making sure that coffee farmers receive a living wage is one way to help preserve habitat -- both by encouraging sustainable coffee farming methods that produce the highest quality coffee, and by empowering farmers economically and reducing their need to exploit the environment for survival.
Coffee is the second largest U.S. import after oil. Coffee drinkers have the potential to make a huge impact on the environment and economies of coffee growing nations. If we understand the stakes, we can make a significant difference, and enjoy our favorite beverage at the same time!
Posts are grouped in the following categories:
Sustainable coffee:
Coffee growing: Retail coffee: All the rest:For links to posts on the basics of sustainable coffee, visit the user guide.
C&C is written by 
,
a University of Michigan bird ecologist and coffee lover. My research
focuses on migratory birds in North America, and I have traveled to
several coffee-producing countries and visited a number of coffee
farms. I'm also a contributing editor to Birder's World Magazine.
If you have an item or coffee you'd like the Coffee & Conservation tasting panel to review, or if you'd like to ask a question or make suggestion, leave a comment on a post or send a message to:
Copyright notice: The contents of this web site, including the images, archives and RSS feeds, are copyrighted. Material cannot be used for commercial purposes. Excerpts may be used with attribution that includes a link back to this site AND text indicating that the material originally appeared at Coffee & Conservation. Any other use requires written permission.
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Hi,
I am currently working for the Washington Office of the Forest Service and we are working on an ethnobotany module for our celebrating wildflowers website:
http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/
We would like permission to link to your site: http://www.coffeehabitat.com/2006/02/about_coffee_an.html
to allow our international audience to explore more about ethnobotany. Please let me know if linking to your site is possible.
Additionally, if you have any high quality images of coffee plants, shade forests with coffee plants, or other images you would like us to share we would be extremely grateful.
Thank You, Kim Pierson
Forest Botanist
Sawtooth National Forest
currently in DC at 202-205-1474
Posted by: Kim Pierson | March 29, 2007 at 10:32 AM
Dear C&C,
My apologies for writing here, I cannot find a contact email on your site.
The Feedburner Sustainability Network helps websites like yours earn money and get more traffic using your Feedburner feed. Please send us your email address so that we can invite you to join!
Visit the Sustainability Network:
http://networks.feedburner.com/SustainabilityNetwork
Subscribe to the Network:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/SustainabilityNetwork
Best wishes,
Alex Ramon.
PS: We've already added your feed, along with permanent links in our Environment News page and in our Feed
Posted by: Alex @ EnergyPlanet | September 28, 2007 at 07:16 PM