Housekeeping

I made the first post on this website on this day in 2005. I initially envisioned a modest collection of resources explaining the importance of “shade-grown coffee” to biodiversity, birds in particular. As an ornithologist, I knew how critical wintering habitats in the tropics are to the birds that I studied here in North America….

What’s been going on behind the scenes, and what is anticipated for the future.

In addition to making minor changes and updates on many individual posts, I have recently updated and overhauled several important pages here at Coffee & Conservation. Quick Guide to Coffee Certifications — I’ve updated the information, and added graphs that illustrate the number of environmental criteria/requirements and number of biodiversity criteria/requirements for many of the…

A new course, Agriculture & Wildlife Conservation: Coffee Agroforestry, is being offered at the Earth Institute Center for Environmental Sustainability (EICES) at Columbia University in New York City.  I  was really pleased to learn that instructor Dr. Amanda Caudill, a postdoctoral research scientist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, is utilizing materials from Coffee & Conservation…

Annual recap of how much I spend on coffee in a year, and other details of my year in beans.

I’ve recently done some tweaks and improvements of the foundation and background information on the site: I’ve updated some of the important primary background posts: What is shade-grown coffee?, The problems with sun coffee, and Birds and coffee plantations. I’ve updated the post on where to get Smithsonian Bird-Friendly certified coffee. I’ve streamlined the User…

Busting the myth of the high cost of great coffee: I spend well under $1 a cup, including shipping, for high-quality, sustainable beans.

The most popular posts of 2011, the most popular posts actually written in 2011, and the top posts I hope people read in 2011.

Updates to market shares of eco-friendly coffee, recommended roasters, research, and Fair Trade news.

Here’s a quick guide for new readers who want to explore the basics of shade-grown, sustainably-grown coffee.

I’ve updated a couple of important resources. First, have a look at “The ecological benefits of shade-grown coffee: the case for going Bird-Friendly,” a report by Robert Rice of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center issued in September. It reviews more than 50 mostly peer-reviewed studies performed on shade coffee farms, and summarizes the findings and…

Brief update on the web site move and NPR piece.

The highly-caffeinated main tasting panel at Coffee & Conservation wishes you a happy holiday and many excellent, sustainable coffees in the New Year! Standing are Mike, my better half Darrin, and Rick; yours truly is seated with our newest regular…

Darren Rowse ran an experiment on his site, ProBlogger, inviting folks to promote their blogs in 140 characters or less. Of 1400 responses, Coffee & Conservation’s pitch was on top of the list.

Dave’s Garden is an enormous web site that covers every issue of interest to gardeners. The site just had a feature article on shade coffee by Marna Towne. Marna hits all the high points to introduce DG users to this…