Coffee! It kills birds and erodes soil
Posted by at Jul 16th, 2008 in Climate Change
Filed under: Food , Climate Change Obviously drugs — even the legal ones — aren’t very good for you, and most will get you arrested (or worse), but rumor has it that some people still take them anyway. So, with that in mind, the least you can do is work towards a more sustainable habit. To see all the substances we’ve covered in this series, see our Guide to Green Green Drug Use . I’ve a hunch that many of our readers who drink coffee don’t drink Folgers or Nescafe. But I wonder how many of you are holding onto your bag of Starbucks or your un-organic Kona beans? This post is for you. You see, once upon a time in a land far from here coffee trees grew in rain forests, cloud forests and under other shade canopies. A coffee plantation in these conditions attracts and supports over 150 species of migratory birds. Other plant and animal species are also attracted to the rich soil and bushy conditions that coffee trees naturally support. The plants and the canopy help maintain soil. But then came you, the American, European and Russian addicted to coffee. In the 1960s and 70s coffee growers in southeast Asia and Latin America began growing varieties of coffee beans that withstood full sun. The full sun trees produced far more coffee berries. Acres of forest were clear cut for these new beans and new dollars. Large amounts of pesticides and fertilizer are critical for this type of coffee. So growers piled them on, damaging the soil. Heavy tropical rainfalls are usually dampened by a forest canopy. Without it, the soil in these barren coffee plantations gushes into streams taking the pesticides and fertilizer with it. And about the birds? Birds can’t live in these coffee plantations. The continued growth of full-sun coffee has meant birds have fewer places to nest and breed. According to one study, 94-percent fewer birds exist in full-sun coffee plantations. And I haven’t even gotten to the part about shipping, packaging or decaffeinating. Read | Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
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