Hello, my favorite Coffinators! In our previous post on Sustainable Coffee – Everything, you need to know! We saw the impact of the commercial mass production of coffee. We saw how our morning cup of Joe was a leading cause of deforestation, farmer exploitation, and plastic landfills. This is the first part, of our 3 article series on sustainable coffee carried on for ‘The World Environment Day 2022.’ Birds are dying every day and the chemical build-up to sustain the 10 billion$ coffee industry is the major cause. In this article on ‘Green Coffee – Top reasons to choose for the environment, we will see how coffee cultivation is harming the environment and ways to cultivate organic coffee which is bird-friendly as well!
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How does coffee cultivation cause deforestation?
Coffee Cultivation on slopes which cause deforestation, soil erosion
- Like any other crop, cultivating coffee requires soil, water, and sunlight. These coffee plants grow in the coffee belt; these are the equatorial regions of the earth.
- Thus it lies between 25 degrees north of the equator and 30 degrees south. But this range is almost entirely overlapping the Tropics and the rainforest. According to the National Coffee Association, for every cup of coffee, an acre of rainforest is cleared.
- Farmers cultivated coffee plant under the shade of another tree. That means coffee plants can grow under huge trees and they do not need direct sunlight. However, in the 1990s it was found that sun-grown coffee produces a better yield. This was the beginning of mass deforestation which is the leading cause why we have only 40% of the rainforest left. Before the 1990s, almost 60% of the forest was intact.
- Coffee plants growing on slopes once prevented soil erosion. However today, they are the leading cause of soil erosion.
What is organic coffee & how does it save the environment?
- Organic coffee is coffee produced without the aid of artificial chemical substances.
- Coffee is among the most heavily chemically treated foods in the world.
- The environment suffers due to the chemical build-up in the soil.
- People who live in it suffer as well due to water & soil pollution.
What is bird-friendly Green coffee?
- Farmers cultivate almost 75% of coffee with practices that leave no place for birds, or worse, actively cause deforestation of habitat. When forests disappear, migratory songbirds disappear too.
- Bird-Friendly coffee farms are 100% organically certified — no harmful pesticides — so they are better for the people and the planet.
- These farms also avoid cutting trees and thus the coffee grows under shade.
Green Coffee-What is it?
- The farmers cultivate green coffee with minimal use of fertilizers and insecticides.
- It is certified by the rainwater alliance and Smithsonian’s bird institute.
- Green coffee also usually grows under shade and has less yield, this is why it is a bit costly.
Coffee production is altering rainforest ecosystems which negatively affects plant and animal species living within. Worldwide, the use of mono-crop coffee production is leading to deforestation, soil erosion, and water pollution. As coffee drinkers, we should choose green coffee, organic coffee, and bird-friendly coffee. For the sake of the environment and coffee, let the change begins! Looking to buy organic coffee? Click here
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More information on deforestation by coffee plantations
