Green Newton

First, look for coffee beans that are organically grown. Usually this means that coffee is produced without using artificial pesticides or herbicides. This ensures that pollution from wastewater and fertilizers is minimized and soil erosion is decreased because native forests are kept intact.

Also seek out coffee beans that are Fair Trade Certified™ — this is your sign that the harvesters work under humane conditions and are paid fairly for their efforts.

How is buying Fair Trade Certified™ coffee eco-friendly? Because there’s a proven link between poverty alleviation and conservation in coffee farming communities. When growers are paid fairly, they don’t have an incentive to cut down forests to grow more coffee.

Purchasing coffee marked “shade grown” is good for the planet.

Coffee trees grown in the shade of larger tropical forests help provide valuable habitat for migratory birds and other wildlife and endangered species. Coffee farms engaged in shade growing can support approximately 150 individual species of migratory birds, providing them with shelter and sustenance for their long journeys.

And growing more trees in the shade at coffee plantations helps ensure that there is greater biodiversity in species and less monoculture — which protects coffee crops from pests and invasive species while reducing the need for pesticides and herbicides.

Better yet for any budding coffee snobs, shade-grown coffee beans ripen more slowly, providing a deeper, more luxurious flavor.

Unfortunately, not all shade-grown coffee is equal. There are many varieties of shade-grown coffee and no official, internationally agreed-upon system in place for certification, meaning that some shade-grown coffee can be a bit “shady” in practice.

To find the shade-grown coffee that is best for the environment, look for beans that were grown in “rustic” shade cover — this means that the coffee trees were cultivated in 70 percent–100 percent shade cover, providing the maximum benefit possible for birds and other animal species.

Don’t forget: No matter what label or certification is used, you can always contact your favorite coffee company and ask them to prove their support to people and nature.

Finally, to be the most eco-friendly, you should find the source of coffee beans that is closest to where you live and where the beans were originally grown.

Buying coffee as local as you can will cut down on carbon emissions from transportation and distribution. Catholic Relief Services provides an interactive map of Fair Trade coffee roasters in the United States.

Coffee snobs-in-training who also keep an eye on their carbon footprint will be on the lookout for carbon-neutral coffee. Why? Because global climate change presents a very large problem for coffee growers. Coffee is a fragile plant requiring a specific climate in which to thrive; even a slight change of temperature or rain can decrease coffee yields, quality or even threaten an entire country’s crop.

And, when large, native forests are cut down to provide more area for sun-grown coffee, this deforestation causes carbon emissions and destroys natural carbon sinks decreasing our ability to stop climate change.

In the end, nothing’s better than waking up and knowing that your daily cup of coffee fights climate change, provides habitat for birds, helps people all over the world earn a decent wage, and wasn’t produced using harmful chemicals.

By Jonathon D. Colman, former Associate Director of digital marketing for The Nature Conservancy

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s and do not represent those of The Nature Conservancy. You can access the original post  published on the Nature Conservancy website HERE.