On the eve of Earth Day, here’s an oh-so-topical post from the Bloggle archives. Read it, already? Good! I challenge you to give it another review and see how your efforts to green up over the last year stack up. (And feel free to post a comment bragging on how you’ve done!)
Tomorrow, a new Earth Day post: Green Up Your Coffee House.
In the face of the now very real threat of global climate change, this year’s recognition of Earth Day carries with it a certain sense of urgency. 
It’s time to change some habits. Permanently. The good news? Greening up your coffee cup doesn’t mean sacrificing the quality of your coffee! Here’s some tips to get you started…
- Enough of the paper filters, already. If you enjoy your coffee in a press pot, good on you, you’re already there. But if you’re making a drip cup, consider some alternatives to your paper coffee filters. The gold standard of reusable drip filters are made by SwissGold, and they have a product line that covers most every filter basket style — from Mr. Coffee to Bunn to Melitta-styled cone filters — used in auto-drip machines today.
- Enough of the bottled water, too. I’ve written quite a lot about the importance of good water for good coffee. So by all means, use great water, but make it great yourself. Start with water from your own tap and filter it with any number of great filtration products (I like Brita, and PUR.) You’ll save oodles of money, and save oodles of carbon emissions from all the shipping that bottled water requires.
- Heat your water on-demand. Long-time readers will know that I’ve proclaimed my love for Bunn coffee makers in the past… but I have to tell you, that relationship is over. Home coffee makers that keep water hot 24 hours are energy hogs, pure and simple. Instead, use a water kettle to boil up only exactly as much water as you need. Chances are it’ll take no more time than your Bunn ever did.
- Take your mug on the road. If you’re heading to your local coffee house, take your mug with you! There’s thermal travel mugs and tumblers of every sort to make sure you don’t spill a drop on your commute, and chances are your coffee shop will thank you! (One of a coffee shop’s biggest costs is paper, and the lion’s share of that is paper cups.)
- Choose Fair Trade Certifiedā¢ and Organic coffee. Yes, you really can make a difference by choosing coffee with eco-friendly bona fides. And you have been! Sales of Fair Trade and Organic coffee continue to see accelerating double-digit growth. Keep it up! These coffees are ecologically sound, sustainable, and make for safer, healthier coffee-growing communities.
Let’s don’t forget those recyclable cup sleeves with Thinsulate insulation for hot and cold take-out cups for those who don’t use their own tumblers. You know my favorite ones! Also, use a coffee or tea cozy with Thinsulate insulation to keep carafes hot so you don’t have to use electricity. You can pour the coffee into a thermos but then you have to use water to wash it – the cozy goes in a drawer.
That’s a fair and relevant plug. I’ll even add a testimonial…
My wife uses one of Irene’s KoffeeKompanions cup lids every day. It’s well-made, and does a great job of keeping a cup hot and drinkable.
So there. š
Errr, Fair Trade isn’t the same thing as organic. Fair Trade concerns itself with labor practices and payment methods. There’s nothing about “Fair Trade” certification that disqualifies the use of pesticides, for example.
Please don’t blur the lines of certification efforts into a single ball of “feel good, all good” bliss. That’s just promoting a lack of being informed.
Hi, Confused.
I make every effort to not conflate one certification with another… so thanks for the opportunity to clear things up.
No question, Organic certification is the most strident of all certification programs in terms of overall ecological benefits. Hands down. Just the same, Fair Trade certification — while primarily a market-driven, social equity approach — also has a role to play in overall sustainability.
While Fair Trade certification doesn’t prohibit the use of agrochemicals, it does strictly limit their use (and storage, and access) while at the same time encouraging (and training) farmers to employ more sustainable methods for soil improvement and weed control. And all that is packaged into an integrated farm management practice that also includes land conservation and biodiversity practices.
Fair Trade certification is a pretty thorough package that brings together a lot of disciplines; all of them geared toward more sustainable farming, and more sustainable farm communities in producing countries. So, as I suggested in the original article — when we buy coffee that is both Fair Trade Certifiedā¢ and Organic — we’ve got a compelling reason to feel good.
P.S. I remembered to include this only after I’d already hit the button: A lot of would be organic farms get Fair Trade certification first, and then use the additional proceeds to bankroll the more expensive Organic certification process. So in that way, Fair Trade is something of a springboard for Organic. Which is all good.