Eco Coffee: Drinking Coffee That Is Ecologically Friendly
When you drink coffee you probably don’t think about where it came from or the people who grew it, but maybe you should start. Did you know that there are millions of families who grow coffee for a living and are living at the poverty level or less? Many of these people spend more to grow the coffee that warms our hands and bodies and fills our homes with the wonderful aroma of the coffee bean, than they will make when we buy it. Can you imagine spending more to work every day than you get paid? You wouldn’t do it, but many of these people do not know any different and if they stop growing they will not have any money at all. There is eco coffee that is grown in a way that will protect these people as well as the earth that it is grown in.
What is Eco Coffee?
Eco coffee is coffee that is grown in ecologically friendly settings. Much of the coffee even ten years ago that was grown was grown on land that was cleared without a good reason. Coffee crops were leading to deforestation and was devastation the eco-system of the areas that the coffee was grown in. Today many different organizations in the industry have created different standards and certifications to ensure that coffee is grown in safe, secure, and fair settings.
When you buy eco coffee you are buying coffee that has been grown in areas that allows the animals in the area to continue living in trees and for bigger animals to have vegetation to eat. In the past much of this would be cut away and cleared altogether to allow for the crops to get the maximum amount of sun. Today standards are being set so that land is not cleared needlessly.
In addition to taking the land into consideration, eco coffee usually costs a bit more because it ensures that those who grow the coffee are compensated fairly. When farmers are compensated they are not as likely to continue to clear land and they won’t overwork the soil that they are working with. Instead, they will have the money that they need from the crops that they grow to maintain their farms properly, pay their employees, feed their family, and seek health care when they need it. Eco coffee costs more but it pays for so much and when you think about it, there is some sort of satisfaction that comes from buying coffee that is ecologically friendly as well as humane compared to buying coffee that is not.
