CAS sophomore Shayna Harris certainly knows the value in a cup of coffee. In January, she started the Fair Trade Coalition at Boston University in an effort to promote the sale of Fair Trade Certified coffee on campus.
As an intern at OxFam America, an organization that combats world poverty and injustice, Harris received information about the international coffee campaign and decided to bring the issue to the BU campus.
Fair Trade Certified coffee guarantees that a “fair” share of the coffee profit goes to farmers and seeks to eliminate middlemen in the coffee exchange. What results is a more direct and beneficial trade between the coffee corporations and the farmers.
The intent of the BU Fair Trade Coalition is to encourage campus coffee vendors — Starbucks, Green Mountain Coffee and Java City — to provide only Fair Trade coffee to student and faculty consumers.
“Students and people in general are always inspired to be environmentally and socially conscious,” Harris said. “BU has a very active and involved student body, and if our group can raise awareness about smart consumer choices then I think the students will respond positively.”
Fair Trade Certified coffee has both social and environmental benefits, according to the Coalition. Most coffee farmers live and work in low-income areas in Latin America, and extra profits can sufficiently raise their quality of life.
According to Erin Gore, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore and Coalition spokeswoman, an average coffee farmer makes $3 per day — a profit that can easily double with the imposition of Fair Trade coffee humanitarian standards. Increased profit would then improve the technology and efficiency of coffee farmers.
Environmentally, Fair Trade Certified coffee makes intuitive sense, according to the coalition. In general, the group maintains that Fair Trade coffee farmers have more environmentally sound growing and cultivating methods because they have a more intimate relationship with the coffee corporations themselves.
The corporations discourage the farmers from using harmful pesticides and encourage them to seek out other organic alternatives. Also, according to CAS sophomore Divya Mankikar, an intern at OxFam and member of the Coalition, Fair Trade farmers produce shade-grown coffee, meaning it has been grown in the forest without disrupting the natural and biological layout of the land.
At this time, the Starbucks, Green Mountain and Java City vendors at BU supply coffee that is not regulated by Fair Trade Standards. The so-called “Free Trade” coffee provided on campus currently doesn’t come with the socially and environmentally conscious guarantee that Fair Trade coffee does. The Coalition is calling for a switch that it claims will be effortless on both the consumer and the corporations.
“Our current slogan is ‘put your two cents in,’ because the cost of switching to Fair Trade coffee will raise Starbucks coffee prices two-cents per cup, a small price to pay to help a family and make smart consumer choices. We are not protesting Starbucks. We are working and cooperating with them in this positive movement,” Gore said.
The Fair Trade Coalition at Boston University has been very busy since its formation. It held a teach-in last month to educate students and faculty about the benefits of Fair Trade Certified coffee and encourage them to make educated consumer choices. Every Friday in March, the FTC has been tabling at the GSU link with educational pamphlets and videos, as well as varied petitions. On April 9, the group will be holding another teach-in featuring an actual farmer from El Salvador who will share personal experience regarding the benefits of Free Trade Certified coffee.
Harris said the Fair Trade Coalition has already initiated change. Green Mountain and Java City have already made a pact to supply Fair Trade Certified coffee on campus. Harris, Gore, Mankikar and other representatives met with Steve Canardo, the director of dining services at Boston University, about their organization, and he was enthusiastic and supportive of their proposal, Harris said. By next week, the group hopes to have another meeting with Canardo and a Starbucks representative.
“We have to start small. Local campuses, such as Tufts University and Boston College, as well as other local Boston coffee shops have made the commitment to switch to Fair Trade coffee. Our goal is to educate people on campus so that they can request Fair Trade coffee elsewhere. We want to give the students a choice,” Gore said.
The Fair Trade Coalition has already gained the support of several students and faculty members. They are a member of Unite, a group of student organizations on campus pledging mutual support for the other groups involved. The BU Student Union Senate passed a resolution expressing its complete support for the project.
“Our membership has increased exponentially,” Gore said. “People have realized our positive movement. We recognize that this is not a Utopian society, but if we, as students, can better one family with one cup of coffee than that is a great accomplishment.”
“It is not about coffee. It’s about people and smart consumer choices; and on small level, we can make a difference,” Harris added.
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