Got plans for April fool’s day? Cancel them, and come to the Beverly Hills Hotel. I’ll be there, Greg — green financial planner extraordinaire — will be there, and Ben Packard — Starbucks rep — will be there for a summit, titled “Climate Solutions for Communities,” put together by Global Green.

When: Saturday, April 1, 2006 at 1:30pm.
Where: Beverly Hills Hotel – Rodeo Room. 9641 Sunset Blvd. Beverly Hills.
Cost: Suggested contribution of $25. Free for students (yey!).
How: RSVP to RSVP@GLOBALGREEN.ORG

If you’re wondering why Starbucks made this panel — I’m wondering right along with you. I mean, I’m not saying that Starbucks hasn’t done some enviro-friendly stuff, but look at the other panelists and presenters:

David Butterfield, a world leader in sustainable development and chairman of Loreto Bay, which is part of The Trust for Sustainable Development.

A rep from Participant Productions, which uses film (Good Night and Good Luck, Syriana) and other media to raise awareness about important social issues.

Sheila Watt-Cloutier, chair of Inuit Circumpolar Conference, an international org that represents the Inuit people of the Arctic and seeks to strengthen, protect, and develop Inuit rights and the circumpolar regions.

These are amazing companies and orgs that have made socio-environmental consciousness a central part of their raison d’etre, not companies that’ve tacked on some CSR initiatives for PR purposes.

But who knows — Perhaps what Starbucks has been doing to at least make their biz more environmentally friendly has gotten a lot more serious and is really a big deal. I’ll try to go with an open mind — Maybe there’s a way that Ben Packard, Director of Environmental Affairs in the Corporate Social Responsibility department of Starbucks, could fit right in on that panel…

Update, 4/5/06: A report on the panel at the summit, here.

Tags: starbuckschallenge, starbucks, coffee, environment, globalgreen, beverlyhills

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Fair trade activism comes from the least expected places. Remember Michael, the San Francisco Starbucks manager who brews Cafe Estima — Starbucks’ only fair trade certified coffee — every day? Well, the guy’s a fucking dynamo.

Michael talked to people in his district about fair trade and Cafe Estima — after which fair trade stickers got posted at the Bush/Van Ness and California/Spruce Starbucks. In fact, Cafe Estima gets special displays in the Fillmore/Sacramento, 123 Mission, and California/Spruce Starbucks.

On top of all that — You may’ve known about Starbucks’ free coffee day last month, on March 17. Most Starbucks offered the coffee of the day; Michael’s store offered Cafe Estima.

The pics are from Michael’s store. Which is to say that — I get that individuals work at various companies for various, personal reasons. When I’m less-than-complimentary about Starbucks, I’m pointing to Starbucks’ corporate policies that still make only a minimal commitment to fair trade, NOT to individual activists who use their positions to encourage fair trade awareness, even at the risk of corporate resistance.

I just hope other Starbucks managers take Michael’s example to heart. It seems that, at the very least, Starbucks offers managers leniency in running their stores. Maybe Michael will be able to encourage others working at the mermaid to do likewise.

Tags: starbucks, starbuckschallenge, coffee, fairtrade, sanfrancisco

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Now we have Heather Stephenson and Jennifer Boulden, Co-Founders of Ideal Bite, weighing in on the Starbucks’ Green Chip Company Showcase that I wrote about here and here.

For those new to the discussion — Ideal Bite lauded Starbucks as a “Green Chip Company” making great strides for, among other things, fair trade coffee. That pissed me and many other Ideal Bite readers off….

Heather and Jennifer’s comment’s here; my response is right behind it. Please weigh in on this post, as that post is about to fall off the 2nd page –

Update, 5/17/06: Has Ideal Bite gotten more ideal? An update here.

Tags: coffee, fairtrade, starbuckschallenge, starbucks

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That’s Summer to the left, kicking off her post-green-film-panel Tues. night with a couple drinks at the ArcLight Cinema Cafe/Bar.

When she’s not drinking, Summer works on BTC Elements — her online shop that brings quality and fashion to the environmentally and socially conscious consumer.

If you’re like me, you prolly don’t have much trouble finding eco-conscious T-shirts and loungewear. It’s really tough, however, to find more dressy stuff — whether for work or for parties.

Which is why I have my eye on this OC Power Suit collection — all organic cotton, and made in Portland!

All the clothes at BTC, in fact, are either made in the US or fairly traded (screened and approved by the Fair Trade Federation), and 1% of sales are donated to eco-friendly nonprofits.

BTC, BTW, stands for Be the Change, the first part of Ghandi’s famous quote: “you must be the change you wish to see in the world.” After studying environmental education and social justice at UC Berkeley, Summer taught middle-school for four-years — then moved to Santa Monica last September.

BTC, which Summer’s been working on for about a year now, launched just a few weeks ago. Prices run the gamut — “my” power suit’s on the high end, and these vintage magazine notes are on the low end. Summer also plans to add some lower-priced, well-cut t-shirts to help get a green wardrobe started for the eco-newbies –

BTC Elements. HQ’d in Santa Monica, Calif. 888.395.2135.

Tags: santamonica, shopping, environment

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Green awareness hits the silver screen! The Silverlake Film Festival featured not 1, not 2, but SIX documentaries with a green theme :) Yey for indie filmmaking!

So Summer and I went to see a couple green documentaries and a green panel discussion at the ArcLight Cinemas last night. Snappy reviews of the films:

Building Green — We saw the first episode of a home improvement series where host and co-Director/Writer/Producer Kevin Contreras (above) takes us through the process of building his green house. A cool concept — though both Summer and I were a lil peeved by the way Kevin’s spouse was portrayed as the not-so-smart wifey Kevin had to “check in” with…

Greener Buildings / Bluer Skies — A documentary, narrated by Ted Danson and featuring an interview with Robert Redford, showing how the SoCal HQ for the Natural Resource Defense Council came to be the greenest building in the world, with platimum LEED certification. Interestingly, the film was funded by Southern California Edison.

What was really fascinating was the panel after the films, moderated by LA City Council President Eric Garcetti. Did you know that waterless urinals are a hot issue of contention in SoCal? Both Peter Barsuk, a member of the US Green Building Council, and Bernadette Del Chiaro director of Environment California’s Clean Energy Program, weighed in on this sexy topic :)

Jennifer Wolch, Dean of the USC Center for Sustainable Cities, gave us a macro-perspective on whether or not LA could become a green city (It’s not, but it could be), and Jim Jackson, director/writer/producer of Greener Buildings / Bluer Skies, talked about how film could be used as a medium to catalyze green activism.

Other green films at the festival are Homeland: Four Portraits of Native Action, Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea, Clear Cut: The Story of Philomath, Oregon, and In the Footprint of the City.

Tags: environment, film, silverlake, arclight

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A series that runs every Tuesday, where I ask questions unrelated to the environment, fair trade, or local politics that I’ve been wondering about but haven’t been able to google the answers to. Any advice is appreciated.

A lil conundrum Summer and I discussed over drinks earlier tonight: Say you find a cute indie coffee shop a block and a half away — but none of the coffee’s fair trade. Do you eschew that coffee shop and drive to the closest fair trade option? Or do you stick to the cafe in walking distance?

BTW, Summer’s gonna try and chat with the cafe owners first — Imagine, for this scenario, that the owner doesn’t care about fair trade issues… yet…

New exciting posts early-ish tomorrow about an enviro panel at the Silverlake Film Festival and an earth-friendly, fair trade shop getting started in Santa Monica. In the meantime, check out the posts I’ve written for Treehugger (here and here).

Tags: fairtrade, coffee

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“I’m an ethical consumer,” said green LA girl, tapping a Prada loafer.

Prada loafers bought gently used, I might add.

I’m all for buying used — Yey for Buffalo Exchange and Crossroads! But I’ve been wondering lately about buying from consignment shops. The goods are used, but perhaps by buying them, I’m contributing to some of the worst aspects consumer culture — the fetishization of high-end brands.

That said, I’m not just a label whore — I like Prada loafers for many reasons. They’re comfy. They’re avaliable in classic styles that go with everything for many occasions. They’re well-made and last a long time.

That last point’s an important one — I think it’s much better to have fewer, quality goods that last, than a whole lotta crappy stuff that gets faded and bent out of shape after a few washes. In the long run, Target and Walmart stuff ends up not only costing the environment, but also costing you a lot more.

But maybe my choices — rationalizations? — are affected by the fact that I live running distance from Rodeo Drive…

Back in the day, I paid $500 for a pair of Jimmy Choo strappy heels — Something I wouldn’t do now.

Still, I’ve worn those heels like every weekend for the last few years –

Update, 10/18/06: I had to get these resoled — but got it done locally :)

Tags: prada, loafers, shoes

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A list of mostly indie coffee shops serving fair trade coffee! The cafe must have a good amount of fair trade commitment to get listed.

In a pinch, some chains you can also:
* Brueggers and Noah’s Bagels always have a fair trade blend brewing
* Tully’s and Dunkin’ Donuts make their espressos from fair trade coffee beans.
* McDonald’s serves organic, fair trade coffee in 658 of its restaurants in New England and Albany, NY.

Don’t have a store near you? You might wanna check out some of these cause-specific fair trade coffees available online.

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Florida

Georgia

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New York

North Carolina

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

Washington DC

Wisconsin

And for fair trade coffee shops in Dublin, try Dec’s post :)

Tags: fairtrade, coffee, coffeeshop, cafe

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[The whole Certification Challenges series is here.]

Fletch, in a comment in the previous post, wondered if the mission-based fair trade coffee companies are simply walking away from fair trade certification with their noses in the air.

I don’t think that’s necessarily true. To their credit, the Cooperative Coffees members that parted ways with Transfair USA, the nonprofit that provides the fair trade certification sticker for US products, decided to do so after TWO years of negotiations that went nowhere.

And Equal Exchange, a 100% fair trade certified company, is to be seriously commended for continuously taking the time to recommend changes and solutions about fair trade certification to TFUSA, despite the fact that many of EE’s careful and measured recommendations have NOT been taken by TFUSA in the past.

That said, I agree at least in part with some of the points Fletch brought up. Yes, TFUSA needs to make a bigger effort to work with the mission-based companies, but some of these mission-based companies ALSO need to work harder to be part of a more unified fair trade movement.

I’ve yet to hear from any Co-op Coffees member company about what move from TFUSA — a real-world move that allows transnational companies to take part in the movement — WOULD satisfy them.

Regardless, one thing I’ve been interested in is organizing and lobbying by mission-based coffee roasters. Starbucks, due to its sheer size, makes up about 21% of all fair trade certified coffee that comes in the US right now, despite its minimal commitment to fair trade. However, I’m guessing that the mission-based companies, if they banded together, could have just as big a cache as Starbucks, even strictly in terms of purchasing volume (and correspondingly, certification fees for TFUSA).

Why this banding together hasn’t happened yet is a little beyond me — When I’m feeling positive, I think it’s cuz the mission based companies thought TFUSA would work harder to address their concerns so a more confrontational move wouldn’t be necessary. When I’m pessimistic, I think the mission-based companies were too busy quibbling with each other to encourage any kind of collaborative work.

I really hope to see some more collective and collaborative action come out of the meetings that take place at the SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) conference in Charlotte early April. I’ll be writing up something about the negotiations for Just Things — All perspectives you’d like me to consider in writing the piece are encouraged and welcome.

[The whole Certification Challenges series is here.]

Tags: fairtrade, coffee, transfair, scaa

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Stopped by my mom’s place to pick up the mail — She’s travelling out of the country right now — to find 4-days of not 1, not 2, but 3 different newspapers piled on her doorstep. The LA Times, the OC Register, and the Korea Times.

Not so smart, cuz a huge pile of newspaper screams to would-be-thieves that the owner’s outta town. I’ll put all deliveries on hold tomorrow, but while I was there, I found another problem in the kitchen — Folgers coffee.

You’d think green LA girl would’ve broken her mom of this habit by now. Not only does the Folgers stuff perpetuate the coffee crisis, but it also tastes yucky.

Weirdly, this Folgers habit isn’t just tied to its low price — my mom pretty consistently buys Folgers, even when there’s a cheaper, Ralph’s brand coffee right next to it.

So why doesn’t she get fair trade coffee? The main reason — Packaging. No, I don’t mean that my mom’s only into the red Folger’s look — but, after like a half-century of coffee drinking, she’s used to getting coffee in an “air-tight” tin, pre-ground.

Now, I’m all for yummy coffee. I buy wholebean fair trade organic coffee, usually Ethiopian. But I’m not gonna convince my mom to do likewise anytime soon. My mom doesn’t even have a coffee grinder — and I doubt she’d use one if I got her one, even if I could demonstrate coffee tasted better freshly ground. It’s just too much trouble in the morning.

In fact, it’s too much trouble for her to even get it ground in-store. She likes to just pick a can of off the shelf and put a spoonful into her coffee maker every morning.

Which is why I was glad to find Cafe Altura’s Fair Trade Classic Roast at Co-opportunity. It’s fair trade. It’s organic. It’s just $7.99 for 12 oz. And, most importantly for my mama, it comes pre-ground, in a can.

My mom lives all the way in Anaheim, so Co-opportunity in Santa Monica won’t become her usual grocery store anytime soon. But at least now I can buy a fair trade coffee for my mom that she can appreciate :)

Tags: fairtrade, coffee, organic

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