For those who think an individual can’t make a difference — Think again. Groundwork Coffee is gonna get fair trade certification for one of their coffee blends! Read the informative and encouraging post on Groundwork’s newly-redesigned homepage. (Note to readers: The Groundwork site, as of yet, is not Firefox friendly. Dig out your MS Explorer from your trash bin.)

For those new(er) to green LA girl, Groundwork is an LA-based, mostly-organic coffee company. I had a long chat with Ric, Groundwork’s COO, not too long ago. The result: Groundwork’s Rwanda Karaba blend is on its way to getting certified.

Of course, Groundwork’s never really been part of the coffee crisis problem. Ric emailed me today to let me know that Groundwork’s year-to-date average price per pound for green coffee purchases is above the fair trade minimum price for organic. This means farmers are getting more than $1.41 for their coffee beans — way higher than Starbucks’ $1.20 average per pound price for their coffees.

You might ask: If I already know that Groundwork does good, why do I care so much about the sticker?

To me, the sticker is a clear, tangible symbol of a company’s recognition that the choices of individual consumers matter. The reason for the sticker: So you and I can tell at a glance that a company cares about fair trade issues. By putting the money and effort into getting stickered, a coffee company is inviting you and I to put our money where our social passions are. The sticker is a testament to the fact that YOUR INDIVIDUAL DECISION does make a difference, does make a statement as to the kind of world you want to live in.

And combined together, we can make some serious changes.

Of course, TransFair USA, which provides the fair trade certification, hasn’t been helping matters at Groundwork. Ric contacted TransFair over 2 weeks ago — and has yet to get any adequate response from the nonprofit to get the certification process rolling.

Which is why neither I nor Ric have any firm dates as to when the Rwanda Karaba blend will actually get the damn sticker. At this point, I wanna take TransFair by the shoulders and shake the nonprofit, yelling, “Help me — help you,” Jerry Maguire-style.

Even Thom, the owner of all-fair-trade-certified Monkey & Son, openly admits TransFair’s got some issues. “It IS a bureaucracy,” he says, “though it’s been getting better.”

I’ll be keeping tabs on TransFair too.

Filed in: california coffee environment fairtrade organic losangeles groundwork starbucks transfair

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