Climate Costs

Climate Costs: Coffee

Posted by Krista White
September 18, 2007

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I’m happy to introduce a new series of posts aimed at revealing the actual environmental costs of some of the products we use every day, starting with coffee, just because it’s Monday!

If you’re like me, you need a cup (or two) of coffee before the engines fire up in the morning. And, if you’re like me you’re always amazed at how empty your pockets are after a week of buying the coffee. But have you ever thought about the actual cost of that cup?

Coffee is the world’s second most traded commodity after petrolium. That’s 2.5 billion pounds every year. Among the problems associated with coffee production are: land use for production, deforestation to gain additional land, and mistreatment of coffee plantation workers. Not to mention transporting it from the tropical regions it grows in to North America where nearly half of it is consumed, and serving it in disposable cups.