If you are a complete waste of a labor monkey unless your day starts with a cup of coffee, you aren’t alone. We consume an estimated 500 billion cups of the stuff world-wide every year.
The trouble is, coffee is one of those labor-intensive commodities because the bright-red cherries that will later be roasted and slapped with a high-end label and price tag, are usually picked by hand — the hand of men, women and unfortunately children — in exchange for only a few dollars a day.
Starting you day with a cup-o-joe
Let’s play fair
To attenuate the destitution coffee farmers and coffee laborers face, the concept of “Fair Trade” coffee is born.
According to the non-profit advocate group TransFair USA:
Fair Trade Certification empowers farmers and farm workers to lift themselves out of poverty by investing in their farms and communities, protecting the environment, and developing the business skills necessary to compete in the global marketplace.
800-pound gorilla
Starbucks (SBUX) announced this morning it will double its purchase of Fair Trade Certified™ coffee starting in 2009, raising the retail giant to the sole position of largest purchaser of Fair Trade Certified™ coffee on the planet.
The 2009 goal, if achieved, will amount to 40-million pounds of beans.
$4 latte
If you are looking for more while you sip on your $4 latte while trying to wake up to the day and thank your lucky stars you are on the consumer-end of that expensive cup vs. in the field carrying a bag of beans that weighs as much as you do for a few dollars a day:
