starbucks
About a month ago I was volunteering in Watsonville at a legal aid agency while I was looking for a job. Watsonville is the kind of town that makes you feel like you are out of the country. Old Latino men with big cowboy hates sauntered down the main street, the street smelled like mexican food and of course everyone spoke spanish. It is a wonderful place to be. In need of a break, and tired, I decided to get some coffee. The only coffee shop in the area was of course a starbucks….but I went in anyway. I decided it was like a carbon credit situation, my volunteering at the legal aid canceled out my purchasing coffee from a major chain store that probably put all the other local coffee shops out of business. With cup in hand, I walked back to my little agency and a woman came up to me, gave me a mean look and said, “I’ve been known to hit people with a starbucks cup.” Not liking the idea of getting hit, I quickly walked away…still holding the cup. I had that feeling you get when you’re caught by your parents coming home late….and unfortunately, that was a feeling I was quite familiar with as a teenager. Needless to say, the coffee did not taste too good after that. Now my guilt has increased since I heard on NPR today that Starbucks is fighting Ethiopia’s attempts to trademark their coffee to help the farmers who grow it make (more) fair wages…probably still not good wages in their economy. Starbucks is fighting fair trade wages in a country that needs any help it can get.
The bottom line - I should really stop drinking coffee. However, what does that leave me with…tea? I’m sure there is a lot of fair trade tea out there (ha ha). Then there’s the bottled water industry (nope), the milk industry (nope), orange juice (migrant workers…nope).
No more liquids is clearly the only solution.
- N.
