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Coffee is the second largest agricultural crop in the world, after cotton. It is also the third most heavily sprayed crop in the world; cotton and tobacco are first and second. If you drink conventional, non-organic coffee, you are likely consuming a slew of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. And these chemicals are not only terrible for your health, but they are also harmful to the fields, streams, animals, birds and people who live where the beans are grown. Coffee can be even more destructive than other crops because it is often grown at high elevations where chemical effects are amplified.

Never fear coffee drinkers! Earth-friendly options are here and more plentiful than ever. Here’s how to make sure your java is green:

• Go Organic: Organic coffee beans are grown without the use of those damaging and dangerous chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Grown with consideration for the surrounding ecosystem, organic coffee farms offer shade cover and habitat to hundreds of species, especially migratory song birds. The birds, in turn, do their part by acting as a natural, biological defense against many of the bugs and pests that may cause damage to a coffee crop. So you get chemical free coffee and the birds get a chemical free home. It’s win-win for everyone!

• Be Fair: Look for the Fair Trade label on your coffee beans to ensure that the farmers who brought you those beans were paid a fair price. Coffee that carries the Fair Trade logo has been grown by farmers who are part of a community cooperative that promotes quality farming practices and reinvestment in the local area.

• Reuse It: Whether you’re at home, at work, or on the go…don’t be a tosser. Fill up a reusable mug with your eco-friendly brew and reduce the amount of paper and styrofoam that’s sent to the landfill!

Java Facts To Go

• 3/4 of the world’s coffee is grown conventionally, using chemicals such as benoyml, chlordane, cabrflurane, DDT, endulfan, paraquat,and zineb that have been banned in the U.S. for years.
• 1 pound of coffee = 4000 hand-picked beans (the beans from one coffee tree).
• The average coffee drinker will consumer the beans of 18 coffee trees each year.

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