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作者：艾許莉•帕金森 (西北樹蔭咖啡運動組織)
艾許莉•帕金森是西雅圖奧杜邦學會下西北樹蔭咖啡運動組織的召集人，該組織的目標為教育咖啡業者及消費者樹蔭咖啡的優點。
2002年1月7日，星期一
西雅圖，華盛頓州 ---- 相信我，站在西雅圖市區任一處街角然後轉一圈，你會看到不只四家咖啡店，其中兩家大概會是星巴客。或許西雅圖惡名昭彰的壞天氣促成了嗑咖啡的文化，但這現象不獨獨發生在西北部。從大杯的雙份無咖啡因豆奶拿鐵到桑卡即溶包，美國人平均一天喝掉超過四億杯的咖啡，約為全球三分之一消費量。我們對咖啡的狂愛使得咖啡成為世界上行銷最廣的商品，僅次於石油。
我在咖啡樹叢間。照片版權歸屬：比爾布萊利，西雅圖奧杜邦學會
但是，即使咖啡文化持續發燒，大多數美國人沒有機會親眼看到一棵咖啡樹，因為咖啡的種植生產都集中在氣候溫暖的開發中國家。我們所熟悉的是深褐色、已經烘焙好的咖啡豆，而不是在中南美、越南、非洲那些未去皮的青色豆，或者攀附在腰般高的灌木上的紅色果實。
美國消費者代表的是一連串生產線的最末端，從農民、進口商、烘焙者、配銷商，全球約有2,000萬人靠咖啡維生。廣告或許會把咖啡形容成「一天醒來最美好的部分」，不過它在半個世界之遠的地方可是有著重大的社會環境意涵。身為西北樹蔭咖啡運動組織的召集人，我的工作是藉著讓大家認識這環環相扣的群鏈關係，來了解這些重要的意涵，其中包含的種種活動不僅將人與咖啡聯繫起來，就連早晨喝咖啡時窗邊輕唱的鳥兒也息息相關。
大部分的西北太平洋新熱帶鳥類（以及60%至80%的美東及加拿大森林鳥類），會在拉丁美洲的中高林（mid-elevation forests）過冬。許多這樣的樹林被砍伐並化為永久農地，而現代化、高科技的咖啡種植正加速了此過程。在傳統的咖啡小農場裡，農人沿著咖啡種植果樹或其他次要作物，咖啡就在這些樹蔭林的遮蔽下生長。樹蔭林的花朵和果實往往吸引許多雜食動物，如麥基斐鶯（Macgillvray's Warbler）、果樹金鶯（Orchard Oriole），提供牠們食物及庇護以躲避天敵。研究者發現，樹蔭咖啡種植場擁有高度的生物多樣性，包括鳥類、蝙蝠、蝴蝶、螞蟻、兩棲類、蘭花等，生意盎然。
在許多國際發展組織，包括美國國際發展機構（USAID），的指導下，這種模式在70年代農人「捨樹蔭林就陽光」之後發生變化。咖啡產量因日光種植而顯著提昇，但是要付出代價的：農藥的需要量提高，尤其是氮肥；土壤更由於單種栽培加速流失，進一步造成水污染。採用日光種植不僅破壞了鳥類的棲息地，同時也減少了那些生活完全維繫在國際咖啡價格上的農人的選擇。小型農場的種植者靠著樹蔭咖啡的次要收成，如水果、木材，來度過日益艱難的市場景況。近來，情勢已變得無可忍受，國際咖啡價由於越南等其他國家低等咖啡量產增加而跌入空前谷底，你花12元美金買到1磅重的咖啡豆，咖啡農當初可能只以美金50分甚至更低的價格售出。（編按：美國國際發展機構是一個獨立運作的聯邦政府機構，它根據美國的經濟與政治利益，進行國際國際發展協主與人道援助。http://www.usaid.gov）
這種價格無法讓小農收支平衡，因此傳統的樹蔭咖啡農被迫捨棄或者出售他們的農場，因此更多的地方變成日光種植場。聯合國世界糧食組織估計，約有15萬人在最近的咖啡危機中淪為難民。諷刺的轉變是，哥倫比亞的一些咖啡農，因而改種一種更有價值但很少被算入國際市場的作物：古柯，也就是古柯鹼的主要成分。
西北樹蔭咖啡運動組織，如同許多其他美國團體，試圖影響咖啡飲用者選用以「可持續」方法所栽培的咖啡。要你們在還不甚了解狀況時，就要求使用公平交易的、有機的、樹蔭栽種的咖啡似乎過於強人所難，這也是我們致力於教育業者及消費者的原因之一。然而，這仍是場艱苦的奮鬥。我們的努力集中在特選咖啡市場「那些高品味訴求的店家，如星巴客，販售的咖啡豆」，但那個市場只不過是總咖啡消費量的15%。
當我喝一杯貨真價實的樹蔭咖啡時，其中包含的數字是驚人的：
在咖啡把我「點燃發動」了以後（實在地或者比喻地說），我接了電話，動身工作。
【文章連載】
■樹蔭咖啡日記 (一) (二) (三)
(四) (五)
全文與圖片詳見: http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/
parkinson010702.asp
版權歸屬 Earth Day Network，環境資訊協會(李珮華 譯，徐怡德 審校)
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Ashley Parkinson is coordinator of Seattle Audubon Society's Northwest Shade Coffee
Campaign, which works to educate retailers and consumers about the benefits of shade-grown coffee.
Monday, 07 Jan 2002
SEATTLE, Wash. ---- Trust me, if you stand on any street corner in downtown Seattle and turn in a circle, you'll see no less than four coffee shops -- and two of them will probably be Starbucks. Although the notoriously bad Seattle weather could contribute to a culture of caffeine addicts, the phenomenon is hardly unique to the Northwest. From tall double decaf soy lattes to instant Sanka, Americans drink more than 400 million cups of joe per day, or one-third of global consumption. Our predilection makes coffee the second most widely traded commodity on the world market after oil.
Me in the coffee trees.Photo: Bill Bradlee, Seattle Audubon Society.
Yet despite our booming coffee culture, most Americans will never see a coffee tree, because production is concentrated in the warm climates of the developing world. We are familiar with the dark brown, already-roasted beans, not the unhusked green beans or the red berries clinging to waist-high bushes in Central and South America, Vietnam, and Africa.
American consumers mark the end of a long chain of farmers, importers, roasters, and distributors -- 20 million worldwide -- that make a living from coffee. Advertising departments might bill it as "the best part of waking up," but the coffee you drink has serious social and environmental implications half a world away. My job as coordinator of the Northwest Shade Coffee Campaign is to get people to understand those implications by familiarizing them with the lengthy chain of events connecting people to coffee, and connecting coffee to the birds that sing outside your window while you drink your morning cup.
The majority of neotropical birds in the Pacific Northwest (and 60 to 80 percent of the birds in eastern U.S. forests and Canada) winter in the mid-elevation forests of Latin America. Many of these forests have been cleared and converted to permanent cropland, and modern, high-tech coffee production is hastening that process. Traditionally, coffee is planted on small farms under the forest canopy, where farmers often grow fruit trees or other supplementary crops alongside the coffee bushes. The flowers and fruits of the shade trees attract omnivorous species like MacGillvray's Warbler and Orchard Orioles by providing food and protection from predators. Researchers have found a surprising biodiversity of birds, bats, butterflies, ants, amphibians, and orchids in shade coffee plantations.
Under the guidance of international development agencies, including USAID, this pattern began to change in the 1970s, as farmers converted their shade coffee crops to full sun. Coffee yields increase substantially on sun plantations, but the increase comes at a price: The plants need far more chemical inputs -- particularly nitrogen fertilizers -- and the monocultures increase soil erosion and water pollution. Converting to full sun coffee farming not only destroys habitat for birds, but also reduces options for farmers who are completely dependent on the international price of coffee. Small farmers rely on secondary crops from shade coffee plantations like fruit and wood to help them survive increasingly harsh market conditions. Lately, those conditions have become all but unbearable, as world coffee prices have fallen to all-time lows because of increased production of low-grade beans in Vietnam and other countries. You may be paying $12 for a pound of beans, but the farmers are getting around 50 cents or less for selling the same quantity.
At these prices, small family farms can't break even. As a result, traditional shade coffee farmers are forced to abandon or sell their farms and more land is being converted to sun plantations. The U.N. World Food Program estimates that 150,000 people have become refugees because of the recent coffee crisis. In an ironic twist, some coffee farmers in Columbia are switching their crops to a different, more valuable commodity (although one that is rarely counted on world markets): coca, the key ingredient in cocaine.
The Northwest Shade Coffee Campaign is one of several organizations in the U.S. trying to influence coffee drinkers to choose sustainably grown coffee. Fair trade, shade-grown, organic coffee is quite a mouthful to ask for when you're barely awake, which is one of the reasons our campaign focuses on educating retailers as well as consumers. Still, it's an uphill fight. We concentrate our efforts on the specialty coffee market (those beans sold at high-end stores like Starbucks), but that market represents only about 15 per cent of total coffee consumption.
As I drink my own cup of certified shade-grown coffee, the numbers seem overwhelming:20 million people employed in the coffee trade ;46 cents per pound on the world market ;Half as many birds migrating to and from North America than in the 1960s;90 percent fewer bird species found on sun coffee farms than on shade farms.
Fired up both literally and figuratively by coffee, I pick up the phone and get to work.
http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/
parkinson010702.asp
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