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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8日，星期二
美國，華盛頓州，西雅圖----放了兩週的假回來，讓我感到特別忙碌，工作行程表立刻就排滿了。為了推廣樹蔭咖啡種植法，過去幾個月來，西雅圖奧杜邦學會與另外六個由同基金會提供資金的組織一直保持密切聯繫。會見運動成員、掌握咖啡貿易詳情所花的時間，比我料想的還要多。
不過幸好，我還有很多時間跟一般大眾討論鳥類及咖啡的事，包括大學生、其他保育人士、超市的顧客等。我用幻燈片試著解釋，近來自己在拉丁美洲所親見咖啡對環境的影響。
去年七月，我花了一個月的時間，到尼加拉瓜和哥斯大黎加參訪樹蔭咖啡園，和農人談天，拍了一些照片。從飛機上往下看，中美洲翠綠的山巒十分壯觀，而一旦降落尼加拉瓜，我卻發現在這個西半球赤貧國家裡人民的生活，鬱悶壓迫，如同充斥首都馬拿瓜悶熱難耐的濕氣。三年前米契颶風帶來豪雨，使這個窮困的國家雪上加霜，造成數千人喪生。雨水沖走大量表土，致使小農戶生活更加貧窮；加上現今全球咖啡價格跌落，更使全國經濟每下愈況。一位計程車司機說，國內情況太糟，人民都湧入美國，因為種咖啡已經不能維持生計；也就是說，尼加拉瓜人民寧可冒險死在沙漠裡（編按1），也不願意留在尼加拉瓜。
尼加拉瓜山區氣候較為涼爽，這裡農民的情形也讓人感到較為樂觀。我首先抵達賽瓦妮葛拉莊園，這是個收益穩定的觀光樹蔭咖啡園，也有種其他的農作物。「賽瓦妮葛拉」意為「黑森林」，是來此墾殖的德國移民後裔所創立，這些德國移民在一百年前將咖啡培育技術引進尼加拉瓜。我參觀咖啡園時，能聽到吼猴在原始林中尖聲呼嘯，看見巨嘴鳥在欄杆上棲息。
賽瓦妮葛拉莊園將咖啡種植在改良的樹蔭棚下，能使農作物隨時照射到足夠的陽光。這個步驟需花費許多人力，但能生產全國品質最好的咖啡豆。莊園仿照自然生態體系運作形式，盡量減少污染，用咖啡果果肉自行製造肥料，把腐物產生的沼氣當作烹飪燃料，幾乎完全不需使用木柴。
然而道路另一邊的無樹蔭咖啡園，和賽瓦妮葛拉莊園的種植方式相較，產生極大的對比。這裡的農民覺得賽瓦妮葛拉莊園的人是瘋子，他們認為如果完全照射到陽光，每英畝可多長三倍數量的咖啡樹。但當我蹲下仔細觀察時，發現土壤乾燥，不如賽瓦妮葛拉有濕潤的堆肥。這裡幾乎看不到鳥蹤；由於沒有完整的生態體系，常常引發蟲害。這個咖啡園經營困難，如果不用化學肥料及殺蟲劑，農作物就會枯死；而在中美洲，使用殺蟲劑的法令不如美國週全，農民健康也較不受重視。直到1990年，哥斯大黎加還允許農民使用殘留期久的克氯丹（編按2），這種殺蟲劑在美國早已禁用。
無樹蔭咖啡園乾燥的土壤。比爾．布雷利攝（西雅圖奧杜邦學會成員）
無樹蔭咖啡園農民不了解，為何要放棄讓咖啡樹接受完全日曬所帶來的收益。但他們不知道這種做法無異自掘墳墓。依靠化肥及殺蟲劑，只會讓自己無法撐過咖啡價格大跌的趨勢。
當我回到美國，用幻燈片向民眾敘述旅途所見，民眾才有了初步的概念，而在幻燈片簡報之後，他們似乎可見杯中的咖啡是由農民親手摘下的一粒粒的咖啡豆泡成的，而他們近一步的是了解，尼加拉瓜等開發中國家的未來，取決於自己選擇何種咖啡。
編按1：很多中美洲和墨西哥非法移民，透過希望前往美國尋求新的生存機會。他們長途跋涉，經過美、墨邊境相連的大片沙漠地帶，在乾燥高熱的沙漠環境裡摸索找出路。很多人仍熬不過惡劣的沙漠環境，喪生在當地，但即使如此，這些移民在其國內糟糕的經濟與社會環境下難以生活，因此仍不斷湧向美、加兩國。相關新聞事件參考：
1.天堂地獄隔一線 美墨邊境添冤魂 http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2001/
new/may/29/today-int5.htm
2.美與多國合作 「街口行動」大捕偷渡移民
http://be1.udnnews.com.tw/2001/6
/29/NEWS/INTERNATIONAL/AMERICA
-TOPIC/348232.shtml
3.「美」夢「墨」強求 非法移民哀歌 http://61.222.52.195/news/2001/06/11/
2001-0611m18.html
4.墨西哥非法移民夢斷加拿大 http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/
news.xinhuanet.com/news/2001-12/
29/content_217050.htm
編按2：chlordane克氯丹，有機氯化物，是持久性有機污染物，屬於「環境荷爾蒙」之列。聯合國環境規劃署決定清除環境中所有POPs,並列出十二種極需立即處理的劇毒POPs。這"十二毒物"都含有機氯，包括戴奧辛，多氯連苯等等，其中大部分是殺蟲劑。在台灣，環保署也已將克氯丹列管為毒性化學物質。
【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/
parkinson010802.asp
版權歸屬 Earth Day Network，環境資訊協會(蔡依姈 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.
Tuesday, 08 Jan 2002
SEATTLE, Wash.---- It seems like two weeks of holiday vacation is prompting a backlash; my schedule book has filled up quickly. Seattle Audubon is one of seven organizations funded by the same foundation to promote shade-grown coffee, and in the last few months, the various groups have been keeping in close contact. Meeting with campaign partners and keeping up on the minutia of the coffee trade takes more time than I often care to admit.
Fortunately, I also spend a lot of time talking to the public -- college students, other activists, supermarket shoppers -- about songbirds and coffee. In my slide presentations, I try to explain the impact coffee has on the environment in Latin America, a process I recently got to witness firsthand.
Last July, I spent a month in Nicaragua and Costa Rica visiting shade coffee farms, talking to farmers, and taking pictures. Flying in, the airplane-eye view of the deep green mountains of Central America was incredible. Once on the ground in Nicaragua, however, the reality of life in one of the poorest nations in the Western hemisphere was as oppressive as the blanket of humidity that hangs over the capitol city of Managua. Three years ago, Hurricane Mitch dumped a couple of feet of rain on the already-struggling country, killing thousands, washing away tons of topsoil, and further impoverishing small farmers. Now the recent drop in world coffee prices has made the economic situation even worse. Things have gotten so bad, a taxi driver told me, that people were fleeing to the U.S. because they could no longer make a living farming. In other words, people would rather risk dying in the desert than stay in Nicaragua.
Up in the mountains of Nicaragua, the temperature cooled off and it was easier to imagine a more promising future for the nation's farmers. One of my first stops was Selva Negra, a sustainable coffee plantation that produces shade-grown coffee and other agricultural products and welcomes tourists. Meaning "black forest," Selva Negra was established by descendents of the original German settlers who introduced coffee farming to Nicaragua a century ago. Touring the plantation, I could hear the screeching of howler monkeys in the near-pristine forest and see toucans perched on the railings of outbuildings.
At Selva Negra, coffee is grown under a modified shade canopy, meaning that the forest is actively managed to allow enough sunlight for the plants. It's a labor-intensive process, but it produces some of the highest-quality beans in Nicaragua. The entire plantation is designed to mimic natural systems and reduce pollution. Selva Negra produces its own fertilizer from the pulp of the coffee cherry and uses captured methane gas from the decomposition of other wastes to power cooking stoves, nearly eliminating the need for wood as a fuel source.
Down the road, however, a sun plantation demonstrated the stark contrast between the two styles of coffee farming. The farmers there told me the people at Selva Negra were crazy. The number of plants per acre increases nearly three-fold under full sun, they said. But when I reached down, the soil was dry, not at all like the moist compost at Selva Negra. There were virtually no birds. Without the overstory and the fauna that live there, insects are a constant problem. This plantation was hardly sustainable; without fertilizers and pesticides, the plants would die. And in Central America, pesticides are applied with less regulation and less regard for worker safety than in the U.S. As late as 1990, Costa Rica permitted the use of chlordane, a highly persistent insecticide banned in the United States.
Crumbly soil on a sun coffee plantation.Photo: Bill Bradlee, Seattle Audubon Society.
The workers on the sun plantation couldn't understand why anyone would give up the yields made possible by full-sun farming. But they also didn't understand that they'd painted themselves into a corner. Dependent on expensive chemicals, they would have difficulty weathering the steep drop in coffee prices.
Back in the U.S., when I tell people about my trip and show them the slides, they start to get it. After the presentation, they can visualize the worker who picked the 100 beans that went into their cup of coffee. And they can see how their choice of which kind of coffee to drink affects the future of developing countries like Nicaragua.
http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/week/
parkinson010802.asp
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