From shade_grown_coffee@yahoo.com Sat Jan 3 21:53:28 1998 Date: Sat, 3 Jan 1998 12:29:17 -0800 (PST) From: CANICULEBIRDS To: sanet-mg@shasta.ces.ncsu.edu Subject: Coffee, the environment, and sustainable agriculture Dear all- Coffee is the world's second largest commodity, after petroleum. Technified coffee is starting to cause destruction to the natural environment similar to the destruction caused by the advent of a petroleum civilization. Migratory and resident songbird habitat is declining due to the destruction of rainforests and of shade grown coffee farms in Central and South America, by technified agribiz coffee plantations. Shade grown coffee farms are eco-sustainable. The connection between production of technified coffee and environmental damage is now firmly established. One expert has noted that "The coffee/bird connection is about songbirds--warblers,orioles,tanagers, flycatchers, thrushes, vireos and their forest- dependent cohorts. Some are clearly in decline. Others seem to be holding on. But no one doubts that unless current land-use trends are modified, the future of many of these songsters will be bleak." Moreover, Increased nitrogen fertilizer applications have gone hand and hand with the widespread removal of shade cover from Central American coffee plantations. In high concentrations, nitrates can cause infant methemoglobinemia ("blue-baby syndrome") a potentially fatal condition that impedes oxygen transport in infants' bloodstreams. Other human health concerns surrounding nitrate contamination of groundwater include suspected links between nitrates and certain cancers, birth defects, hypertension, and developmental problems in children. One of the main contributors to the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers in Latin America is US AID, which has provided approximately $80 million to abet the efforts. Chemicals, which are banned in the United States, are sold by the tons, to Latin American producers for sun-grown coffee crops. Unlike petroleum, where the consumer has few alternatives to petroleum products, a coffee consumer can boycott agribiz coffee, or switch to eco-sustainable alternatives, like shade grown coffee. A CANICULE e-zine on bird habitat,rainforests, and shade grown coffee will be published on the Internet in mid-January, 1998. We'll be sure and let you know the URL. Alfred & Geri Webre CANICULE == CANICULE is an ezine featuring resources and research on rainforests, bird habitat, and shade grown coffee. CANICULE 800-404-1826 (Canada/US) 20 Bay Street, Suite 1205 canicule@yahoo.com Toronto, Ontario M5J 2N8 CANADA _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with "unsubscribe sanet-mg". To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command "subscribe sanet-mg-digest".