We’ve previously reporting on the potentially devastating effects climate change may have on coffee production. As temperatures rise, land that was once arable for coffee production no longer will be, and there is even speculation that wild coffee will be extinct by 2080.
This is leading to coffee roasters rethinking their processes and implementing more environmentally friendly measures to reduce their impact on climate change. A new list put together by Civil Eats highlights 10 of these roasters, touting them as among “the most environmentally friendly coffee businesses in the United States,” and it includes some rather well-known names in the specialty coffee world.
Including the likes of Counter Culture, Colectivo, Equator, Kickapoo, Portland Roasting Coffee, and even Peet’s, the list enumerates the steps each roaster is taking to reduce their carbon footprint. Colectivo, for instance, is powered completely by renewable energy, with “all five cafes running on green energy [since] 2004.” Kickapoo has 100% of its electrical power coming from an 80-panel solar grid on its roasting premises. Portland Roasting Coffee is completely carbon neutral and has taken some pretty progressive steps in energy efficiency (that you can hear more about in our Coffee Sprudgecast with Portland Roasting’s Coffee Director Nathanael May).
Decreasing impact on climate change remains a big issue for coffee folks, not only because its effects on us but also our effects on it. As Hanna Neuschwander of World Coffee Research tells Civil Eats, “coffee drinkers generate the most CO2, and coffee farmers pay the highest price for it.” It’s because of this impact that the steps these roasters are taking are so important. They are highlighting a variety of approaches others can take to go from being part of the problem to being part of the solution.
Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network.
*top image via Civil Eats
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