Like many Americans, I am an avid coffee lover. My love for coffee is a part of my heritage, that is, from the German side. The German part of my family, both my grandmothers are German, are mad about coffee, and slurp it down, cup after cup, all day. My love for coffee came later, beginning two years ago. I discovered gourmet coffee, and the Arabica beans it comes from. No more crap from the can. Bye, bye went the several cups of tea I would consume.

Months ago it came to my attention that coffee farmers are not always paid a fair price for their crop. However, there are coffee companies, although they are no where near as large as whorebucks (oops, I meant Starbucks), that are deemed fair trade companies by the Fair Trade Federation. The FTF is an association of fair trade sellers, retailers, and producers who pay fair prices to farmers and wages workers in countries from economically disadvantaged countries. In other words, the partners in the FTF do not 'rape' coffee growers and workers.

Why is this important, important enough for me to write about it? When coffee growers are not paid a fair price for their coffee crop, they cannot, in turn, pay a f

air wage to their workers. The cycle of poverty continues, spurred on by the buyers from wealthy Western countries. Much has been written and touted about the global world we live in. If part of the world suffers, it stands to reason that the rest of the world also suffers. The suffering may not be as wide-spread, virulent, or often as that in economically disadvantaged countries, but that could change in time unless the Western world, with America leading the way as the world's cop (oops again, I meant superpower).

Even that aforementioned mega coffee company has a fair trade coffee, as does Gevalia. When corporations start to slowly catch on, it is imperative that consumers demand complete and total justice for farmers and workers worldwide. Justice, after all, can begin with a cup of joe.

Links to fair trade coffee companies: www.cafecampesino.com www.kalanicoffee.com www.puravida.com www.equalexchange.com

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