Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day, Earthlings!

This is the 46th year of celebrating Earth Day. 46 years ago people started to realize how our way of living was harming our environment. This was at a time when industry chugged away polluting our skies, rivers, lakes, and oceans without consequence. Leaded gas was pumped into cars. Oil spills were common and a river even caught fire! But it was also a time when young people were taking to the streets to protest the wrong they saw in their country and the world. There was an incredible energy put out by the youth for the Anti-War Movement and the Civil Rights Movement. Earth Day founder, Gaylord Nelson, then a democratic U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, saw this energy and used it to spread awareness of the environmental issues of the time.

The similarities of that time and now are frightening. But again, people are taking to the streets to protest war, fight for civil rights and environmental justice. The environmental movement got us the Clean Water Act, and the Clean Air Act. That was great but so much more needs to be done. Now climate change is a huge threat to our planet and us. It is the most pressing issue of our time and we all need to do our part. Here are some things we can do today and always:

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

When you throw your trash "away", it does not disappear. It goes to a landfill where it decomposes sending methane, carbon dioxide and toxins into our air, soil and water. Reducing waste is the best way to fight this. Using reusable bags, travel mugs, and water bottles cuts out plastic and paper waste that would sit in a landfill. Recycling that waste is the next best option. Find out what you can and can't recycle in NY. 

Compost

Composting is a form of recycling but for food scraps and plant waste. It's a biological process in which natural microorganisms break down organic matter. Check out our blog about composting! If you don't have space for a composter, there are locations around the city where you can take your organic waste. Check out GrowNYC to see where you can bring your compost waste.

Buy Local & Eat Seasonally

Buying locally grown food cuts down on carbon emissions needed to transport produce. Instead of strawberries in the winter, when they'd have to be shipped in from another part of the world, eat local strawberries when they are in season. They taste better when they're fresh and they have more nutritional value when eaten closer to the date they were picked. Living in NY, we have an endless amount of farmers markets throughout the city and many stores that partner with local farms. Many think that organic local produce is unaffordable, so many markets have worked with the city to be able to accept EBT/food stamps. Check out this map to find the closest market to you and what days they're open. 

Myrtle Avenue

Join a Community Garden

Many of us in the city don't have space for our own gardens. So many have come together as a community to make our neighborhoods and environment better. There are community gardens in almost every neighborhood. Community gardens are not only a place to grow food and plants but also a place to meet your neighbors and a platform for the community to share ideas for bettering our surroundings. Ever wanted to have a neighborhood cleanup? A community garden would be full of people interested in helping in that type of thing. Anyone can join, just reach out. Find the your closest garden here. 

Join an Environmental Group

Earth day is everyday.. because we live here. It needs our help more than just one day a year. If you want to get more involved find a group near you that is doing good things, and join! Here's a list to get you started. 

Hundreds Of Thousands Turn Out For People's Climate March In New York City

Demand Change in Environmental Policy

We all can do our own little part do help but there needs to be big changes made from the top. Our leaders need to feel pressure from the people that elect them. EPA regulations need to be strong and be enforced. Our energy sources need to become renewable and we need to get off of fossil fuels. We can't keep allowing corporations to ruin our environment for short term gains. In the long term, we will all lose. So VOTE! Sign petitions. Get out in the street and protest. Demand that changes be made. Do it for the kids. 

Today is Car Free Day NYC!

And hey, have fun! Yes, climate change is serious but helping the environment doesn't have to be. Go plant a tree with some friends! Go have fun with other New Yorkers and get talking about how we can all help! You can check out some Earth Day events around New York here.  

How Does Your Coffee Grow?

We all love coffee, but do you ever stop to think about where it came from? Do you know how it’s made? Do you know what the coffee plant looks like? Most of us take this delicious treat for granted. There is a large disconnect in our culture between what we consume and where it comes from. I was lucky enough to visit a small coffee farm in Costa Rica in 2012 and learn about the entire process. Below are my photos from that experience.

First, lets start with a little history. It is said that the coffee plant was first discovered by a goat herdsman named Kaldi. He noticed that his goats became excited and full of energy after eating the red berries of the coffee bush. Kaldi tried the berries himself and had a similar reaction from the caffeine in the fruit. The discovery was passed on to monks who then used it to stay awake and alert at night.

Peoples of the Arabian peninsula were the first to cultivate and trade coffee in the fifteenth century. They even had coffee houses where people gathered for social activities. Coffee made its way to Europe by the seventeenth century and to New Amsterdam, now New York, by the mid 1600’s. Tea was still more widely consumed until taxes on it caused the revolt by the Boston Tea Party. Since then, coffee has been our drink of choice. Now, New York is said to consume three times the national average.

Europeans began growing coffee on whomever’s land they could. In some cases, whole industries were started from transporting just one plant. The Dutch began on the island of Java (now Indonesia), then the French in the Caribbean, the Spanish in Central America and the Portuguese in Brasil.  

Now, according to the National Coffee Association, 54% of Americans over 18 drink coffee daily. In 2013 in New York City alone, there were at least 1770 coffee shops. We love our coffee.

Coffee is a huge industry now and like with most mass produced crops, growers are overworked and underpaid. The course I took in Costa Rica was through Community Agroecology Network, which works with small scale farmers to teach them sustainable growing practices and in turn connects them with consumers in the States. They call it  the Alternative Trade Model, which guarantees farmers get higher prices than they would through “Fair Trade”.

Photo by Dana

The coffee plant is a shrub. The coffee bean is the seed of the coffee berry.

Photo by Dana

The coffee fields

Photo by Dana

This is farmer Don Roberto explaining the process of harvesting and processing the coffee. When the berries turn red they are ripe and ready to pick. Don Roberto and his crew wear these baskets attached around their wastes and go into the fields and fill them with the ripe berries. 

Photo by Dana

Found one!

Hand by Dana

The coffee berry is full of antioxidants and is said to have many health benefits. 

Photo by Dana

After the berries are harvested they are set out to dry in the sun. They have to be raked through and turned to prevent them from spoiling. 

Photo by Dana

Once dried, Don Roberto hulls the berries.  

Photo by Dana

This process removes the outer shell around the bean.

Photo by Dana

Roasting the shelled coffee beans!

Photo by Dana

And viola! Coffee. 

Now you know the labor intensive process of what makes your cup of coffee possible. Next time you indulge, consider where your coffee is coming from and how was grown. Try to support small-scale farmers, like Don Roberto, when you can! 

Sources:

The Caffeinated History of Coffee- http://www.pbs.org/food/the-history-kitchen/history-coffee/

Coffee Consumption: London vs New York- https://www.finedininglovers.com/blog/food-drinks/coffee-consumption-london-new-york/
Coffee by The Numbers- http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/multimedia-article/facts/
The History of Coffee- http://www.ncausa.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=68