Claireronner's Blog

Last thing to sip on…

claireronner — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:11:29 +0000

In bed, laying on a comfy mattress in a college dorm room after having my family visit me, I think back on how lucky I am. I’m at a university solely for the purpose of exploring what I want to do with my life, having to worry about money but knowing there is always a way to get the funds I need for educational expenses. There are kids my age who have their own families and are trying to help their farms succeed, pouring hours of manual labor into a work that may or may not render funds sufficient for the survival of the five to ten people in their family. This project started knowing that the coffee trade suffered many of the same injustices as other international problems, but the coffee trade is one of the less represented in the scheme of things. Because there isn’t gang violence or brutal murder associated with it, media coverage is pretty minimal, in my opinion. People aren’t aware of the starving children in South America and Africa who could be saved if we made a worldwide effort to push just wages. Unfortunately, major coffee companies see their margin of profit decline with the proposal of Fair Trade prices- they need to suck it up and realize there are people who need that money more than they do. I certainly am more impassioned to check for Fair Trade labels and donate to organizations that promote the cause of the farmers after all this research, and I hope I can carry out spreading the word about the lives of these hardworking, under-recognized coffee farmers who provide that morning burst of energy to millions of people around the world.

As altruistic as we seem?

claireronner — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:40:51 +0000

Whew, it is getting rather nippy outside! Finally fall is setting in for real this time! Oh wait never mind we are supposed to get 70 degree weather over the weekend. The Midwest has the weirdest and most sporadic climate ever. Tangent for the day.

As I sort through websites and YouTube videos through those who claim to be activists, I stop for a moment and think. What are they actually doing, besides producing media that gets those who view it fired up and ready to change the world starting with whatever the particular issue was that they advocated? At my high school, we had countless speakers come and talk to us about getting involved in our community through participation in food drives, constructing houses, collecting clothes, volunteering at soup kitchens and homeless shelters, etc, as well as national/international groups like Invisible Children that gave presentations so effective our school was in a craze to find out ways we could participate. But in general, how many of us take the time to go put ourselves in an unfamiliar place to do the work that MUST be done? Mind organizations like Fair Trade want the farmers to be independent, but how many of us make an effort to double check that the label is certified? We have to start allotting time out of our busy schedules to give back to a world that has given us so much.

Commercial success

claireronner — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:15:24 +0000

Commercial from back in the day when Starbucks actually had to advertise…haha. Clips like these remind me how much is spent on advertising for so many different things, applied to coffee in my case. MILLIONS of dollars for ad campaigns- mind, I am not going to scorn this because that is a whole other business that gives work to people (and as a journalistic profession, well, you can see my bias!). But the idea that this is ridiculously unfair just won’t leave my dog-gone head. To throw in a Mad Men moment, people like Don Draper who work for advertising agencies are making the big bucks off of packaging an item; technically, they have no responsibility over those who produce what they are presenting. But if people only knew, if more were informed, if the word could get out about how abused these workers are…. maybe something would finally change.

Careful with that temperature

claireronner — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 04:04:45 +0000

Okay, this is kind of cool; a Costa Rican farmer is showing what it takes to successfully grow coffee plants. He shows the beans at all stages of the process, from plant-lings to beans to so on and so forth. The craziest part is, their way of collecting the beans is so rudimentary! The picking is done by hand and the “cherries” are put into rubber or woven baskets, acres and acres of land to cover and scourge for the fruit of the coffee plants. It takes so much time to remove the skin of the beans, dry them, put them in the correct heat to finally be bagged for sale. The temperatures have to be very precise, exactly in the range of particular degrees or else the carefully selected beans will go bad and spoil. That’s a lot of pressure on farmers, think about how much of their crop could be ruined by a mere unseasonal temperature drop… a delicate process indeed.

Wow.

claireronner — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:49:02 +0000

Wow so I just searched YouTube for videos that could possibly cover stuff for the breaking news page (since I’m coming up short… what’s new). If this is the best the Fair Trade campaign can come up with for a PSA, it’s no wonder they haven’t had more success supporting their organization. They are proud of the fact that they aren’t a charity, but if they do not accept some charitable donations they won’t be able to back the funding of a new advertising campaign. Their message is important and strives for the equality of workers, but a two minute schpiel showing white words on a black background with just a guy talking is not going to change the way the system is failing now. Put me in the multimedia lab here in the Ernie Pyle school and I could come up with a better PSA than that… Maybe I should. We’ll see how much time I have- or I’ll make time.

Sipping away stress

claireronner — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:37:18 +0000

We’re all under a lot of stress right now, and I just link how much people rely on coffee to calm them down. Wish it had those same effects on me, I need a big stress reliever. Growing up is hard,

where we are headed (or already are...)

there’s a lot of stuff we have to endure before we can be that nice smooth delicious steaming cup, the final product after years of production. (good metaphor, right?) At least my growing up isn’t happening while having to choose between sacrificing an education that could eventually bring in more funds for the family or going and leaving the farm with less help. Don’t know if this counts as a post but it’s my thoughts for the day.

From the coziness of a dorm…

claireronner — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:09:08 +0000

Brr! With this weather the way it is, certainly does make me want to curl up with a cup of coffee and a non-class-related book.Crazy that our winter is right around the bend. However, season is just getting underway for coffee farmers throughout the world, and they’ll soon face the rainy season, humid temperatures, and lots of mud. The plants will require full attention and care, and the growers will make sure to provide adequate maintenance. They want to ensure maximum profit and minimal loss, so many sacrifices will be made to accommodate the coffee plants (children pulled out of school to help, fathers using up their leisure time, etc). As I think on these people from my cozy little dorm room on a college campus, I feel incredibly lucky to be on this end of the spectrum, where I won’t be put in any situation that would compromise my education.

Caffeinated Thoughts

claireronner — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:19:23 +0000

Whoa. Random thought for the day. If coffee was made into pills, and the farmers sold coffee-pills to the millions of people addicted to it who cannot function without a warm cup in the morning, think about how much more they’d make! It’d cut out the whole middle man! But alas, pills cannot grow on trees, and this idea would only lead to the already-rich pharmacists making out with larger salaries, leaving coffee cultivators without work. Not to mention it’s a completely absurd idea.

There haven’t been any recent articles about the coffee trade, which is really frustrating because I want to know what has happened recently! It’s all fine and dandy that when Fair Trade was introduced to the US tons of organizations and companies were on board, but it’s a continuous effort. That seems to happen with a lot of issues though; we get riled up about something that needs attention and support, but the more time that passes from hearing about it the less it matters. Constant bombardment of depressing images? Not necessary. But a gentle prevalent reminder would keep it fresh in our memories.

Worldwide problem? What?!

claireronner — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 03:10:00 +0000

So this is a bit more difficult than expected. Turns out, there are a whole slew of South American and African countries that are getting shortchanged from the coffee trade; in the whole center band of the world where it can be grown (see Background and Analysis), I don’t think even one country is getting entirely reasonable money back. In the 1980s, one pound of coffee cost roughly 120 US cents- already a low price- and in recent years it’s dropped down to about 50 cents per pound. That’s how much numerous workers get out of one bag of coffee. While doing the research for this, I keep date checking and nearly all of the reports are from 2002-03. Does that mean things got better and people haven’t felt a need for more studies, or no improvement has been made and the statistics are dismal? There’s some sorting left to do… Hopefully something appears soon (especially since the next step is due in…50 minutes!).

Why coffee?

claireronner — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:48:32 +0000

Just like the rest of the world, many countries in Latin and South America have been facing hard economic times lately. For Colombia, though, this is a particularly hard reality with already nearly half its population living below the poverty line. I chose to focus on the coffee trade in Colombia for this project; coffee is one of its biggest exports, with the most underpaid employees. My friend at home was really involved in social justice matters, and she found that these workers are mistreated horribly through the minimalistic wages they receive, money that cannot even sustain one person let a lone a big family.

Think how many millions of people throughout the world start their day with a good ol’ cup of joe. What goes into that one cup constitutes nearly a days work for just the beans; think what you probably pay for that grande from Starbucks and break it down into how much each thing cost- syrup, cream, sugar, milk, espresso, and finally beans. That’s a small portion of the $3.95 or so you pay going back to the plantations, and an even smaller part of that actually makes it to the worker. For now we are focusing on just Colombia, but if what is happening there applies to more countries I’ll try to encompass them too. It’s an abuse of workers who are already destitute and are being held their by circumstance beyond their control. Every person deserves a chance to live with the means to survive- that’s why I chose to address this topic, that’s why this is such a big deal, and that’s why I’m going to help as much as I can to stop it. Starting by raising awareness.