Starbucks Coffee in Hot Water Over Its Sustainable Policy
If you thought all the disposable cups produced by convenience coffee-makers were bad enough, you should read about Starbucks’ policy on running water (see). Its dish cleaning sink must always run throughout the entire day in order to prevent ‘germ buildup’. Â Starbucks says it cares about the environment and even donates “five cents from each [Ethos brand] bottle purchased is donated to a foundation the gives grant commitments to humanitarian water programs that alleviate the world water crisis.” But, author Stuart Stein sums it up aptly: They are hypocritical and employing dirty greenwashing.
This same “Ethos” bottled water has seen controversy before…
Ethos, a brand of bottled water acquired by Starbucks in 2005, is sold at locations throughout North America. Ethos bottles feature prominent labeling stating “helping children get clean water”, referring to the fact that $.05 from each $1.80USD bottle sold ($.10 per unit in Canada) is used to fund clean water projects in under-developed areas. Although sales of Ethos water have raised over $4,000,000 for clean water efforts, the brand is not a charity.
Critics have argued that the claim on the label misleads consumers into thinking that Ethos is primarily a charitable organization, when it is actually a for-profit Starbucks brand and the vast majority of the sale price (over 94%) does not support clean-water projects. The founders of Ethos have stated that the brand is intended to raise awareness of third-world clean water issues and provide socially responsible consumers with an opportunity to support the cause by choosing Ethos over other brands. Starbucks has since redesigned the American version of the Ethos water bottles, stating the amount of money donated per bottle in the description.
And now a word from our sponsor–Coffee
“Noted as one of the world’s largest, most valuable, legally traded commodities after oil, coffee has become a vital cash crop for many Third World countries. Over one hundred million people in developing countries have become dependent on coffee as the primary source of income.” (Link )
Here is a truncated history of coffee etymology (excerpted from here ):
1536 Coffee exported through city of Mocha in Yemen; called “mocha”
1699 Dutch transplant trees to Java in Indonesia; coffee becomes known as “java”
WWII American G.I. Joes drink so much coffee it becomes known as “a cuppa Joe”
The English word coffee first came to be used in the early- to mid-1600s, but early forms of the word date to the last decade of the 1500s. It comes from the Italian caffè. The term was introduced to Europe via the Ottoman Turkish kahve which is in turn derived from the Arabic: ?????, qahweh. The origin of the Arabic term is uncertain; it is either derived from the name of the Kaffa region in western Ethiopia, where coffee was cultivated, or by a truncation of qahwat al-b?nn, meaning “wine of the bean” in Arabic.
November 20, 2008
Tags: food, green, policy, trivia Posted in: Fun Food Facts, Politics
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