[Seac] Seattle's Best

[barnhill <barnhill@uwosh.edu>]

Friends on the Food Committee,

I just noticed that the recent minutes of the Food Committee states that
"Coffee service on weekends issue.  Sodexho should not serve
Seattle¢s Best on the weekends.  Seattle¢s Best should be offered on
the Brick Oven beverage side counter Monday through Friday lunch
only.  Only regular coffee will be offered on weekends."

I wonder why this is, and whether it is a good thing. It is very
difficult to purchase ecologically responsible food on campus, and
Seattle's Best is organic and shade grown. Coffee plantations are
notoriously destructive of the environment. Wintering songbirds rely on
the trees that get cut down in most plantations, and this habitat loss is
having a noticeable effect on bird populations in this country, and
pesticides are used extensively. Shade grown, organic coffee is
substantially better for the land, the trees, and the birds. In addition,
coffee plantations are notorious for the way the workers are treated and
how little they get paid. The Seattle's Best we purchase is, I believe,
Fair Trade, (SB has created a special organic, shade-grown, Fair Trade
coffee for universities) so workers are guaranteed a "premium"
price so they can have a decent wage.  

So Seattle's Best is one of the few opportunities we have at UWO to
purchase food that is ecologically and socially responsible. In fact, one
of the goals of Earth Week (April 17-23) this year is to promote the
purchase of foods like Seattle's Best on campus. I was hoping to see it
even more available -- thus my disappointment in the recent decision. Was
there a particular reason for this cutback?

Thanks for your consideration,

David

David Landis Barnhill
Director of Environmental Studies
313 Swart Hall, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
800 Algoma Blvd, Oshkosh, WI 54901
Office tel: 920-424-0644
Fax: 920-424-1418
email: barnhill@uwosh.edu
website: http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/barnhill/
ES Program office tel: 920-424-1397
ES Program email: es@uwosh.edu
ES Program website: http://www.uwosh.edu/environ_studies/