1 post tagged “oxfam america”
Oxfam America: The Starbucks Campaign
Do you love coffee? You do? Well, so do I. It's almost as important (in my house) as having milk in the fridge. Coffee is nearly a food group in our country and has steadily become a staple of the Western diet (as evidenced by all of the brand name - and no-name - shacks, drive-thru's and coffee houses all over the U.S. At the office I jokingly refer to coffee as "the most important meal of the day." OK, so maybe that's a little over the top, but I do wholeheartedly wish coffee had much more nutritional value than it currently does. You know, like beer in Ancient Egypt. But until then....
I'm not an avid Starbucks coffee drinker. I love them in spurts and phases I guess, and I'll find myself standing in queue over the course of several days in a given month. Recently, however, I've been forced to cut back on my caramel latte-1 shot please-fix, because I also love my sleep. I was beginning to ingest coffee much like my beloved vitamin water. So, something had to go.
What I am avid about (lately) is taking pictures. For the past year my Sony Cybershot (DSC-S500) has become my third appendage. It's neither the best cam, nor the most expensive, but it continues to serve me well and lets me be as creative as I want. So, when I discovered Flickr one day, I knew I'd found a new friend and a new hobby.
It was while browsing through Flickr images in January that I came across the above photo. The picture was taken in front of a Starbucks in my hometown, Seattle. The first thing I thought was: What did I miss? Was this in the news? What was going on at Starbucks? And what could one of my favorite multinational, corporate entities possibly have done to cause this young woman to picket in front of one of their stores? I had to know what this was about.
The picture had been taken for Oxfam America. I was surprised that not only did Oxfam have a Flickr Photostream, but also an entire Starbucks campaign.
Oxfam America is a global development and relief org that strives to end world hunger and injustice, particularly in impoverished nations. In partnership with groups in 120+ countries, Oxfam gives aid to those suffering from poverty and helps groups to establish their rights. Additionally, Oxfam acts in response to disasters.
I'll leave the finer details for you to discover from their website, but the gist of it is this: Oxfam America is part of a coalition that is suppporting the Ethiopian coffee initiative designed to give Ethiopian coffee producers (aka farmers) the right to trademark & control the use of their specialty brand-name coffees (you may have heard of these: Harar, Sidamo, and Yirgacheffe). Oxfam is summoning coffee businesses all over the country to sign agreements that recognize Ethiopia's rights to control and trademark their product. And, despite the fact that Starbucks has met with Ethiopian gov't reps, as well as its declared statements of promise, it still hasn't quite honored the country's requests.
And, as much as I love coffee, and even Starbucks (sniff, sniff), I'm willing to make the sacrifice. Besides, this will force me to do my research regarding the products I purchase and as a consumer, consume. If you'd like to get involved, see the Oxfam America website for the how-to.
