Protect the Future of Coffee: Join the Red Cherry Challenge
September 25, 2014
coffee
The Learning Never Stops: Part 3 – The Personal
July 30, 2014
The Cooperation in Productivity event was the first time Equal Exchange has organized a peer-led, on-farm learning experience between farmer organizations. It was incredibly exciting, not just because it was the first event of its kind for us, but because of all the farmer-driven content.
The Learning Never Stops: Part 2 – The Practical
July 25, 2014
In Part 1, I explained the groundwork philosophy that the members of COMSA (Honduras) shared with the members of Las Colinas (El Salvador). Now let's get a little nerdy and dig into the more practical, technical side of what COMSA shared and how it has contributed to their success.
The Learning Never Stops: Part 1—The Philosophy
July 10, 2014
Don Mario Pérez likes to learn, and he likes to challenge the people around him to learn. While visiting his home and coffee farm during an organic workshop in early June, Don Mario and his wife, Joselinda Manueles, explained their philosophy to me.
Uganda Stove Project
May 29, 2014
This spring, we raised $4,720 to help Ugandan women build 118 energy-efficient stoves in their communities, surpassing our goal of 100 stoves! Thanks to everyone who contributed to the effort by entering our g
Java Jog for a Cause
March 18, 2014
March is Women’s History Month–the perfect time to highlight a new initiative that I helped create: Java Jog for a Cause. The co-founders and I started out as a small group of women in coffee that serendipitously came together through our mutual interests: coffee, and in particular, women in coffee. We wanted to find a meaningful way to highlight the important role that women play in coffee and pair that with health and fitness.
What's Brewing in Portland
January 24, 2014
At Equal Exchange we love coffee, we love beer, and guess what? We also love them together, so we were excited about the opportunity for our latest coffee and beer collaboration, brewed up in Portland, Ore. Our Portland crew teamed up with Harvester Brewing to offer a tasty new coffee beer featuring Equal Exchange beans. While lots of brewers are discovering the delicious ways that a little coffee can complement the dark, toasty malts that are the traditional staples in the brewing of dark winter beers, this brew is a little different.
Our Role as Activists: The Enough Project
August 9, 2013
I first learned about the Enough Project in 2011 while attending Informed Activism: Armed Conflict, Scarce Resources, and Congo at Clark University, during which more than 400 people gathered to talk about our individual efforts working in the Congo. At the time, I didn’t know much about the conflict in the D.R. Congo (DRC) and over the course of two days I was horrified to learn about how mining, sexual violence and child solders contribute to a very complex war. Did the tantalum in my cell phone come from the Congo? How would I know?
Church Coffee: Supporting Small Farmers with Every Cup
August 5, 2013
I am an Intentional Interim Minister, which means I serve churches during the period between settled pastors, while the church is going through a search process. My unusual vocation has also given me a unique opportunity to introduce Equal Exchange’s Fair Trade coffee program to a wide variety of churches.
Of Mudslides, Rust, and 10 Years of Friendship
July 11, 2013
Losing a cow is like having your savings account wiped out. Several animals were lost to the family farmers of the Cooperative José Gabriel Condorcanquí in Peru when this past March, unusually heavy rains fell for a few days and caused small mudslides. The innumerable shade and native trees farmers maintain around their coffee plants limited damage, but for those small-scale growers who lost livestock and stables, the loss can push them to the economic brink.
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