It's a drop in the bucket, but it matters

from The Columbian

GREGG HERRINGTON Columbian staff writer

The odds seem to be against Josh Seim, a Clark College student who has only a few more months to achieve his goal of almost imperceptibly changing the lives of campus coffee drinkers in order to help end world poverty, hunger and social injustice.

Given that goal, you'd think Josh is a bit naive, and perhaps he is. Then again, there's a fine line between naivete and idealism. I could be wrong, but I think he's on the idealism side of the line.

Seim, a sociology major and member of the campus Club for Social Action, expects to transfer to Gonzaga University in Spokane or Western Washington University in Bellingham next fall. That doesn't give him much time to conduct and win a campaign to get Fair Trade Certified coffee in at least one campus coffee shop.

Fair Trade for Dummies

My own down-and-dirty Fair-Trade-for-Dummies definition goes about like this: The typical isolated rural coffee grower in Latin America, Africa or Southeast Asia is getting only a few pennies for each $1.50 we plunk down for a 12-ounce cup of brew or $3-plus for something with milk, flavoring and a half-dozen words in its name. The Fair Trade Certified movement is about getting more for the little guy in the mountains who grows the beans but has a devil of a time feeding his family.

To be Fair Trade Certified means coffee has been grown with as little damage to the environment as possible and that the farmer gets a decent return for his efforts. That is, a decent return by third-world coffee-farmer standards.

According to Oxfam America (oxfamamerica.org), "While the price of coffee fluctuates, more than 25 million coffee-growing families in over 60 developing countries struggle to make a living. When the price drops, poor, small-scale farmers are especially vulnerable. And when the price rises, farmers don't have the market information, political representation, access to credit, and other resources to take full advantage of the increases."

Take the discussion to the next level on the idealism/naivete continuum and the Fair Trade Certified coffee message suggests something far more cosmic: If the world's impoverished people had more economic opportunities in their own countries, those countries would be more politically stable and their young men would be less inclined to enter this country illegally in search of work.

The Fair Trade Certified coffee effort got a boost last year with the release of the documentary film "Black Gold," although its distribution has been limited. The movie takes a close look at the Ethiopian coffee scene, where some 15 million people depend on bean farming.

The Seattle Times called the movie "a mesmerizing documentary illuminating the human element in one corner of modern global trade."

Finding Fair Trade Certified coffee beans by the pound is getting easier, with several stores selling them as well as bistros such as the Java House downtown and Starbucks. But finding it by the cup, already brewed, is not so easy. The Vancouver-based Burgerville USA chain is a glorious and civic-minded exception, selling Fair Trade Certified coffee supplied by Kobos Coffee of Portland.

There are other organizations pursuing lofty goals via coffee beans. The Rain Forest Alliance is one. Just last week, Washington State University Vancouver added RFA coffee as a cafeteria option, thanks to the efforts of students Peter Sterr and Brianna Robinson.

Rain Forest Alliance isn't exactly like Fair Trade Certified. It isn't as concerned with the economic payback to growers as it is about protecting the environment. Still, it is another outfit that, as Sterr suggests on his e-mails, brings to mind the Margaret Mead quote, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Back on the Clark College campus, Josh Seim is plugging away at the cause by lobbying food service personnel and trying to stir student interest. He's not sure any community college in the state offers Fair Trade Certified coffee, but says, if that's the case, "Let Clark be the first."

Gregg Herrington's column of personal opinion appears on the Other Opinions page each Friday. Reach him at gregg.herrington@columbian.com.