Get Eco-Friendly for National Coffee Day

Today is National Coffee Day and for java drinkers are retailers around the country that means one thing: free coffee. McDonald's restaurants were one of the first companies to extend such an offer. They will be giving out free cups of Newman's Own organic coffee from now until the end of the month. Certainly, choosing a cup of organic or even fair trade coffee is the way to go. But is there anything else you can do to make your coffee ritual more eco-friendly?

It All Starts with Beans

Enjoying a green cup of coffee begins with the right beans. Words like "organic," "fair trade," and "shade grown" form popular package badges but knowing what each means is important. Ideally, Organic coffee, like all other organic products, is grown and harvested without the use of dangerous pesticides or fertilizers. Fair Trade coffee is usually sourced from small farm collectives with the goal of providing an honest price to growers. Shade-grown coffee is grown in a way that takes advantage of the coffee plant's natural love of shady areas to reduce the environmental impact and resource requirements of production.

These three terms mind seem like marketing hype on the supermarket shelves, but they actually represent the important steps we need to take if we want to support a more sustainable coffee industry.

Reduce the Waste

Brewing coffee using a conventional coffee machine produces a lot of waste. Paper filters can only be used once and all those grounds go straight to the trash. But it doesn't have to be this way. Instead of paper filters, try using a reusable one, or better yet: switch to the French press.

Another piece of coffee waste is the wooden or plastic stir stick. These are easy to avoid: Simply put your milk and sugar in the mug before the coffee for a self-stirring concoction. Better yet: Dispense with the milk and sugar all together and learn to love coffee au natural.

BYO-Mug

Speaking of waste, that paper cup is a huge part of problem. If you make coffee at home, you probably use a ceramic mug. If you drink coffee on the go or at the office, however, it's likely that you use the paper cups provided. Don't do this. Carrying a reusable mug saves so much senseless waste that there is really no reason to do anything else.

Putting Grounds into the Ground

What should we do with all of those used coffee grounds? Instead of sending them to the landfill, put them into your garden. You can spread them over the soil or, even better; add them to your compost.

Give it Up for the Planet

Perhaps the greenest way to celebrate National Coffee Day is to avoid the wonderful warm beverage all together. We know coffee is the most dangerous drink in the rainforest, we know the industry hurts farmers and ecosystems, we know there is no such thing (at least in the northern hemisphere) as local coffee, and we can't stop drinking it.

If you drink coffee every other day of the year, take the opportunity today acknowledge coffee's true cost.