From that first cup o’ joe every morning to the last after-dinner espresso, coffee is stitched into the very fabric of our lives, cultures and social rituals. But have you ever stopped to think about the power in that single cup of coffee, to affect the health of coffee-growing regions and peoples around the world?

The Link TV special You Are What You Eat is a four-hour programming block examining food and how it affects the environment and the people who live in it. This two-hour section of the special, featuring the films Birdsong & Coffee and selections from Buyer Be Fair, looks at the links between our coffee-buying choices and the lives of coffee-growers in places like Costa Rica, where farmers are struggling against some of the lowest prices in history. Throughout the special will be a discussion with Paul Rice, president and CEO of TransFair USA, the only Fair Trade certification organization in the country, who convinced powerhouses like Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts to start serving fair trade coffee.

ABOUT THE PROGRAMS:
Birdsong & Coffee explores the ways in which fluctuations in coffee prices affect the fate of farm families, farming communities, and entire ecosystems in coffee-growing regions like Costa Rica. When prices drop, families are separated, communities disintegrate, and the land is cleared for other crops or other means of livelihood. Such clearing of the land --like the more “efficient” process of sun-grown coffee production -- disrupts the ecosystem in ways that have deadly consequences for migratory songbirds, in particular, and for global ecological balance, in general.

The special will also show selections from Buyer Be Fair, a film that looks at the benefits of fair trade goods and product certification. The film takes viewers to Mexico, the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden, the USA and Canada to explore how conscious consumers and businesses can use the market to promote social justice and environmental sustainability through product labeling, with a focus on Fair Trade coffee and Forest Stewardship Council certified wood.

LEARN MORE:

• For more information on Birdsong and Coffee, visit Old Dog Documentaries.

• For more about Buyer Be Fair, or to purchase a DVD visit the film's website.

• To listen to Paul Rice interviewed by Fast Company magazine, click here.

• To learn more about directly purchasing your coffee from the Fair Trade Coopapueblo Cooperative in Costa Rica, visit the Community Agroecology Network (CAN).

GET INVOLVED:
Co-Op America
Global Exchange
Oxfam America
Sustainable Table