Starbucks: From Fair-trade Zero to Local Hero?

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Starbucks is already Fair-Trade. Now, they say they're going green--and supporting local--by 2010.

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If they actually do it, I might have to give up my 15-year buycott of Starbucks. I used to dislike 'em 'cause they put my favorite local cafes outta business in Boston, Cambridge etc. Then I moved back to my hometown of Boulder, and looked with shriveled eyes at idiot college kids and yuppies who hung about their non-local Starbucks, spending money on The Man.

Then, Starbucks not only got on the Fair-trade wagon, but started leading the charge. Hmmm, I said, and turned my Conscious Consumer Alarm off the Starbucks channel.

Then, Starbucks pioneered the 10% recycled content to-go cup (something my favorite-ever local cafe, from which I'm writing this piece, still doesn't do). May not sound like a big deal, but no one else was doing it, and Starbucks' very size--the cause of We the People's resentment for years--suddenly becomes a very (very) good thing when they start using that power eco-responsibly. They also offer a discount (a paltry, but still didn't-have-to-do-it 10 cents) to anyone who uses a reusable cup.

Then, I read that Starbucks not only didn't put local cafes out of business, but that locally-owned cafes actually thrived in towns where Starbucks moved in. Apparently, Starbucks served as a gateway drug (or ambassador) to the masses...they went to Starbucks, developed a fancy for overpriced fancy coffee, then took that fancy next door to their local cafe. Humph, I said, and grudgingly stopped hating Starbucks at all. This was a year or so ago.

Then, this morning, I read this, via Brandweek. Excerpt:

...On Thursday, Starbucks announced that the company aims to earn LEED certification on all new company-owned stores beginning in 2010.

Cool, I said to myself. If it actually happens, that is. Every big company's always making big pronouncements about what they'll do in the future. If they said they'd start right away, I'd be sold. The article continued...

Among the company's eco-friendly goals for all new company-owned stores are that 50 percent of each store's energy be derived from renewable sources, and that they will be 25 percent more energy efficient. The company has set long-term goals

whatever that means

including replacing all stores' incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs and ensuring 100 percents of its cup supply is reusable or recyclable by 2015.

Nice! Why not do it now: ecoproducts.com. Bonnaroo, the Suns, my local football stadium and many local cafes are already doing it.

Beyond the energy-saving measures, the company aims to give its stores a more local feel. All new and renovated stores beginning in 2010 will tap the skills of local craftsmen and use materials associated with the store's neighborhood.

Okay, you got me. This is thinking that reflects real inspiration, not just greenwashing or aping local cafes that've been doing such for years without needing to get all Press Release about it.

One recently built store that reflects this new strategy is the company's 1st Avenue and Pike Street store in Seattle, opened in March of 2009. The bar's leather façade is made of scrap leather from local shoe and automobile factories, the cabinets from fallen trees in the Seattle area, and the community table from a nearby restaurant.

So cool. So cool. So cool. Do this everywhere and I'll become a patron. And I drink a lot of coffee, as my ever-shaking hands attest.

"We recognize the importance of continuously evolving with our customers' interests, lifestyles and values in order to stay relevant over the long term," said Arthur Rubinfeld...

And remember, Starbucks always does well in Fortune's "Best Companies to Work For" rankings, along with Whole Foods and other such. And whatever their faults, let's be grateful they don't use styrofoam, like Dunkin' Donuts, or genetically engineered coffee beans, like Nestle.
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Tweet me: you can follow Waylon Lewis at @elephantjournal.

With thanks for the tip to:

Via my first eco idol, Umbra, a great writer over at Grist.org:

Comments

[lbrty 2112]

"spending money on the man"???

ummmm Ok.........

make mine a dd's please

[DC]

Nothing would get me into a Starbucks. A terrible company.

[zukervati]

Right on. They "say" they're fair trade, but they're not. How about sharing a "whole" percentage of the total revenue rather than pretending to be fair on the price of the beans. They deal with the aggregating agencies, who collect very small crops from poor bean-pickers at pennies to the hundred. This is shame/ess company - I'd rather drink a caffeinated soda than their coffee any day.

[RevRick]

Wait a second.

Starbucks might serve coffee that is "Fair Trade Certified", but their long history of labor law violations in this country would make it impossible for Starbucks itself to be "Fair Trade Certified"

http://minnesotaindependent.com/33920/starbucks-charged-with-labor-law-violations

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/288219/starbucks_defending_charges_of_labor.html

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/04/are-starbucks-and-whole-foods-union-busting

http://www.seattlepi.com/business/353695_sbuxsuit05.html

[jsgaetano]

Starbucks will still be my "coffee of last resort". Even fair trade and local support won't take the burnt taste out of their coffee.

Just remember- EVERYTHING gets the "full roast". That's like saying everything you cook gets well done.

[grn1]

schultz, a menace?

[grn1]

Starbucks tried to have me arrested in 2000 for leafletting their store. Security knew the boundaries and the police wouldn't participate.

[chiara12]

What were you leafletting? Where you trying to do it in their store or did you try to do it outside on public property?

[grn1]

Outside on public property. I was leafletting against the use of rbgh (recombinant bovine growth hormones) I am a grandmother, so I certainly wasn't causing a disturbance. The owners showed up and I actually felt sorry for disturbing their business. But since they were rude and threatening I lost any respect for their interests.

[sc300nc]

Starbucks can be competed with, and successfully. Better service, better products, and better prices typically get you customers. If you cannot, then the business should fail.

[sabelmouse]

where is the proof that starbucks is fairtrade?

also their coffee is not that great.

[chiara12]

There is coffee in the store that carries the Fairtrade mark.

Just as an FYI - since fairtrade coffees often come from smaller co-ops they often are not able to produce coffee in the quantity that Sbux needs in order to get it in even some of the stores. For a long time, Fairtrade certified coffees have also in some cases struggled with quality. You may not like the way Sbux roasts its coffee but the quality of the bean is incredibly important.

I do wish people would dig a little deeper and see that Fairtrade, while a worthy effort is not the be-all-end-all to ensuring equity for farmers.

[cookmeyer1970]

Just curious, what are some of the other ways to ensure equity for farmers beyond fairtrade?

[jsgaetano]

Well I saw this... but there's no mention of "Fair Trade". They seem to be using their own system, which is usually a good sign for when a corporation is trying to pull something.

http://www.starbucks.com/SHAREDPLANET/index.aspx

But even if they WERE fair trade... they are still anti-union, and fund anti-union groups.

[chiara12]

Can you point to any specific "something" that Sbux might be trying to pull?

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004315134_starbucksmain30.html

http://www.transfairusa.org/content/about/pr/pr_090416c.php

[cookmeyer1970]

last time I checked, the whole fair trade thing was all PR. They may have one certified offering here and there, but I'm pretty sure it's purely a token. If there were exclusively fair trade, the certification would be on every bag.

[tomas0808]

I won't stop my boycott. My friend's had a cafe and had to move as the owners of the building sold it. They found five other downtown seattle locations, put in bids, and in each and every one they were outbid way over market price by star**cks.

They never re-opened the cafe

[evvashtangi]

great blog! thanks!

[MNinWI]

So you want to be the new Jon Stewart. That's a pretty lofty goal. I have never heard you but good luck w/ that. We need as many Jon Stewarts as we can get. BTW Nestle not only uses GM beans but at least 1 of their cocoa sources uses child slave labor to collect the cocoa beans (Nestle is aware of it but will lie to you if you try to approach them about it). They use them til they die (it's a slow miserable wretched & short life) & since they are only .50, easy to buy more. Hershey's, you know I am talking to you too. Thanks for the info. Hope it's all true.

[seakat]

The place I occasionally buy my lattes has been organic/fair trade, using compostible cups for a few years now.

Maybe if Starbucks quits burning their beans (an accompolisment they seem to be proud of) I could start to like them.

[oldGunny]

Agree