Jim Walberg was visiting friends last week in Vail, Colorado before he heads back to the islands after a break from hurricane season. His friend, Jay Rosenbaum, help start the only premier coffee roaster committed to roasting only 100% Fair Trade Certified and Organic Certified coffee beans in the WORLD! BuyWell Coffee was founded with a BIG dream – combating poverty and protecting the environment through coffee. If I told you that the second highest commodity traded in the world after oil was coffee would you believe me? Well, believe it! And, the coffee growing families of the world are living on less than $2US per day!

After several days and hours of discussions with Jay, my eyes were opened to the impact that growing coffee is having on this world we live in. The carbon footprint of this industry is gigantic! BuyWell Coffee is constantly looking for ways to become more sustainable and making their daily carbon footprint much smaller. And, they are doing this while still producing the best coffee I have ever tasted, plus their premium coffee is very affordable!

How about this for sobering information about the coffee industry? The U.S. consumes one-fifth of the world’s coffee – the largest consumer country in the world! But few Americans realize that agriculture workers in the coffee industry often work in conditions that can be described as “sweatshops in the fields”. Many small coffee farmers receive prices for their coffee that are less than the costs of production, forcing them into a cycle of poverty and debt for their entire lives.

Fair Trade Certified is a solution, assuring consumers that the coffee we drink is purchased under fair conditions. To become Fair Trade Certified, BuyWell Coffee must meet strict international criteria; paying a minimum price per pound of $1.26, providing much needed credit to farmers, and providing technical assistance such as help transitioning to organic farming. Fair Trade Certified for coffee farmers means community development, health, education, and caring for the environmental.

I had no idea what “Fair Trade Certified” and “Organic Certified” labels meant. It means that farmers and workers receive a fair price for their product. The FTC price means that farmers can feed their families and that their children can go to school instead of working in the fields. By receiving a fair price, FTC producers can avoid cost-cutting practices that sacrifice quality. The FTC producers’ traditional farming methods result in exceptional products. And, it means you are receiving the highest quality product that is able to be produced! So, purchasing on of BuyWell Coffee’s ten+ coffee blends contributes to the well-being of farming families around the world. I have to admit, I am not able to say that about each of the real estate sales that we facilitate – yet!

Now, back to the real mission of Jay’s company – combating poverty and protecting the environment through coffee. A portion of very bag of coffee that BuyWell sells supports a group called Roots & Wings. They are committed to providing a university education for indigenous youth from families in rural Guatemala. Roots & Wings International scholars come from coffee-growing communities, and they are the first in their families to study past elementary school. The scholarships are awarded based on financial need, academic promise, and commitment to promote community development where the students live.

All of BuyWell Coffee’s giving programs are coffee-powered. BuyWell Coffee invests in sustainable development initiatives in coffee growing regions around the world, plus the U.S. in order to create long-term health and global opportunity for the coffee grower families of the world. Now, wouldn’t this be a worthwhile idea for all of our companies to explore as we daily participate in “paying it forward”? Click here for more information as to how you can get involved in making a difference in your own world.

Coastweeks is the what the locals in the USVI call International Coastal Cleanup (YouTube) week. It starts September 19^th and the USVI’s are getting ready for a week’s of hard and dirty work – but much needed. During that week you will find students, various organizations, business groups, and an army of people who will be heading to the beaches of the USVI to pick up and categorize the garbage they find. Organized beach clean-ups will run through September and October.

At last year’s Coastweeks there were 1,400 volunteers on St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix who picked up 18,600 pounds of trash from 43 miles of beaches! St. Thomas won the prize for the most garbage, if anyone would really want that prize – 12,275 pounds of trash. St. John was second with 3,000 pounds of trash, and St. Croix was third with 2,035 of trash. The environment has no winners when our citizens are creating such a mess of Mother Nature’s playground. This is in the same category of contributing to the well being of the earth as the USVI Waste Management Authority contract to create alternative energy in the USVI from trash.

This year’s Coastweeks begins at Brewer’s Bay. The cleanup will be from 8AM to noon and everyone can help – from kids to the elders. Heather Hitt, Coastal Zone outreach coordinator at the Planning and Natural Resources Department, would prefer that people not litter so there would be no need for cleanups, but said that since it does occur, it’s important to pick the litter up.   Ms. Hitt has suggested that volunteers bring their bathing suits and snorkels so the ocean floor near the beaches can be cleaned up, too.

The Friends of V.I. National Park, which coordinates efforts on St. John, plans a cleanup at Drunk Bay. It will start at 9 a.m. Sept. 19 in the Salt Pond parking lot. Those participating will then walk through Salt Pond Beach to Drunk Bay. “It’s a place where a lot of debris from the BVI lands,” said Friends Program Manager Audrey Penn. The Friends picked Drunk Bay because it’s not easily accessible, so adopt-a-beach groups don’t pick it.

This year, Coastweeks on St. Croix received a $2,700 grant from the V.I. Waste Management Authority to pay for student transportation to the beaches for cleanups, Taylor said. She hopes to get about 40 student groups to do cleanups because transportation will be provided. “It’s important to get to them early on,” she said. “Lots of kids still litter, and if we get to the kids, we get to the parents.”

You can assist with organizing your local Coastal Cleanup Week, or be a volunteer, no matter where you in the world. Cleaning up the trash is extremely satisfying. Personally discovering how the trash is impacting our oceans is extremely sad.   If you would like to participate in they USVI Coastweeks activities, call Taylor on St. Croix at 340.692.4046, Hitt on St. Thomas at 340.774.3320, ext. 5117, or Penn on St. John at 340.779.4940. I hope to see you on the beach sometime in September or October doing your part to make a difference.  Let me know what beach you decide to attack.