A Cup of Conscience

  • Dennis Macray of Starbucks speaks about the coffee company’s social and environmental efforts. He was the keynote speaker for the annual George McGovern lecture for United Nations’ employees. (Photo by Nancy Greenleese)

People who work to help people in poor countries have always had big hearts. Some of
those helping these days have fat wallets as well. Multinational corporations are helping
the people who grow raw materials for those companies. They’re protecting the
environment, building schools, trying to improve living conditions – just like charities.
Nancy Greenleese reports there’s controversy over the businesses’ motives. But there’s
no denying they’re changing how help is given in poor countries:

Transcript

People who work to help people in poor countries have always had big hearts. Some of
those helping these days have fat wallets as well. Multinational corporations are helping
the people who grow raw materials for those companies. They’re protecting the
environment, building schools, trying to improve living conditions – just like charities.
Nancy Greenleese reports there’s controversy over the businesses’ motives. But there’s
no denying they’re changing how help is given in poor countries:

(sound of steaming milk and cups clanking)

At a Starbucks in Germany, customers are clamoring for their daily fix of caffeine.

“My name is Ellen Sycorder and I’m from Bonn. And I’m drinking a black coffee.”

What she doesn’t realize is that it’s coffee with a conscience.

Starbucks buys the bulk of its coffee from farmers in its program called Coffee And
Farmer Equity or CAFÉ. The farmers agree to grow quality coffee without jeopardizing
the environment. They pledge to take care of their workers and pay them fairly. Ellen
can drink to that.

“I think the idea is positive and I think I would drink more coffee here than somewhere
else.”

That’s exactly what Starbucks ordered a decade ago when it teamed up with the
environmental group Conservation International. They started by helping farmers in
Chiapas Mexico grow premium beans while protecting the region’s famous cloud forest.
CAFÉ practices grew from there. Starbucks and its non-profit partners are working with
farmers now from Costa Rica to East Timor.

Dennis Macray of Starbucks says the environmental advice is paying off.

“We’ve had farmers come to us and say these practices helped me weather a hurricane
for example, where neighboring farms had mudslides.”

Starbucks’ director of global responsibility says the company sometimes even
discourages farmers from growing beans. That might seem like a grande step backwards.
But Macray says keeping the farmers in business is the goal and sometimes that means
diversifying.

He recently found out how well it was working when he visited the mud hut of a Kenyan
farmer .

“In this case, the farmer was really proud of all the fruit and other vegetables that he had
on his farm. So he walked around and showed us how interspersed in-between the coffee
and providing shade for the coffee which is very important were a number of other crops
and fruits and things that he could either sell or his family could feed itself.”

Starbucks is among a growing list of multinational companies that are pouring money
into the developing world. Veteran international aid worker Carl Hammerdorfer says
working with big corporations made him pause at first.

“I’m a pretty skeptical, maybe even cynical, person about the motives of business. I
would have said 5 years ago that these Fortune 500 companies are only talking about
environmental and social concerns for marketing purposes, so they would improve their
image and sell more product.”

But he says global climate change prompted the companies to take their mission more
seriously. Any changes to the climate that shrink the rain forest, parch or flood land
would drastically affect their supplies of raw materials.

The former Peace Corps country director says his views have changed as he’s watched
companies such as McDonalds help farmers build more stable businesses.

“The evolution of their consciousness about social and environmental bottom lines is all
good. It’s a net gain for all of us who care about these enduring gaps.”

But there are concerns that the collapse of the economy will make the companies’
generosity shrivel up. There’s not a lot of evidence of that so far. While Starbucks is
closing 900 stores, the CAFÉ program is expanding. The company says it’s vital to its
long-term success to keep grinding on.

“Grande Cafe Latte!”

(sound of milk foaming)

For The Environment Report, I’m Nancy Greenleese.

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Noisier Oceans Bad for Whales

  • Beluga whale (Delphinaptherus leucas) with its mouth wide open, White Sea, Russia, Kareliya. (© Andrey Nekrasov / WWF-Canon)

Scientists say the oceans are
getting noisier. The racket threatens
whales and other marine mammals that
communicate through sound. Nancy
Greenleese reports:

Transcript

Scientists say the oceans are
getting noisier. The racket threatens
whales and other marine mammals that
communicate through sound. Nancy
Greenleese reports:


The oceans are already noisy from military sonars and oil and gas exploration. Scientists say it could get worse. Some of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, is getting soaked up by the oceans and seas. The carbon dioxide makes the water more acidic. Sound travels through that acidic water more easily. A UN climate change panel recently issued a report raising concerns about the chemistry change. Mark Simmonds of the Whale and Dolphin Conversation Society says already there’s an “acoustic fog” in the world’s waters.

“The ambient noise levels in the oceans because of pH are likely to rise. This is a very unexpected finding. They’re anticipating that marine mammals will have further problems communicating.”

The noise confuses marine mammals. So, they’re beaching themselves and running into ships more often.

For The Environment Report, I’m Nancy Greenleese.

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Protecting Whales Across Borders

  • Mother-calf pair of "Type C" orcas in the Ross Sea. (Photo by Robert Pitman, NOAA)

Environmentalists have wanted to
“Save the Whales” for decades. But experts
say that can’t happen until the people
realize whales don’t know if they’re in
American waters, Mexican waters or Japanese
waters. Nancy Greenleese reports whales
cannot be saved until all countries protect
them:

Transcript

Environmentalists have wanted to
“Save the Whales” for decades. But experts
say that can’t happen until the people
realize whales don’t know if they’re in
American waters, Mexican waters or Japanese
waters. Nancy Greenleese reports whales
cannot be saved until all countries protect
them:

Whales travel off many countries’ coasts and different countries have different laws
about protecting the animals. Chris Butler Stroud is with the Whale and Dolphin
Conservation Society. He told a United Nation’s conference for the Convention on
Migratory Species that international cooperation is key.

“When countries try to take political action to conserve an animal, they often think of
their own borders. Not remembering that animals are able to move beyond those because
they don’t see the lines in the sand or lines in the water.”

(sound of Gray Whales splashing)

Gray whales swarm around fishing boats off Mexico’s Baja California peninsula.
They’ve traveled -without passports – from the Bering Strait in Russia, into U.S. waters,
through Canada, and back into the U.S. before arriving in Mexico. Here they’re
breeding, and providing a water show to rival Sea World for ecotourists.

“Oh…it’s the baby. Right there! Right next to us. And here comes mom! (Splash) Hey,
wow, right at us.”

There’s an international agreement that bans commercial hunting for gray whales. And
the whales draw tourists. That’s pretty important for a poor country such as Mexico.

The whales are safe here, but not everywhere.

And everywhere the whales travel and threat looms: climate change. Many whale species
migrate to the poles where the ice is disappearing. The World Wildlife Fund predicts
30% of the ice will melt away in the next 30 years unless action is taken.

Wendy Elliot says that means the whales will have to travel even farther to get to the ice
and the food they find there.

“So they’re already hungry, tired, they’ve traveled a long, long way and now they are
going to have 500 km extra to go. So how these species are going to adapt is very
unclear and it’s very concerning.”

Another worry is the growing acidity of sea water. Greenhouse gases from burning fossil
fuels mix with the water and make carbonic acid in the ocean. Monterey Bay Aquarium
Research Institute chemists have determined that the altered chemistry will increase the
distances that underwater sounds travel. That disturbs the communications of marine
mammals. The oceans and seas are becoming a headbangers’ ball from rumbling ships,
air guns used for oil and gas exploration and military sonars.

Nicolas Entrup, managing director for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society,
lobbied at the UN meeting for an international resolution on marine noise pollution.

“Look, we stressed to the governments that underwater noise is a key threat to whales and
dolphins in the ocean. These animals are acoustic animals.”

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation society says research shows loud underwater
noises causes some whales to beach themselves.

At the UN conference, nations passed watered-down resolution to reduce ship sounds.
They did nothing about the noises made by oil and gas industry and the military. Entrup
is furious.

What we’ve passed is absolutely not enough. And I have to say it’s giving in to the
interests of the military and the industries in that occasion. That’s really bad.”

Officials admit that industrial noise can be reduced but the military, that’s another matter.

The 85 governments at the U.N. conference did agree to provide addition protection for
some small whales. But putting any initiatives into effect will be difficult. The global
financial crisis has drastically limited countries’ contributions to field research on whales
and other migratory species. Entrup with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society
says the nations of the world cannot ignore the problems.

“If you care, then start now and do not wait until it’s too late. That’s expensive, that’s
irrational, that’s stupid.”

Wildlife groups say rich countries have to reach across borders and give a hand to poorer
countries if we’re going to save the whales.

For The Environment Report, I’m Nancy Greenleese.

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American Reviving Roman River

  • Rome is known for its many landmarks, but the Tiber River is often overlooked and neglected by its residents. (Photo by Nancy Greenleese)

When we think of Rome, we think of the Colosseum with its graceful arches and
Saint Peter’s Square, designed by Michaelangelo. We don’t often think of the
Eternal City’s oldest wonder: the Tiber River. But one American artist has. New
Yorker Kristin Jones creates public art that often focuses on nature and time. She
has found a muse in the trash-filled Tiber and wants to clean it up starting with a
small stretch. Nancy Greenleese reports from Rome:

Transcript

When we think of Rome, we think of the Colosseum with its graceful arches and
Saint Peter’s Square, designed by Michaelangelo. We don’t often think of the
Eternal City’s oldest wonder: the Tiber River. But one American artist has. New
Yorker Kristin Jones creates public art that often focuses on nature and time. She
has found a muse in the trash-filled Tiber and wants to clean it up starting with a
small stretch. Nancy Greenleese reports from Rome:


Along the Tiber, it’s “pazzo,” or crazy. Motorscooters and cars whip by near a
bridge that spans the river. Kristin Jones stands here, gazing down at the far more
tranquil river below. She decides to head down the stairs:


“We’re descending 36 feet below the street level into the channel or the gully that is now
the Tiber.”


Grafitti covers the stone walls and trash bobs in the water. It’s dirty and secluded
and Jones wants to change that with the creation of a water-themed “piazza,” the
gathering places that dot Italian cities. Jones remembers when she first saw the Tiber.
It was 1983 and she’d just arrived in Rome on a Fulbright scholarship:


And as a New Yorker I said to myself, “Oh my God. There’s something parallel here?
What is this?”


And then it hit her like a vision from the nearby Vatican:


“This is like a Central Park. Central Park is such an abstract miracle, I mean, it’s really
nature in the middle of the city and you walk there and you see leafs tremble and you see
real grass and you see a real squirrel. You even can collect mushrooms in Central Park.”


Jones could collect an impressive collection of beer bottles here. Homeless people are
camped nearby and the stench of urine is overpowering. Italian have little love for the
Tiber. It used to frequently flood, prompting the construction in the 1800s of walls that
hold – and hide – the river below the streets. Jones, however, wants people to visit and
appreciate the Tiber:


“Well, if you think about it, perhaps you could consider it to be the most ancient
monument in Rome (laughs).”


The city was founded along its banks nearly 3000 years ago and water has flowed
through its history. The Roman Empire’s aqueducts revolutionized water transportation.
A flooded Colosseum once held mock sea battles. Today, Jones says tourists still come
for the water:


“The fountains in, throughout the historic city have always been a sort of showy element
of power and exuberance and fun and yet the main artery is completely neglected.”


Until now.


(Mariamba music)


Locals and tourists stroll along the proposed piazza on a recent evening. Jones’ group
group Tevereterno, or Eternal Tiber, organized this event to promote the 600 meter
stretch. Supporters would like it to eventually host modern art exhibits and conferences
focused on water. Tonight, musicians perform and more than 1000 candles line the
river’s banks. Allegra Zapponi checks out the scene and reflects on what the Tiber means
to Italians:


“I think in the last 50 years of the last century, like the place for the rubbish. Everything
that you want to give away, you throw it in the river (laugh).”


But Kristin Jones and her supporters believe that the piazza would be a tributary for
getting people to the river and encourage its cleanup. However, arts advocate Luca
Bergamo, who has worked for two mayors, says Jones’ enthusiasm might not be enough
to get the project afloat:


“The biggest challenge is that you don’t find people investing in risky things in this
country. This is not risky but it’s unknown, not understood.”


Change is resisted in Italy, a country often strangled by its historic past. And politicians
can’t justify spending money on the Tiber when resources are scarce for more famous
monuments.


As couples at the party listen to an avante garde audio composition, attitudes might be
changing. The city has added the proposed renovation of this stretch of the Tiber, the
Piazza Tevere, to its new city plan. Jones says it’s time to hand the project over to
Italians:


“They’re all applauding me and trying to get me to keep doing it. And I keep trying to
step back and say, ‘It’s YOUR river. Hallelujah! See the potential, see the potential. I see
the potential.'”


She has agreed to plan next year’s celebration on the Tiber. In the meantime, there’s a
reminder of what could be. Jones has surreptitiously posted on the river’s embankment a
replica of the stone signs that mark Rome’s piazzas and streets. It says “Piazza Tevere.”


For the Environment Report, I’m Nancy Greenleese.

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