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The
upcoming Presidential contest on November 2nd has
the staff here at Peace Coffee thinking about the
whole concept of fair elections,
both in this country and around the world. Tripp
Pomeroy of Café Campesino (part of Coop Coffees)
offers his musings on the subject in this month's
issue of Fair Grounds. We've also got a
piece on biodiesel, the
energy-saving fuel that powers the Peace Coffee
truck. Andy Lambert tells us about a powerful
presentation by Nueva Vida
Fair Trade Women's Sewing Cooperative. And we've
got a Community Caravan
update, a recipe, a Fair Trade fact and a new
trivia question. Grab a mug of Peace Coffee, read
on and enjoy…
(Back
to Headlines)
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by
Tripp Pomeroy
Though it's easy to complain about the
electoral process here in the United States, we
actually have it good. We live in a country where
we have the opportunity to choose our leaders. But
given our busy lives, over-saturation with
information and spin, and the plethora of
differing points of view and convictions, it’s
easy to get distracted from the task at hand…to
make our elections work well and effect change for
the better.
In 2002, President Jimmy Carter traveled to
East Timor to observe and support the country’s
first presidential elections, which would
culminate in the birth of this century’s first
new nation — the Republic of East Timor. In its
analysis "The East Timor Political and
Election Observation Project" the Carter
Center identified several areas that it believed
were central to the new country’s ability to
pull off credible, effective elections; they were:
the security situation; the behavior and
relationship between parties and candidates;
citizens’ knowledge of the electoral process;
the role of domestic observers and political party
agents in each election; and women’s political
participation in the transition.
Read on…
(Back
to Headlines)
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It’s
biodegradable. It’s renewable. It has the advantages of
dramatically reduced sulfate and hydrocarbon emissions,
and reduced particulate matter. It is nontoxic, and does
not damage water quality. It’s made from materials
available locally. That seems fair.
 The
two most traded goods in the world are coffee and oil. The
U.S is the biggest consumer of both. Currently, we consume
17 gallons of coffee a year and 20 million barrels of oil
per day (mb/d). The oil market, like coffee, is dominated
by a few large multinational companies that set and
control industry prices. Over the last thirty years both
commodities have been subject to a volatile market place.
Coffee prices have dropped while oil prices have
consistently risen.
Petroleum
based fuel is dominant in the U.S. energy market, meeting
almost 40 percent of total U.S. energy needs.
Transportation (personal cars and trucks, freight hauling,
airlines, shipping, and railroads) is responsible for the
largest portion of U.S. oil consumption, and it is the
fastest growing sector in terms of oil consumption. Our
current system is so dependent on petroleum based fuel
that if we were suddenly without it food would not be
delivered to stores, most people could not get to work
without it, and most of the transportation system would
shut down. U.S. domestic oil production has been declining
since its peak in 1970 while total U.S. oil consumption
has been increasing steadily since the mid-1980s. By 2025,
if nothing changes, the U.S. will be consuming more than
28 mb/d. With this increase in demand, the U.S. will need
to import more than 70 percent of its needs.
Read
on…
(Back
to Headlines)
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by
Andy Lambert
 On
Sunday, September 26, along with Lynn Hoffman of the
Minneapolis-based Domestic Fair Trade Group, I
attended an uplifting presentation. A group from the
Nueva Vida Fair Trade Women's Sewing Cooperative (Nueva
Vida) from Ciudad Sandino, Nicaragua told their
story at St. Martin's Table in the
Cedar/Riverside neighborhood of south Minneapolis.
Commonly
referred to as "ants that move mountains,"
the women from Nueva Vida started with nothing and
built a successful worker-owned sewing cooperative
in the mountains of Nicaragua. At the
presentation, Ruth Mena and Yadira Meza, board
president of Nueva Vida, told an inspiring
story of the motivated, self-reliant, and determined women
of Nueva Vida. Five years ago, Hurricane Mitch
destroyed the Nueva Vida village near Managua,
Nicaragua. Thousands were left jobless and
homeless. As a result, many women were forced
to work in "maquilas," also known as
sweatshops. With the help of Jubilee House and
Maggie's Clean Clothes, Nueva Vida has broken free
from the "Free Trade Zones" where maquilas
do business for their corporate buddies including
Wal-Mart, Target, and Kohl's.
The
women of Nueva Vida earn 40% higher wages than those
who work in maquilas. On top of that, they OWN the business.
Worker-owned cooperatives are guided by the
principles of participatory democracy. Nueva
Vida prides themselves on the ability to offer high
quality garments at competitive prices, giving you
the ability to purchase sweat-free clothing while
helping to improve the lives of their cooperative
members. Peace Coffee understands the importance of
supporting initiatives like Nueva Vida, so we
purchase all of our t-shirts from their cooperative.
To learn more about Nueva Vida or to read
biographies of their members, please visit www.fairtradezone.jhc-cdca.org/.
If you’d like to purchase a "Don’t Just Do
It, Do it with Justice: Support Fair Trade"
t-shirt sewn by the women’s cooperative and
printed locally by a union shop check click here.
The
event was sponsored by North Country Fair Trade, Ten
Thousand Villages, Campaign for Labor Rights,
Nicaragua Network, Presbyterian Hunger Program,
Resource Center of the Americas, and SweatFree
Communities.
(Back
to Headlines)
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 A
Beautiful Urban Marathon
On
October 3rd Peace Coffee employee Melanee Meegan
completed her second Twin Cities Marathon. The
Peace Coffee Crew was stationed at mile 18 handing
out water and cheering on runners. The race course
was flooded with sunshine and fall colors. No
runner could have asked for a better day to run
26.2 miles.
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 2nd
Annual Day of the Dead Procession on the Greenway,
Saturday, October 30th, 2004
Minneapolis
multimedia artists, Victor Yepez and Constanza
Carballo, the Midtown Greenway Coalition and Peace
Coffee invite community members of all ages to
beautify and enhance the Midtown Greenway with a
procession and celebration in observance of the
holiday Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).
Artist’s altars (ofrendas) will line the edges
of the Greenway honoring the lives of friends and
family members. The procession will include an
opening ceremony, lanterns, decorated bikes,
puppets and dancing. All are invited to join us in
the procession as we bring offerings such as
candles and flowers to the individual altars.
Participants are encouraged to wear black and
white clothing, representing the traditional
skeleton symbol for the Day of the Dead Holiday.
For more information on this traditional holiday
go to www.inside-mexico.com/oscar.htm.
Event
Details (rain or shine):
4:00
p.m. Gather
at the Greenway entrance ramp at Nicollet Avenue
and 29th Street.
4:15 p.m. Opening
Ceremony, Call to the Four Directions.
4:30 p.m. Procession
begins and travels along at the Midtown Greenway
from Nicollet Avenue to Bryant Avenue, to the
Soluna-Arts Studio located at 2831 Aldrich Avenue.
5:45 p.m. Ceremonial
dancing, refreshments and music in the parking lot
at Soluna-Arts Studio (please wear warm clothing)
6:15 p.m. Celebration
continues with live music by Sin Nombre, Danza de
Venezuela, Rumba Eterna
For
more information contact Theresa Nelson at
612-879-0103
(Back
to Headlines)
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| We're
giving away coffee!
Think
you know a lot about coffee? Then enter our Fair
Grounds Trivia Contest. Click
here for our question of the month. Entering is easy
and it's FUN!
The
Coffee Knowledge winner for last month is Trish
Flock-Johnson of Minneapolis,
MN, who knew that Brazil (A) produced a scented
postage stamp in 2001 to promote its coffee. Congratulations,
Trish!
(Back
to Headlines)
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"You
must believe that you can help bring about a
better world. A good society is produced only by
good individuals, just as truly as a majority in a
presidential election is produced by the votes of
single electors."
--
Bertrand Russell
(Back
to Headlines) |
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Fair
Grounds is produced by:
Cooperative
Coffees
Contact
Information:
Orders
and General Information
Phone - 612.870.3440 or 1.888.324.7872
Fax - 612-677-3989
E-Mail - info@peacecoffee.com
Web - http://www.peacecoffee.com
Peace
Coffee Crew*:
Anna
Canning
Beth Backen
Rachel Hiltsley
Andy
Lambert
Melanee Meegan
Michelle Ramier
Jamie
Schumacher
TJ Semanchin
Scott Patterson
*We
work together to get the coffee out to our customers.
Although we have specific job titles, we all take turns
switching roles and putting in time where it's needed
most.
Peace
Coffee Bikers*:
Brad
Wilson
*Our bikers pack a mean trailer full of coffee. They are
speedy as speedy gets. Watch out, when they are on the
street, they mean business!
Fair
Grounds is designed by:
Starstruck
Design
335 West Gill Road
Gill, MA 01376
Contact
Information:
Don Kruger
Lynn Nichols
Phone - 413.863.7752
Fax - 413-863-7752
Web -
http://www.starstruckdesign.com
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Our e-mail is info@peacecoffee.com
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