Rain Forests and Coffee

by Cayman
(Vancouver)

Coffee Plantation

Coffee Plantation

What do you know about changes in our rain forests?!? Are big coffee corporations cutting down our forests to grow their crops?! I need to know. The world needs to know.

Is Starbucks (and others) causing a problem, and should we do something about it?

Barry's Response - Good questions, Cayman. The diminishing of these forests for the use of mankind may or may not be a problem. We think it is and scientists can provide evidence to support that claim.

Corporate practices appear to make our natural environment worse, but we will only know for sure hundreds of years from now.

Want more details? See this article I wrote on rain forests.

Search this site for more information now.

Cosmic water pump, coffee, and clouds

đź’§Cayman, your question about Rain Forests and Coffee isn't just great; it's the philosophical espresso shot the world needs. We have to confront the ethics in our morning cup. The expansion of sun-grown coffee - where forests are cleared to maximize fast yields - appears to be a direct, measurable cause of deforestation.

The problem goes way beyond trees. A rainforest is the planet's biggest biogenic air quality system, a cosmic water pump. By transpiring (sweating) huge amounts of water vapor, tropical forests release latent heat and regulate rainfall miles away, a process that meteorologists call flying rivers. We shut off this massive pump when we cut down the forest to plant a sun-scorched Rain Forests and Coffee monoculture.

It reduces local rainfall, raises surface temperatures, and shifts convective rhythms, resulting in drier, hotter conditions interrupted by fewer but more violent storms. Local collapse of weather is often a bigger threat to the region's climate than global warming.

Furthermore,

standing rainforests emit biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs), like isoprene, which react in the atmosphere to form secondary organic aerosols (SOAs). Because of these SOAs, the rainforest literally makes its own rain. Coffee clearing with slash-and-burn is replacing natural, self-regulating VOC production with smoke, NOx, and soot (PM2.5), which disrupts cloud formation and darkens the sky. Smog replaces the forest's gentle, life-sustaining air chemistry with an aggressive, disruptive one.

Rain Forests and Coffee management need re-evaluation, not just environmental sentiment. In place of government regulation, we champion private stewardship - a credible conservative argument. Local communities and responsible corporations that value a forest for its shade-grown coffee and ecosystem services (clean air, water purification) have an incentive to defend it vigorously. Therefore, ethical action aligns perfectly with market mechanisms.

TAKE A SCIENTIFIC LOOK

This contention can be brought to life with an Interactive Agro-Tapestry Map. Over an image of a coffee region, visitors could drag a slider from "Sun-Grown" to "Shade-Grown". On the Sun-Grown side, the map displays high fertilizer NOx runoff and low BVOC emissions, while the Shade-Grown side shows high carbon sequestration and robust SOA seeding. It turns ethical complexity into a tangible, scientific decision. From "Is Starbucks bad?" to "How do we optimize the planet's hydro-meteorological system?"

Shade-grown coffee isn't just about consumer activism; it's about investing in the planet's primary weather machine. Earth's systems function on complex physical laws, so our stewardship must respect those laws over short-term profit.

Your Turn...

What's the weirdest thing Rain Forests and Coffee farms could do to improve air quality? Let us know what you're planning.

Comments for Rain Forests and Coffee

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starstarstarstarstar 		Good point
by: Anonymous

Definitely good point. I must admit that same things worry me as well. Today everything is powered by making bigger and bigger profit and sometimes it feels like we are digging our own grave.

From Barry - You've captured modern anxiety -- the sense that the relentless drive for "bigger and bigger profits" might be an existential, self-sabotaging game. This feeling of digging our own grave comes from seeing clear, local destruction (like clearing rainforests for sun-grown coffee) and projecting that onto the global system.

Science's ethics of integrity - a cornerstone principle - demands balance here. Deforestation for Coffee releases stored carbon and disrupts the weather by shutting down the "cosmic water pump" (transpiration). Stewardship fails here.

It's the vast, cosmic variables we talked about (Solar Cycles, Milankovitch orbital dynamics) that determine the long-term, multi-century climate trajectory. The local destruction must be condemned and the profit-driven mess must be fixed, but we must also recognize that these local failures don't equal total control. While fighting corporate greed, we don't give up on the scientific claim that humanity controls cosmic volume.
Rating
starstarstarstar 		How big of an impact do we really have?
by: Christine

I think most people agree that global warming is happening, but I know the extent that human behavior has on the progression of global warming isn't exactly known. I had read that they had found evidence of global warming on Mars or Venus.

If Starbucks cuts down a bunch of trees, did they actually change anything? Or is it like adding a thimble full of salt to ocean water to try to increase the salt levels?

But good article - would love to see a breakdown of which industries actually contribute the most to global warming.

From Barry - You've asked the million-dollar question that divides the scientific community: how big is the human signal? Your salt thimble analogy is brilliant and frames the debate perfectly.

It's true that atmospheric scientists don't exactly know how human behavior affects global temperature; it's a constant, complex subject of modelling and debate. Furthermore, the evidence of climate change on Mars (melting polar ice caps) and Venus (runaway greenhouse effect) proves that massive, planetary climate shifts happen entirely independently of humans, driven by orbital mechanics, solar output, and internal geological processes.

What happens when Starbucks or any corporation cuts down a lot of rainforest to grow coffee and rain forests? Yes, but the impact is wildly different locally versus globally:
- Local/Regional Impact (Massive): Deforestation fundamentally changes the climate. By cutting the rainforest, the trees can't transpire moisture and release BVOCs that seed clouds. It reduces rainfall, raises nighttime and daytime temperatures (less latent cooling), and worsens soil erosion, PM10. It's like dumping a whole bucket of salt in a local pond.
- Global Impact (Thimble): CO2 is a trace gas that contributes to global warming. It's true that every molecule counts, but CO2 is competing with huge, non-anthropogenic factors (like solar irradiance fluctuations or volcanic SO2 injections). Science supports the freedom of thought to wonder if the Sun's decadal intensity shifts dwarf all global industries combined.

Let's look beyond Rain Forests and Coffee to the truly massive contributors: cement and shipping. They produce immense volumes of CO2, NOx, and sulphur aerosols that dominate human global impact inventories.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Coffee? Maybe.
by: Theron

This is an excellent point to bring up Though, I must say, coffee? This type or industry maybe contributes very little to rain forest destruction compared to others.

I think we need to research some reliable information before we can come to a conclusion.
I would check out the rest of this website to maybe find some links to other factual based information. Thanks!

From Barry - Theron, you've introduced a crucial note of skepticism: is the coffee and rain forest industry the biggest villain? Yes, we need to research reliable information and compare industries. Cattle ranching and palm oil production are often statistically bigger drivers of tropical deforestation than coffee.

We focus on Rain Forests and Coffee because it offers a clear, ethical path to improvement. Shade-grown coffee (forest-like, high BVOC, low pollution) versus sun-grown coffee (deforestation-intensive, high fertilizer NOx output). We can choose the method that works with the forest's natural air quality and hydrology, illustrating ethical stewardship.

We'd like to answer your request for reliable info by launching a Global Commodity Index (GCI) that calculates the atmospheric burden of common goods—not just CO2, but also aerosols and NOx from their entire supply chain, so visitors like you can make your own conclusions.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Something to think about...
by: Anita

I completely agree that corporate practices appear to make our natural environment worse, but we will only know for sure hundreds of years from now, it will surely take time.

From Barry - It's great to hear you echo my initial sentiment that a definitive judgment "will surely take time." This long-term perspective highlights the importance of Rain Forests and Coffee.

To test our theories, we need paleoclimatology and the scientific method. It's not enough to wait hundreds of years; we have to dig into the past. Geology shows periods of high CO2 without human industrial activity, and periods of massive cooling with only minimal changes in CO2.

There's a lot of natural variability in the climate system that we're just starting to model. Despite the slow march of certainty, we use cutting-edge research to accelerate our understanding. Act responsibly now, but challenge all prevailing dogmas with data and skepticism.

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