"I married St. Francis"

I saw this map today in a link ("40 Maps That Will Help You Make Sense of the World") sent to me by a friend:

Worldwide Annual Coffee Consumption Per Capita

I was disappointed, however, that the next map on the list wasn't this one, nor was it anywhere to be found on the list (I found it on TargetMap.com):

Total Coffee Production of Exporting Countries

Except for Brazil, the two maps barely overlap.  

If all coffee were Fair Trade, this would be an uplifting example of global coexistence and cooperation—those who live in climates conducive to coffee-growing supply those of us who don't with something we love.  The truth is unfortunately much less positive.  Given the economic and ecological exploitation of most coffee production, these two maps instead show how those of us in the Advantaged World live on the backs of those in the Disadvantaged World.

I drink coffee pretty much every day.  The only non-Fair Trade coffee I buy now is Nescafé instant, which we drank a lot of in Turkey two years ago and I still feel sentimental about.  Plus, I'm not a morning person and it comes in handy when I'm running late.  I live on the backs of the Disadvantaged when I'm too lazy to get out of bed in time to brew Fair Trade coffee.  

[photo credit:  avianinstitute.com]

My next step towards global coexistence and cooperation is to step up my coffee supply to shade-grown Fair Trade.  Harder to find in the local grocery stores, and a little more expensive to buy, but well worth the benefits to the rainforests and all who live there, like birds.  I like birds.  We happened on a little yellow-throated vireo

today on the sidewalk outside a music shop.  It must have flown into the window and stunned itself because it let me pick it up and carry it over to the bushes where it wouldn't get stepped on.  Watching me, James said, "I married St. Francis."