Thursday, July 11, 2002


eloquence in defense of nature is a virtue

it's with great pleasure that i reprint in toto an email from danny o'keefe of the songbird foundation on the recent article in the wall st. journal [reprint on alt.coffee] addressing the world coffee crisis:


Fortune-

The WSJ article was a watershed piece that will be read by executives and board members alike. We are coming to a realizition that the way we have been doing business is so near-sighted that it may spell enormous problems for us in the near future. We are not alone on the planet and without a balance of relationships we shall surely fall. I often think of us like Rome, which was built on great principles learned from the Greeks and others and then corrupted by greed and over-reaching military power. In the end, the savages outside the gates brought it down. We are our "brothers" (and "sisters") keepers as they are ours. Often when we're talking about the plight of poor Latin Americans (we're all Americans in this hemisphere) eyes fall shut and ears cease to hear. Racism runs very deep in this country.

You start talking about the "war on drugs" that is being fueled by Latin America (it isn't, but it's always made to seem that way) and everyone gets up in arms and gives Congress a blank check. Paying fair prices and wages alleviates much of the dependency on drug cropping by people who were never enthusiastic about it because it destroys their communities as well. It also preserves economies hovering desperately on the brink of disaster.

I'll step off the soap box now as I've got a lot left to do today. Stay in touch.

Danny O'Keefe

The Songbird Foundation

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