Coffee People ft. Etelle Higonnet, Coffee Watch
We spent an hour being uplifted by the optimism of Etelle Higonnet. She is the founder of Coffee Watch, a non-profit industry watchdog that just celebrated their one year anniversary.
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Guests: Etelle Higonnet, Founder of Coffee Watch
Based: Copenhagen, Denmark + The World
What they drink: Oat Milk Lattes
Find Coffee Watch Online: www.coffeewatch.org
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Watch or Listen to the full episode right here!
The first episode of any season is nerve-wracking. Despite the 15 finished seasons (some of them pretty good), I am always anxious in the days leading up to chatting with a coffee person, knowing that this platform is responsible for sharing someone's story with all of you.
This episode came with a new kind of stress, as my partner in life was waylaid by Covid-19 for the first time, and we were isolating on different sides of the house we've been renting in Oregon. All that pandemic anxiety we had hoped would be in the rearview came rushing back—masks, uncertainty, health insurance, isolation, and on, and on.
What does any of that have to do with our Coffee People guest Etelle Higonnet?* For starters, it was a great reminder that we directly impact the other humans around us, and are also responsible for the impacts we have on them. It's what I took to be the core of the Coffee Watch mission.
The industry of coffee and our desire to drink the beverage impacts other people around the world in a multitude of ways. Etelle's work with Coffee Watch—a non-profit watchdog—is designed to investigate those impacts, share the information, and seek reform opportunities that prevent deforestation, worker exploitation, and negative climate impacts that lead us further away from the goal of stemming the warming of Planet Earth.
Consider the first whole paragraph on the About page of the website. "Our resolve is unyielding. The coffee industry must change. The dark and bitter days of slavery, child labor, deforestation, and pesticide-soaked monoculture must end. It is not acceptable for millions of coffee farmers to be earning under one dollar a day. We stand firm against the shadows of injustice and champion a new dawn of sustainability and equity."
The language on the Coffee Watch is strong. Unyielding. Must change. Must end. Pesticide-soaked. Not acceptable. Shadows of injustice. These are not the words of someone thinking change is going to be easy-peasy, snap our fingers, presto-chang-o, and fixed!
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And yet, Etelle practically oozes positivity and optimism during our conversation. I came prepared to be overwhelmed by the weight of the challenge of climate change activism in coffee. I wasn't prepared for my shield of cynicism to be dented.
When I questioned how this version of humanity can maintain the viewpoint that things can get better in the face of a daily barrage of negative news and a seeming lack of control over the whole Earth of problems that encompass the climate change problem. Etelle acknowledged the very real challenges, but also said that having a son cemented her resolve to fight with everything she has to make the world a better place for him and his future.
I left our conversation thinking more intensely about my coffee-drinking habits and what my morning coffees say about my intentions toward humanity. That sounds deeper than it was, but part of a watchdog organization's role is to make the rest of us think about our impact on the other humans around us. In an ideal world, we'll find ways to uplift those humans or the future of humans for no other reason than we're all in this together—like it or not.
*Pronounced EE-go-nay...I think.
"If you can imagine Greenpeace hooking up with Amnesty International, and having a baby, and that baby just wants to work on coffee—That's Coffee Watch.”
• Etelle Higonnet
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COFFEEWATCH.ORG
There is a lot to digest on the Coffee Watch website, including a guide to ethical coffee buying, which isn't as black and white as one would hope. Acknowledging the gray areas and pushing forward with "better" is a win. Some suggestions include buying coffee with a combination of overlapping certifications, seeking out shade-grown, organic coffees, and understanding that there is no quick fix to the problem.
PODCAST TAKEAWAYS:
It's come to our attention that our e-mailed newsletter can be a bit...dense. We've taking the initiative to create a new recap episode of each podcast. If you're watching or listening to the show, or signed up for our newsletter, a follow up podcast will show up in your feed.
If you prefer to read the takeaways, you'll still find them here in the Coffee People newsletter, just in their own space. Click through for the recap of the interview featuring Etelle Higonnet of Coffee Watch.
Ryan Woldt
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