For Earth Month this year, I decided to flex my creativity skills and grow awareness around coffee’s connection to climate change; And in doing so, joined this year’s Our Planet Week illustration challenge. For the challenge, participants were asked to create 6 environmental awareness art pieces based on 6 prompts; Of course, all of mine had to connect to coffee as well!
Each of these creations was made by me and posted to She Grows Coffee Instagram during April/May 2022; And during this time, the organization, One Tree Planted, was busy planting 1 tree for every illustration created (a major reason for my participation) … So the following illustrations don’t just generate coffee awareness, they also planted 6 trees ♡
Prompt 1: Earth Day
This ‘Earth Day’ concept art was inspired by the idea of a Northern (hence the conifer forest) coffee consumer pausing to reflect on how we impact the Earth in our daily lives. It was created in conjunction with an Earth Day blog post that includes my personal ‘Lifestyle List’ for a Cooler Planet.
Prompt 2: Green Living
“Green Living” is about making daily lifestyle choices with the planet in mind … And while our coffee (drug) habit is not green (for many reasons), most of us drink coffee every day and have the power to adjust our habit to be greener. Brewing our own coffee at home, instead of making flavoured street coffees our source of daily caffeine, is one of the simplest things we can do to live green-er with coffee.
Prompt 3: Oceans
Coffee and ocean life are connected! Coffee grows in tropical forests, which tend to be located not far from sandy coastlines, or are at least connected to them by the region’s watersheds. Coffee production issues include: ✘ Pesticide and intensive agrochemical run-off from coffee farming (pollutes waterways and drains into oceans). ✘ Land and soil erosion from tree loss diversity. Some possible solutions include: ✔ Organic (as possible) coffee farming. ✔ Clean washing and processing of coffee (ex. sedentary washing ponds that filter water). ✔ Good regional land-use planning (i.e. enriched forestry management for erosion).
Prompt 4: Breathe
Breathing (and coffee) is life! We take approximately 17,000 breaths each day without even a thought. That’s powerful stuff. So much power that tapping into the source can also be an excellent way to relax and heal. Breathe and coffee are both essentials to so many of us! So when you need a little TLC, brew yourself a hot cup and remember that the breath is always there for you. Breathe deep and listen to the inner ecosystem.
Prompt 5: Climate Heroes
“Seed is not just the source of life. It is the very foundations of our being,” says Dr. Vandana Shiva, and farmers who save their own seeds are climate heroes! These farmers are the true guardians and coffee beans are also seeds! (That’s right, those little brown beans are the roasted seeds of cherries that grow on a coffee bush). Dr. Vandana Shiva is one of my personal climate heroes, who defends the little seeds with a big message. She’s a scholar, food sovereignty advocate, ecofeminist, and environmental activist, often referred to as the “Ghandi of grain”. She advocates for farmers to save their own seeds, rather then allow giant seed CO’s like Bayer/Monsanto control the world’s food supply. In short, without seed security there’s no life … and without seed sovereignty, food security and freedom are challenged. It’s easy to forget about the importance of seeds when we’re not farmers, so may our morning cups of coffee be a reminder that seeds are all around us and need our protection.
Prompt 6: One Tree Planted
One tree planted … wouldn’t even cover the cost of a cup of coffee in CO2 emissions … it’s a sad truth. Trillions of trees, years of growth, and real ecosystems are needed. Natural forest regeneration (a.k.a. “rewilding”) is the proven, most effective, and lowest cost solution to climate change, and tree-planting is an amazing act that can help that process.
I really hope you enjoyed these and learned something new! If you did, tell me about it in the comments below ˋ°•*⁀➷
