Michael writes:
>I worry less about "unattractive" coffee cups than I do about the waste of
>resources from Starbuck's, etc., cups made of tree flesh. And, what about
the
>politics of coffee? How many indigenous cultures have gone under due to the
>world's appetite for this addictive, though FDA-approved, Colombian
stimulant?
I think Starbuck's presents an easy target. I don't think Starbuck's is more profligate in its wasting of resources than other food production sources. We can level the same charges against consumers of meat, people who buy non-locally grown produce, etc...altohugh, I do think those practices are more wasteful of resources. I also think it's facile to claim that *coffee* in and of itself was the reason for the destruction of indigenous cultures, but I will assume you were making a rhetorical, rather than a substantive point.
If your problem is with the coffee-consuming culture that has been popularized and homogenized by Starbuck's, then say that.
Why aren't unattractive cups and bad food worth worrying about?
Frances