So this is what happens in the Student Confederation after the student body makes its position known in Eagle online quizzes and RHA surveys. When faced with the fact that the majority of students would prefer a Pura Vida to a Starbucks, Andrew Mullen, a member of the GA said, "Well, we don't ask the student body about every decision we make, and we're the ones who get to make the decision." A little while later, he said, "I want Mexican farmers to suffer." Was it a joke? If so, it wasn't a very good one, because that will literally be the result of picking Starbucks over Pura Vida.
The GA debate was full of misinformation. Looking very proud of himself, Mullen insisted that "with Starbucks, you have a choice between being a hippie and a capitalist." Notwithstanding the intention to de-legitimize anyone with a desire to be socially responsible by calling him a hippie, this statement is simply untrue. At Starbucks, the only thing that is fair trade is its brew coffee, which is only available one week out of the month and is only one type of its wholesale coffee. All espresso-based drinks, food items and other brewed coffee (the rest of the month) is not fair trade and cannot be made fair trade.
While we are correcting some misinformation, a recent opinion piece written by Ibbie Hedrick clouded the debate further and must be addressed. Since when did asking questions and omitting the readily available answers constitute good journalism? To answer her question "wouldn't it be more environmentally sound to grow 100 percent shade-grown coffee?"... Pura Vida does! Yes, it is 100 percent fair trade (in coffee, tea and chocolate!), yes it is third-party certified (why are you are doubting it then if it won the Better Business Bureau Award of 2004?), yes it is 100 percent shade-grown (which coffee experts agree is better tasting), and yes it is 100 percent organic.
As for the idea that Pura Vida discriminates against third-world growers who are not fair trade, it is a known fact that many growers grow coffee that could be certified as fair trade, but at this point there are not enough fair-trade buyers, so they do not get the fair-trade price for it. Finally, to address the argument that globally Starbucks buys more fair-trade coffee than anyone else, it's true, its 1.6 percent fair-trade proportion translates into some huge numbers. But putting a Starbucks on our campus is not going to increase this number more than the once-a-month brew, while putting a Pura Vida on campus means the world benefits from a whole coffee shop's worth of fair-trade purchases. The best way to challenge Starbucks' dominance as a fair-trade purchaser is by CREATING MORE PURA VIDAS. So if you are sad that your mocha latte won't be made by slave labor, wipe your tears and walk one-eighth of a mile to the nearest Starbucks.
Rachel Wood is a sophomore in the School of International Service.
