Coffee from Green Mountain and Jane Goodall to Save Chimp Habitat
Earlier this week Green Mountain Coffee Roasters unveiled its latest coffee, Gombe Reserve–In Cooperation with the Jane Goodall Institute. “Green Mountain Coffee Roasters has always had a values-driven approach to coffee, believing that coffee can help the greater good. We’re thrilled to work with the Jane Goodall Institute to bring this great coffee to market and, ultimately, protect the chimps,” says Lindsey Bolger, director of coffee sourcing and relationships for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters.
The coffee is grown by members of the Kalinzi Cooperative, a group of 2,700 small-scale farmers who live near Gombe National Park in Tanzania. The park is the site of Dr. Goodall’s groundbreaking research into chimp behavior, and the world’s longest-running field study of a wild chimpanzee group continues there today.
Just outside the park, however, social and economic pressures are closing in. A burgeoning human population struggling to survive has effectively deforested the land all around Gombe National Park. And this area is not alone. Chimpanzees in the wild are on the brink of extinction. At the turn of the last century, about 1 million chimpanzees lived in 25 countries across western and central Africa. Today, their number has dwindled to perhaps fewer than 200,000, with significant populations found in only four countries.
Coffee can help provide a solution. Because coffee beans thrive under the shade of a forest canopy, they grow in harmony with chimps. Coffee farming gives farmers an incentive to preserve the forest, and a chance at economic stability.
“Our effort to involve local citizens in restoring the forests and practicing sustainable agriculture is the most important work we can do to ensure a future for the Gombe chimpanzees and the people of Africa,” said Dr. Goodall.
This unique coffee, described to have “floral top notes and vibrant flavors of tropical fruit” will be available for a limited time online at www.GreenMountainCoffee.com/Gombe. The 12-oz. bag sells for $17.95.
Source: Business Wire
Photo: Green Mountain Coffee
