Java jolt
A UVic student is determined to change social injustice one coffee bean at a time

by Joy Poliquin

Coffee is the perfect eye-opener. At least, Laure Waridel hopes it will be. The UVic student's book Coffee with Pleasure: Just Java and World Trade, examines the negative effects of plantation-grown coffee, and educates readers to an alternativeproducts grown by fair trade co-ops.

Waridel, who graduates this fall with a master's in environmental studies, wrote her thesis on sustainable coffee, looking at how fair trade, organic and shade-grown coffee could further develop in North America. Coffee with Pleasure was a part of this thesis.

Social and environmental issues have always been of interest to Waridel. Born in Switzerland, she grew up in Quebec, and at 19 travelled to West Africa, where she first witnessed the benefits of fair trade.

"I remember seeing a woman drying mangoes as part of a women's co-op," she says. "This was in a very Muslim area where women have little economic power, but this was a way for them to make a little money on their own." Waridel saw that farmers who sell their products through a co-operative are guaranteed prices and produce a higher-quality end product. Those who work for plantations receive almost nothing in return.

After Africa, Waridel returned to Quebec to complete a degree in sociology and international development studies, but was restless to do more. "I wanted to see how our economic system could change," she says. "I realized that I can't change the world but I could at least try to work on some kind of solution to social and environmental exploitation."

Her desire for change took her to Mexico in 1996, where she and photographer Eric St. Pierre spent the summer in a small town involved in a coffee co-op. "We lived with the people and saw what it meant in their daily lives to be involved in fair trade," she says. "What struck me was the dignity these people had, and that they had more control over their lives." The photos taken that summer are used in Coffee With Pleasure.

"For me, it was very important to share this knowledge, to stick the book on a library shelf," she says. "We need to have more people know about fair trade, and to understand that as individuals we have a lot more power than we think, that as consumers we have choices. We can put pressure on corporations and have a positive influence."

Waridel says fair trade coffee is cropping up across Canada and that, although it may cost a little more, the quality is higher and it's worth it. "A good gourmet cup of coffee is nice for your taste buds and good for your mind and soul, because you know that people haven't been exploited, and you've contributed to positive change."

For the past two years, while writing her thesis, Waridel worked as a columnist for Radio Canada, focusing on consumer choices, organic agriculture and socially responsible investments. She also co-founded Equiterre, a non-profit organization that raises awareness about environmental and social justice issues.

The next year will bring big changes for Waridel, who is pregnant and expecting any day. "I'm going to be a mother full-time," she says, "but still I want to keep educating people about social injustice. We're changing the world every day and our impact is much bigger than we realize."

Normand Blouin / Stock Photography Agency