"Give me a place to stand and I will move the earth."             Archimedes       In early 1997 I read a story in the local paper about how coffee agriculture was causing critical declines in migratory songbird populations. I wasn't a birder and not particularly fond or knowledgeable about coffee, but the article prompted a voice within me. "How wrong is it that a non-food commodity, a low grade stimulant, could be responsible for the decline and perhaps eventual extinction of beautiful species of birds?" With every journey there is that first step.       I began to follow a thread that lead through a continuing labyrinth. There were, and continue to be, many revelations along the way. I began to learn about birds, about coffee, about non-profit organizations and the many intricacies and frustrations of trying to develop funding resources. Not unlike Archimedes trying to find that place to stand.       I was invited to speak on a panel at the 1998 Specialty Coffee Association of America's Sustainable Coffee Conference. I was to speak for the efficacy of shade grown coffee and why it was so important to the survival of the birds. As I began to falter in making my point to this unique audience of coffee business people I realized that I had a tool that would serve me better in making my point: my guitar. I picked it up and sang a song I had written for Hazel Wolf on her 100th birthday, "A Rare Bird." The power of song has saved me on many occasions.       I won't go into the complexities of coffee or birding, but what is important is that the realization that coffee is the second largest legally traded commodity after oil caused some of the scales to fall from my eyes. I also began to realize that the beautiful, brightly colored birds that return to us in the spring have been wintering in what is largely coffee country. As the trees began to go so the threat to these birds, and many other species, including the human, began to grow. I also began to understand that coffee is the "commodity of dialogue" and in that dialogue there were possibilities.       There are many economies in the tropical zones of the Earth for which coffee is the chief export and many lives, both human and other, as well as significant ecosystems, are dependent on the way coffee has been traditionally raised: under a forested-canopy of trees.       What began to replace traditional Latin American coffee farms in the late 1970's and early 1980's, largely because of funding from US/AID, are what are called "technified" or 'sun-grown" coffee farms. The trees are cut and sun-tolerant coffee plants replace the heirloom varieties of coffee. These new hybrids require increasing amounts of pesticides, fungicides and fertilizers because they have no natural diversity on which they can rely. This is an American agricultural model that has "seemingly" proven successful in the United States over the last fifty or so years.       I believe there is a fundamental deception here, however. With higher yields come lower prices for the farmers and often lower quality. This in countries where there are no large farm subsidies. Why would anyone want this? It's the game of "cheap". Selling large volume over quality creates a competitive model in which only a few big companies, and countries, can survive. Look at American agri-business and tell me who is surviving and who is losing their land.       Until a relatively few years ago Vietnam was not a significant producer of coffee, but with the aid of the World Bank and enthusiastic support of coffee companies that buy and sell low quality, cheap coffee they began to become the second largest producer of coffee in the world, after Brazil. And, with their entrance into the world of coffee they began to play the spoiler role.       World coffee prices began to tumble to all-time lows from which they have not recovered and show no sign of doing so in the short term. In this crisis caused by the glut of coffee, coffee workers have lost their ability to earn their meager livings and coffee farmers are losing their lands. The Latin American coffee producing countries are being told by the World Bank and others that they need to diversify and perhaps agree to "fast track" their economies. Their losses will be our losses, as well.       The most important epiphany I have had is that the people who live and work in the environments we wish to preserve are the natural stewards of those environments. Without their willingness and concern, and the fair payment for their labors, we will never succeed in saving the environments now threatened. By investing equitably in those who share these environments, we invest in the future in which we all must live.       Real change comes when we decide to make a world of difference with the real power, perhaps the only real power that we have, our ability to purchase products and services of our choosing. When those choices are sustainable we have set a course for a future that has hope in it and not the desolation and devastation of a world where only the anguished and angry voices of the human species are heard.       In the end it is the voice that is the true lever and fulcrum of which Archimedes dreamed. By voicing your concerns and by choosing shade grown, organic and Fair Trade coffees you are helping to protect the birds, the land, and the people who struggle to care for it in making their living. It may be only a cup of coffee to you and me, but it's the world to them. Danny O'Keefe The Songbird Foundation The Songbird Foundation was established in 1997 by singer, songwriter and activist Danny O'Keefe. O'Keefe is best known for his recording of the top ten hit "Goodtime Charlie's Got The Blues."