NEW LINE OF ‘SHADE GROWN' COFFEES HELPS BATS HANG AROUND

FORT BRAGG, CA (Jan. 2, 2002) — Thanksgiving Coffee Company, a northern California coffee and tea purveyor specializing in sustainable and socially responsible business practices, has launched a new line of "bat friendly" coffees that help to protect bat habitat and raise public awareness about threats to the survival of these furry fliers.

    Many bat species live in endangered forests that are increasingly threatened by human activities, including coffee production. To prevent this, Thanksgiving's new Bat Magic coffee is "shade grown," meaning that the farmers leave the forest intact and raise their crops beneath the leafy canopy, instead of cutting down the trees to make space for coffee cultivation.

    Shade growing provides food and shelter for both native bats and migratory species that spend the winter in the coffee-growing regions of Mexico and Central America. The bats eat the insects that feed on coffee plants — eliminating the need for pesticides — and help to maintain the forest ecosystem by dispersing seeds and fertilizing the soil with their droppings.

    In addition to preserving bat habitat through shade growing, a percentage of each sale of Bat Magic coffee supports Bat Conservation International (www.batcon.org) and Wildlife Trust (www.wildlifetrust.org), two nonprofit environmental groups that are collaborating on grassroots bat conservation and public education projects around the world.

    Bat Conservation International is the world's premier bat conservation organization, with over 14,000 members in 62 countries working to protect bats and their habitats. Wildlife Trust is working with the Center for Conservation of Biodiversity in Guatemala to gather data on the diversity and abundance of bats living on shade-grown coffee plantations.

    "Conservationists recognize the key role bats play in keeping forests alive," said Mary Pearl, executive director of Wildlife Trust. "Thanksgiving Coffee is bringing this message to its customers in the most delicious way, while also promoting bat-friendly, shade-grown coffee."

    Bat Magic and other shade-grown organic coffees are part of Thanksgiving's ongoing efforts to support the work of various non-profit groups. Among its other progressive products are a line of Song Bird coffees, which benefits the American Birding Association; its End the Embargo on Cuba coffees, which support the U.S.-Cuba Sister Cities Association; and its Save Tibet Tea, which benefits Solutions in Action's projects for the exiled Tibetan community.

    Thanksgiving Coffee Company was founded in 1972, and is a recognized leader of the growing "fair trade" coffee movement, and in promoting sustainable and socially responsible business practices. It recently won an award from the State of California for its efforts to reduce waste, and is partnering with Trees for the Future, a nonprofit that is planting 21,000 trees in Ethiopia to offset the carbon emissions from the production and consumption of its coffee.


For more information on Thanksgiving's Bat Magic coffee, its full line of fair-trade organic and shade-grown coffees, and its commitment to sustainable and socially responsible business practices, visit www.thanksgivingcoffee.com or contact April Pojman, director of Social and Environmental Policy, at apojman@thanksgivingcoffee.com or (707) 964-0118, ext. 30.




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