Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Post Tagged 'coffee'

August 28, 2019

Ignoring the invisible

I have been thinking a lot about all of the invisible things around us, important foundational things that we take for granted.  Because they don’t immediately manifest themselves to our attention we can forget about them if we are not careful. Continue Reading...
October 26, 2016

Why coffee tasting matters to God

Does the work of a coffee buyer have an impact that stretches on into eternity? Does coffee tasting matter to God? In a new video from Chapel Hill Bible Church, coffee taster and buyer Jeff McArthur shares how he came to see the deeper meaning of his work, both in the day-to-day trades and exchanges with his customers and community and in the relational ripple effects that reach on into the broader economic order. Continue Reading...
May 10, 2016

Seeing the Creator Through Coffee

“Good work…does not disassociate life and work, or pleasure and work, or love and work.” These words, written by Wendell Berry, pulse throughout the work of Laremy De Vries, owner and chef of The Fruited Plain Café, a sandwich and coffee shop in Sioux Center, Iowa. Continue Reading...
July 16, 2014

A Better Way to Fair Trade?

A few months ago, the Fairtrade movement came under fire after a British study stated that fairtrade certified farmers were actually making less  and were working in worse conditions than non-certified farmers. Continue Reading...
July 08, 2013

Is Fair Trade Coffee Curing Poverty?

“Who could be against fairness?” Victor Claar asked this question at Acton University last month. He and Travis Hester gave a talk titled, “Fair Trade Versus Free Trade” with their focus on the coffee industry. Continue Reading...
July 19, 2010

Fair Trade: Rhetoric and Reality

The NYT Freakonomics blog notes that the Fair Trade movement does not exist independently of the laws of economics: But the problem with Fair Trade coffee is that as the program scales up, the alternative market ethics it wants to sustain collapse. Continue Reading...
April 11, 2008

A newsworthy stimulus

Late last month I argued that recipients of the federal government’s stimulus package “should use this rebate money as they see fit, since they are the ones most familiar with their own situations and their own needs. Continue Reading...
October 04, 2007

Fair Trade’s Faded Facade

The Free Exchange blog at Economist.com (HT) concludes a long and thoughtful post on fair trade, specifically in response to this recent NYT article, “Fair Trade in Bloom,” by wondering: And how does this affect coffee supply? Continue Reading...
August 24, 2007

Coffee, Capitalism, and Corporate Encroachment

Railing against corporate dictatorship, delocator.net helps consumers find locally-owned cafes, bookstores, and movie theatres in their area — alternatives to the “invasion” of Starbucks, Borders, and their ilk. The site itself is actually quite an interesting capitalist idea in its freshness and creativity, and people certainly should eat or drink or shop where they are most comfortable. Continue Reading...