Comments on: Starbucks Eco-frustration

By: XT Jade

XT Jade — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 05:16:45 +0000

A little over a year ago I got a travel mug for my friend and I. It’s spill proof so I can toss it in my bag and go. It has been at least 8 Months since I left home without it. I am Earth conscious, but not as much as I could be ( still working on it). This has been one of the easiest and best little changes I have made.

On my usual I hit the coffee shops or coffee bar 2 times to fillup with hot water - I love my tea aswell. Then 2 or 3 times for coffee. With out a reusable mug I could be looking at 4 or 5 in the trash each day out.

The best part about bringing my mug is not only do I get the convience of the to go, but my coffee stays nice and hot longer. Once you start useing them it’s hard to go with-out.

By: Erin

Erin — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:10:56 +0000

I live in Albany, NY and I recently saw a sign in my starbucks saying that if you’re gonna stick around ask for a mug! It might just be mine though, they’re really good about doing a lot of the corporate eco-stuff. They have out bags of coffee grounds every day for gardeners and encourage ppl to bring travel mugs. I have a problem with the big corporation thing too, but it’s right across from the law school and the indi-shops aren’t withing driving distance.

By: OctaVentiConPanna

OctaVentiConPanna — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:35:31 +0000

Back in the day, they used to have ceramic cups if you ask. Maybe they still do.

And they have the Venti, Grande, and Tall because its a sales thing. They don’t want you to feel you got anything but something that was BIG. So all the sizes are big. It’s all good. Just remember that Tall is small and small is Tall unless you want a “Short” which is smaller than a small which they call a Tall. The “Short” is not on the menu cuz they don’t want to introduce words into your subconscious to make you feel you’re getting shorted. Maybe they still have the “Short”. Just ask.

By: igreenspot

igreenspot — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:39:20 +0000

next time, bring your own mug and ask them to fill it !

By: E.R. Dunhill

E.R. Dunhill — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:39:57 +0000

Starre,
Damn that powerful ceramic cup lobby.

By: greg

greg — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:55:34 +0000

I have been ranting about coffee places that need to offer real, adult ceramics for adults to drink from for years.

“Eco” all you want, the truth is that:
* A paper cup makes your beverage taste like, well, paper. Scientific and marketing research have proven that the vessel used for serving a beverage has an impact to a customer’s overall enjoyment with it.
* We’re not sitting around wearing party hats at the birthday party of some four-year-old. So why are we drinking our coffee like we are? Adult cups for an adult beverage for adult drinkers, OK?

If you’re going to offer us some of the freshest coffee beans around, have it carefully roasted to perfection, serve it by skilled baristas, and then charge us $1.65 for the experience — why make us feel like we’re taking a pregnancy test down at the free clinic?

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:31:13 +0000

Thanks for writing about this! It drives me crazy all these people sitting in the cafe with their to-go cups. It’s absolute madness. What’s even more brutal is that if you talked to a lot of these people, they’d tell you that they’re concerned about deforestation, climate change, and so on.

Even when I took political ecology courses at university, there are people bringing a trowaway cup to class every time….how hard is it to bring a reusable mug??? Ridiculous people.

cheers,

By: Starre

Starre — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:17:38 +0000

sorry, I was inadvertantly signed in under my roomies’ name.

By: Starre

Starre — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:17:01 +0000

ctf- point taken. I think I will be going there less now (also now spring is here!) after thinking about it this much. Maybe I can arrange them to give me a shot of caffeine in my arm next time (ahhhh!!! medical waste!) :)

By: Socialpyramid

Socialpyramid — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:16:29 +0000

By: ctf

ctf — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:51:25 +0000

No,the way to stop Starbucks -screw the planet and close down local business - attitude is to stop using Starbucks.

Using your logic we should all buy fur coats in an attempt to influence the manufacturers to stop wearing fur.

By: person

person — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 09:09:41 +0000

And blog posts are supposed to be researched and two-sided? What? I thought we leave that for the newspapers. I don’t understand why people expect blogs to be up to par with newspaper writing because 1] they don’t have the pressure to be and 2] as it is a blog, it is biased. Starre is writing from the view of an environmentalist. If you had your own blog titled, “I hate enviros,” I’m pretty sure it would be different.
In America, people actually give you a pretty hard time about it. At the university restaurant I frequent, I brought back the same plastic bowl they put the bread bowl with clam chowder in and I just got weird looks. It’s really discouraging actually so I don’t even eat there anymore. But you made me realize, I do have to cut down on consuming disposables. Thanks for the great post!

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:42:15 +0000

Maybe you should start bringing your own mug instead of expecting someone else to change. This is like politicians and celebrities crying about oil, then flying about their worthless lives in their fancy jets.

You also didn’t address all the resources used up in creating, distributing, storing, maintaining, and disposing of mugs. I don’t know what they are, but I am sure they are at least equal or greater than the resources used by flimsy paper cups. Ceramics are pretty complex and probably pretty un-eco-friendly in the form that would be needed for Starbucks to maintain a reasonably price list.

You’ve provided a typical un-researched, one-sided blog post.

By: Starre

Starre — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:55:19 +0000

Schue, thanks for writing in with your perspective! Like I said I’ve never seen or been told there were mugs at Starbucks when I asked at all the places I’ve been to so it’s news to me. As far as having the space and the manpower to wash the mugs, a) they seem to manage this problem in other countries just fine and b) seems like it would be another job for someone who might need one.

And ctf, if us environmentalists aren’t pushing Starbucks’ to change (and know how they work) then who will?