Guilt free Starbucks!

I have a confession. I love coffee and I love Starbucks. I love Caramel Machiatos and Frappachinos, Mochas and Cafe Estimas. What I don't love though is their lack of ethical practices. For many, Starbucks, along with Gap are the torch carriers for all that is wrong with commercial globalisation, and therefore should be avoided at all costs. However generally I'm of the opinion that boycotting doesn't work as a tactic for change (see No Logo by Naomi Klein and Lift the Label by Tearfund), and positive action is a far more effective route to challnging the behaviour of multinationals. So I have written letters and emails asking them to expand their fair trade range, and usually that results in a nice letter, but aso a large degree of fobbing off and excuses.
Imagine my delight then when on Sunday we headed to Starbucks for a Frappichino, and discovered the following sign...



Its a little blurred, so I'll make it clear! In March all of Starbucks espresso will become fair trade! This is great news as most of their drinks (lattes, machiatos etc) are based on espresso, and therefore making this change will benefit the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of coffee growers and plantation workers. Also (and with much less significance) it means that we can drink Starbucks coffee guilt free! Hooray for Starbucks!

I realise there are still plenty of things wrong with the way Starbucks does business, and the homgeonisation of society is not a good thing generally, so we should continue to write letters, kick up a fuss and frequent independent coffee houses. But in the mean time we should enjoy this victory and enjoy the fair trade coffee!