To date more than 2.5 million acres of Central American rainforest have been destroyed or degraded to grow coffee. Most coffee plants grown are sun-loving -- a faster growing, more productive plant. Essential habitat to rainforest and migratory birds is being lost so that we can have our morning cup o’ joe while reading the news about habitat loss and climate change.

But there is an alternative that will reverse this trend. GrrlScientist, a senior contributor at Forbes, reports that shade grown coffees that are Bird-Friendly Certified “are guaranteed to support bird habitat” (Forbes, Bird-Friendly Coffees Really are for the Birds).

Some of you already brew this type of bean but, according to an online survey of members/donors of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, most of us don’t. Imagine if the 45 million bird fans in the US started buying Bird-Friendly Certified coffee? We would literally alter the landscape for the better. So wake up and smell the coffee – Bird-Friendly Certified that is.

Bird-Friendly Certified coffee is available online or locally at Whole Foods, Davis Food Coop and Wild Birds Unlimited. Be sure to look for the Smithsonian Bird-Friendly Certified label.