In addition, they even calculated the amount of carbon dioxide that is released when Thanksgiving's customers brew their coffee — a whopping 1,000 tons. To offset that impact, the coffee company is partnering with Trees for the Future to plant an estimated 69,000 trees in the East African nation of Ethiopia, where some of the world's best coffee is grown.

Trees and other vegetation actually reduce global warming through photosynthesis, by "inhaling" carbon dioxide and "exhaling" oxygen. As part of their natural growth process, plants take carbon out of the atmosphere and put it back in the soil and biomass.

"The partnership with Trees for the Future is just one of a series of initiatives we have embarked upon to make our company more sustainable," says Thanksgiving CEO Paul Katzeff. "We recognize that true sustainability means not causing any harm, so we are continually taking steps to reduce our waste emissions at the source."

"We know that we cannot make up for the full environmental impacts of our operations," Katzeff added, "but we believe that this project will help offset our carbon emissions and have a beneficial effect on the lives of thousands of Ethiopian families."

At a cost of 90 dollars per acre, Thanksgiving Coffee will fund the planting of 21,000 trees the first year. The project will work with a local organization called Beam of Hope, in an area about 80 miles southwest of Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. The majority of the money will go to train local leaders in agro-forestry techniques.

In addition to offsetting greenhouse gases, the trees will provide multiple benefits to nearby residents such as fruit, medicines, wildlife habitat, erosion control, shade, and wood.

In Ethiopia, rural families spend an average of 25 person hours per week gathering and carrying wood, while the average urban family spends 35 percent of it's income purchasing firewood for cooking. Since 1970, more than 70 percent of Ethiopia's forests have been lost through burning for fuel and the clearing of land for livestock grazing and agriculture, including coffee production.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), more than 110,000 acres of forest are lost world-wide every day. Economic considerations, increases in population, urbanization, and more intensive cultivation are the main reasons these forest are being cut.

Studies by the World Resources Institute (WRI) show that over the past 150 years, deforestation has contributed an estimated 30 percent of the atmospheric build-up of carbon dioxide. Projected increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations are expected to account for roughly half of the global warming that occurs over the next several decades.

For nearly 30 years, Trees for the Future has promoted and supported sustainable land use in cooperation with local communities around the world. They have developed tree planting projects in Central America, Southeast Asia, West Africa, and East Africa. In 2001, they are working with local groups in 16 countries.

Thanksgiving Coffee's partnership with Trees for the Future is the latest in a series of efforts to address the impacts of coffee consumption. Other projects include a worm farm used to compost the parchment layer of the coffee bean (which comes off in the roasting process), an expanded recycling program, and retrofitting all of the company's lights with energy-efficient compact fluorescent ballasts and light bulbs.

For more information about Thanksgiving Coffee, its tree-planting program or Trees for the Future, or other sustainability efforts, contact Thanksgiving Coffee at (707) 964-0118 or visit www.thanksgivingcoffee.com