Higher Grounds Trading Company
Roasting 100% Fair Trade and Organic Handcrafted Coffees
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Chiapas Water Project
Most of us take for granted the clean water that runs from our kitchen sink into our coffee pot as we brew our coffee each morning. But more than 1.1 billion people – a sixth of the world's population – do not have access to potable water.
Access to clean fresh water is a fundamental human right. Water fulfills our most basic need to exist. Yet, millions of people each year die because they do not have a supply of fresh clean drinking water.
Women bear the largest burden of the world water crisis, as they must search out the closest source of water and carry it back to their homes – many times walking more than two hours just to carry enough water for a family of four. And while mothers toil to provide their families with water, young children are often victims of this crisis: one child dies every 10 seconds due to water-borne illnesses.
In our many travels to the origins of the worlds' finest coffees, the breadth of the world water crisis has become very evident. Many coffee growers, although buoyed by the price they receive for their fair-trade coffee, still do not have access to safe, clean drinking water. In recognition of the daily struggle for survival that many of the world's 25 million coffee growers face, Higher Grounds teamed up with a coalition of concerned consumers in Northern Michigan and formed the Chiapas Water Project, dedicated to building water systems for indigenous communities in the Mayan Highlands of Mexico.
To raise money for this vital cause, we developed the Water Carrier's Blend, a Coffees for Change blend of Peruvian and Ethiopian beans. With each purchase of Water Carrier's Blend, Higher Grounds gives $5.00 to support the construction of sustainable water systems in coffee-growing countries.
Through our collaborations with with CATAS (an international grassroots organization providing technical assistance and the construction of appropriate technology water projects in Chiapas, Mexico) and volunteering on the steering committee of the Chiapas Water Project, we are working to create direct links and financial resources to combat the global water crisis while supporting the struggle for indigenous autonomy and human rights in the coffee-growing regions of Mexico.
