352: How to Survive a Hitman, Protect the Environment, and Make the Coffee Industry More Ethical and Sustainable with Etelle Higonnet

Episode Summary

Learn what you can do to combat environmental destruction and human rights abuses in the coffee industry staring today. In part 2 of this interview, Etelle Higonnet explains how human rights abuses and environmental destruction are intertwined and breaks down the main causes and industries harming the environment today.  She then explains the sustainable alternatives, how we can work together to reform these industries, and shares some specific activist victories.  Etelle then talks about the environmental campaign she ran against the company Olam in Gabon, and tells the story of how she survived when two hitmen were sent to kill her.  She then talks about her love of coffee, what most people don’t know about the coffee they drink, and why she founded Coffee Watch.  Etelle explains how human rights abuses and environmental destruction pervade the coffee industry, and what campaigns Coffee Watch is undertaking to combat them.  She explains how we can all make an impact towards reforming the coffee industry by buying more ethical coffee, pressuring our favorite brands, signing petitions, getting politically active, and volunteering with Coffee Watch.

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Etelle Higonnet

Etelle Higonnet is an international human rights lawyer, environmental activist, and the founder of Coffee Watch, an NGO dedicated to combating human rights abuses and environmental destruction in the coffee industry.  She is also on the board of Climate Defiance, and previously served as Senior Advisor at the National Wildlife Federation, campaign director at Mighty Earth, and research manager at Greenpeace Southeast Asia.  Etelle has also conducted human rights research in West Africa on behalf of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, and in Iraq for the International Human Rights Law Institute. She has served as a consultant for UNICEF, Open Society, the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, the Royal Cambodian Government Task Force for the Extraordinary Chambers, and the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Raised mostly in France, Etelle got her bachelor’s and her law degree at Yale, and she is the editor of the book Quiet Genocide about the U.S.-backed genocide in Guatemala in the 1980s.  Etelle has traveled the world extensively, deeply immersing in many different cultures, and she speaks 8 languages.

What You'll Learn
  • Today’s causes of environmental destruction including the 7 deadly sins of agriculture
  • What most coffee drinkers don’t know about human rights abuses in coffee production
  • Actions you can take today to help make the coffee industry more ethical and sustainable
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Time Stamped Show Notes

**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode.

[1:20] How Human Rights Abuses and Environmental Destruction are Intertwined

[3:27] Understanding Today’s Causes of Environmental Destruction

[5:19] The 7 Deadly Sins of Agriculture

[9:54] Environmentally Sustainable Alternatives and Activist Victories

[13:22] Etelle’s Campaign against Olam in Gabon

[16:19] Encountering Hitmen Sent to Kill Her

[20:59] Victories in the Campaign against Olam

[21:34] What Etelle loves about Coffee

[22:22] What Most Coffee Drinkers Don’t Know About Their Coffee

[23:23] Founding Coffee Watch

[24:32] Understanding Human Rights Abuses in the Coffee Industry

[26:25] The Urgency for Transforming the Coffee Industry

[30:07] Coffee Watch Campaigns to Reform the Coffee Industry

[31:52] How We Can Make an Impact by Buying More Ethical Coffee

[34:45] Actions We Can Take to Help Reform the Coffee Industry

[44:39] Tips for Maintaining Mental and Emotional Stamina in Long Term Struggles Against Genocide and Human Rights Abuses

[47:56] The Lightning Round

[52:06] How to Find and Follow Etelle and Coffee Watch