Old Dog Documentaries

A Wake-Up Call

Birdsong and Coffee reveals the link between coffee sales, the global market and
the disruption of the world’s ecosystem
By Tian Huang

Every morning, thousands of people all over the world wake up slowly in bed, roll over to smack the snooze button on their alarm clock and groan at the thought of having to face another long day in class or at work. A short time later, these same people reach enthusiastically for a hot cup of coffee, desperately searching for that jolt to get them through the day.

Every day, hundreds of songbirds stand to lose a home and their lives, and nobody spares a thought for their fate.

Birdsong & Coffee: A Wake-Up Call, produced by Old Dog Documentaries, is a film that defines the connection between coffee drinkers, coffee farmers, and songbirds in beautifully rendered detail. It is an even-handed, sober look at today’s “coffee crisis,” with riveting commentary from farmers, students, congressmen, Fair Trade representatives, and officials from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center.

The first part of the movie introduces the coffee farmers of Agua Buena, in the lush rainforests of Costa Rica. Through a series of interviews, viewers learn of the 25 million coffee planters worldwide who are paid peanuts for their products while bearing the brunt of market fluctuations. When prices crash, there’s no money for food; when there’s no money for food, families must find other ways to sustain themselves; in order to do so, many clear the land to cultivate other means of livelihood. Clearing the land has fatal consequences for the ecosystem at large, and for migratory songbirds in particular.

Part two of the documentary calls for viewers to take action. Through interviews with students and faculty at the University of California in Santa Cruz, who lived with coffee farmers in Costa Rica while studying abroad, we are introduced to the concept of Fair Trade coffee. Viewers come away with the knowledge that making one small change in their buying habits can not only change the fate of a far-off coffee farmer slaving away to produce that hot cup of joe you hold in your hand, but it can also ensure they wake up to the sound of songbirds trilling outside their window for years to come.

A fascinating mix of biological background and social justice issues, Birdsong & Coffee is more than just a wake-up call. It is a call for change and a call to action. It brings home the point that even our small choices have huge implications for the planet and all its inhabitants. As one interviewee, author David Rothenberg, says: “All is not lost; the silent spring has not yet come. And it’s not going to come if enough of us care about these things.”

Time to wake up and smell the coffee.