I remember wondering if we should even be friends when I found out that my new friend Karina did not share my opinions about some stuff. It was hard to imagine disagreeing with her about anything, because when we first met, we got along so great.

It was as if we’d known each other forever. Whenever we got to pick a partner at camp, we picked each other. Whenever we had a break, we hung out together. And the more time we spent together, the more we realized how amazingly alike we were. We both had two lovely cats. We both liked baking extra-creative cookies.

But then something happened. The tent camp was next to a piece of beautiful land that had a bunch of giant old trees on it. Whenever it was nice out, we’d get to eat our lunch at picnic tables that were right by some of those trees. “Whoa!” said Karina one day. “Look at the millions of holes all the way up and down this trunk.”

“That’s amazing,” I said. “A special kind of woodpecker (啄木鸟)makes those holes to store acorns (橡子).”

“Pretty cool! ”said our counselor, Miguel. “Now, let’s all be sure to keep this magical forest as clean and perfect. Don’t forget to put your trash and recyclables in the bins.”

And that’s when things got complicated. “Hey,” said our friend LeVar. “Have you guys heard that shopping-mall rumor (传闻)? They want to cut down a bunch of those trees to make room for a shopping center.”

“That’s terrible!” I said. “We have to stop that.”

“I disagree,” said Karina. “My parents said the shopping center would make new jobs for people.”

“But think of all the birds and squirrels that would lose their homes!” I said. “I want people to have jobs, but not if it means cutting down trees.”

“Don’t you think people’s jobs are more important than trees?” Karina asked.

“Can’t we figure out how to make jobs without destroying nature?” I answered.

“You know,” Karina said, super seriously, “maybe we’re not quite as alike as we thought.”

I sighed sadly.

Maybe two people with opposite points of view just aren’t meant to be friends, I was thinking. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We ended up having much more fun at the tent camp. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Growing coffee beans is a huge, making-money business. However, unluckily, full-sun production is replacing the industry and causes a lot of damage. The change in growing coffee from shade-grown(荫下栽种) production to full-sun production brings certain animals and birds in danger, and even breaks the world’s ecological balance(生态平衡).

On a local level, the damage of the forest that is required by full-sun fields affects the area’s birds and animals. The shade of the forest trees gives a home to birds and other species which depend on the trees’ flowers and fruits. Full-sun coffee growers destroy this forest home. As a result, many species are quickly in extinction.

On a more global level, the damage to the rainforest for full-sun coffee fields also does harm to human life. Medical research often makes use of the forests’ plant and animal life, and the ruin of such species could keep researchers from finding ways for certain diseases. In addition, new coffee-growing methods are harmful to the water locally, and lastly the world’s groundwater.

Both locally and globally, the continued spread of full-sun coffee plantations(种植园)could mean breaking the balance of the rainforest ecology. The loss of shade trees is already causing a little change in the world’s climate(气候), and studies show that the loss of oxygen-giving trees also leads to air pollution and global warming. Besides, the new growing methods are bringing about acidic (酸性) soil conditions.

It is clear that the way much coffee is grown affects a lot, from the local environment to the global ecology. But coffee users do have a choice. They can buy shade-grown coffee whenever possible, although at a higher cost. The future health of the planet and mankind is surely worth more than an inexpensive cup of coffee.