Today, a little blatant promotion for one of our clients. Starbucks and Conservation International have created a donation campaign for Earth Day that offers Starbucks customers a chance to support the planting of trees in the coffee-growing region of Chiapas, Mexico. More carbon dioxide emissions come from the burning and clearing of forests than from all of the world’s cars, trucks, SUVs and trains combined. And while no one knows exactly the best way to save the entire world, planting trees instead of slashing and burning is pretty much unequivocally good.

And ok, so they’re a client, so we have to say something nice, right? Not necessarily. We like to think we’re independent thinkers here (thus the whole non-joiner thing). Plus, approximately eight people read this blog … hardly a grand opportunity for client bootlicking.

The fact is, we’ve met people inside Starbucks directly responsible for their sustainable actions around the world — environmentally, socially, economically — and we are impressed. It’s easy to take broad, pissy potshots at a brand this big, this polarizing and everpresent, but the truth is that behind this global-sized brand there are people-sized people. And they are honestly passionate about doing things the right way. Sit down across the table from them and it’s palpable.

Plenty of smaller coffee companies are doing wonderful things in terms of sustainability and fair trade, but none have the reach or impact of Starbucks. For example, last year Starbucks purchased 20 million pounds of Fair Trade Certified™ coffee, making them the largest purchaser of Fair Trade Certified™ coffee in North America. However, these purchases only made up roughly 6% of Starbucks total purchases of green (unroasted) coffee for 2007. (Why Starbucks doesn’t purchase 100% Fair Trade Certified™ coffee is an interesting, but slightly longer, tangent we won’t take here.)

Green is a responsibility Starbucks takes very seriously and, especially in our often cynical business of sloganeering, it’s pretty refreshing to work with people this dedicated to something good.