How Your Morning Coffee Shapes Global Issues

Buying coffee can have an impact on women's rights, indigenous rights, the environment, and more

Mar. 15, 2026 at 1:37pm

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When you buy a cup of coffee, your dollar is quietly voting on issues like climate change, poverty, immigration, and women's and indigenous rights in coffee-growing communities around the world. Former environmental and indigenous rights lawyer Dean Cycon founded Dean's Beans to work directly with farming villages and uncover the complex social and economic factors shaping the global coffee trade.

Why it matters

The global coffee supply chain is rife with systemic issues that keep coffee farmers in poverty, harm the environment, and drive migration. By understanding how their coffee purchases impact these problems, consumers can make more informed choices and support ethical, community-driven solutions.

The details

Coffee farmers often receive only pennies per pound of coffee they grow, while middlemen, exporters, and retailers take the majority of the profits. This 'primary commodity poverty' leaves farmers struggling to make ends meet, forcing them to take on debt and pull their children out of school to work on the farm. Climate change and pesticide use also threaten crop yields, further destabilizing these rural communities. Cycon found that the most effective way to address these issues is by working directly with farmers to build community-driven programs, rather than relying on charity or government intervention.

  • Cycon presented a guest lecture at Shippensburg University on March 4, 2026.

The players

Dean Cycon

A former environmental and indigenous rights lawyer who founded Dean's Beans to work directly with coffee-growing communities and uncover the complex social and economic factors shaping the global coffee trade.

Dean's Beans

A coffee company founded by Dean Cycon that works directly with farming villages to address issues like poverty, women's rights, and environmental sustainability in the coffee supply chain.

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What they’re saying

“Inside that cup are women's rights, indigenous rights, the environment, economic issues, climate change, migration issues, war and peace.”

— Dean Cycon, Founder, Dean's Beans (theslateonline.com)

“Charity is not change … charity maintains systems; it doesn't change them.”

— Dean Cycon, Founder, Dean's Beans (theslateonline.com)

What’s next

Cycon plans to continue expanding Dean's Beans' direct engagement with coffee-growing communities to address the systemic issues in the global coffee supply chain.

The takeaway

By understanding the complex social, economic, and environmental factors behind the coffee we drink, consumers can make more informed purchasing decisions that support ethical, community-driven solutions and drive meaningful change in coffee-growing regions.