Starbucks Opens its First “Green Store”
On August 19, 2005, Starbucks opened its first “green store” built to the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System®. Located in Hillsboro, OR, the store is part of Hillsboro Civic Center, which was built according to LEED specifications. These standards include the use of low-environmental-impact building materials and practices, and energy- and water-efficient equipment.

To be a LEED-certified store means the store must pass a specific set of energy and environmental practices based on a point system. According to LEED retail specifications, a store must adhere to a set of specific energy and environmental principles and features, including the following:

	Reduced-flow water fixtures in the store to conserve water usage by up to 20 percent
	Optimal energy-efficient lighting fixtures and appliances
	Recycled and/or renewable building materials
	Low-emission building materials such as paints and flooring that are low in toxins
	Plenty of natural light

Although this is Starbucks first LEED-certified store, the components that make up the store are very similar to the Company’s existing stores. Starbucks has a strong commitment to environmentally friendly store design and construction, which includes the use of sustainable wood products, energy-efficient lighting and reduced-flow water fixtures. As an active member of the U.S. Green Building Council, Starbucks is helping to develop LEED retail standards that are expected to be applied industry-wide.

To inform and educate customers about what makes the Hillsboro location a “green store,” Starbucks store development team developed a sign to explain the store’s unique “green features.” These include:

	Cabinetry and chairs are made from 90 percent post-industrial material, with no added formaldehyde.
	Efficient lights that use less energy. Additionally, 100 percent of the electricity used at this location comes from renewable energy sources.
	Eco-Terr® flooring tiles are made from 70 percent post-consumer recycled content, 10 percent post-industrial recycled content.
	The store is designed to capture available natural daylight.

Partners (employees) at the Hillsboro Starbucks store report that customer reaction to this new “green store” has been extremely positive. The local area is known for its Organic Farmers Market, held at the Hillsboro Civic Center, and market customers have embraced the new Starbucks as a store that shares their social and environmental values.

For more information about the U.S. Green Building Council and LEED, go to http://www.usgbc.org. LEED is a product of the U.S. Green Building Council.

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Starbucks Customers and Partners Participate in Earthwatch Institute Conservation Expeditions
in Costa Rica
An international nonprofit organization founded in Boston and now with offices in Oxford, England, Melbourne, Australia, and Tokyo, Japan, Earthwatch Institute’s mission is focused on research, conservation and education. Earthwatch Institute engages people worldwide in scientific field research and education to promote the understanding and action necessary for a sustainable environment.

Earthwatch Institute shares Starbucks commitment to help preserve our earth’s precious natural resources. The organization believes the best way to do this is to directly involve people from all walks of life—including scientists, the general public, educators and businesses—in field research around the world. By placing individuals in the field to actively participate and assist scientists in their work, Earthwatch Institute is promoting sustainable conservation of the world’s natural resources and cultural heritages. Earthwatch Institute is the world’s oldest, largest and most respected international nonprofit organization directly involving the public in scientific research. In 2005, Earthwatch will support more then 130 expeditions in 50 countries on six continents, and will send approximately 4,000 members of the public to work with 120 scientists as full-fledged expedition members.

Starbucks and Earthwatch Institute have been working together since 2002 on 15 different conservation projects and/or expeditions. These expeditions have taken place all over the world in places like Kenya, Belize and Vietnam. To further cement the collaboration between the two organizations, Starbucks senior vice president of Coffee and Global Procurement Dub Hay serves on Earthwatch Institute’s board of directors.

During June and July 2005, Starbucks was proud to send 20 customers and 10 partners (employees) to Agua Buena, Costa Rica, to participate in a 12-day Earthwatch expedition. The selected Starbucks partners included retail and support partners from the U.S., Canada and the U.K. They were chosen based on essays they had written to express their passion and views on Starbucks and the Company’s fifth guiding principal: contributing positively to the community and environment. The customers who traveled to Costa Rica with Starbucks and Earthwatch Institute were randomly selected by a third-party contest administrator after entering a sweepstakes promotion on Starbucks.com this past spring.

These lucky partners and customers traveled deep into the heart of the Costa Rican rainforest to help Dr. Karen Holl, an Earthwatch scientist from the University of California, Santa Cruz, with her project, Reforesting Costa Rica’s Rainforest. The project sites were located in the Coto Brus valley near Agua Buena in south-central Costa Rica.

The land in the Coto Brus valley has less than 10 percent primary forest remaining; sadly, most of the lush jungle that once covered this area was stripped away decades ago. Expedition members took part in research that aims to accelerate the return of forest cover to some of the area’s abandoned agricultural land—land once covered with coffee trees, but now bereft and fallow due to the collapse of the global coffee market. (Coffee prices dropped dramatically on the world commodity or New York “C” market several years ago and are only recently beginning to recover slightly.)

According to field reports from partners and customers alike, their daily work was hot, sticky and bug-infested, yet they were dedicated! In the early morning hours, expedition members hiked through stiff grasses that were sometimes over their heads. They planted hundreds of trees, hiking up and down extremely steep mountain slopes, sampling vegetation and measuring plots that will be used to gather forest recovery data annually over the next 20 years. Afternoons were spent preparing for the next day, touring local coffee farms and cooperatives, with a little time leftover to socialize.

Throughout the entire trip, the Starbucks expedition members were surrounded by amazing beauty, views extending to the Pacific Ocean and beautiful and occasionally bizarre plants, animals and insects—reminders of the ecological richness the participants were there to protect and restore. Each expedition team lived with local families during the trip and spent two weeks forming rewarding new friendships with each other and their generous and welcoming host families, and definitely creating memories that will last a lifetime.

In 2006, Starbucks will be offering another opportunity for our customers and partners to be involved with Earthwatch Institute. Stay tuned!

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