McDonald's McCafes: a gamble with the environment

On my two-mile drive down Long Beach Boulevard from the train station today, I passed four reminders from McDonald's that I should be drinking its coffee. That would be three McDonald's restaurants telling me "Now serving McCafe" and enticing me with giant posters of mocha lattes topped with whipped cream, plus a billboard in case I missed the ads plastered across the stores. I think McDonald's really wants us to buy its "specialty" espresso drinks.

Even I am not immune to the powers of good marketing (the commercials are funny). Last week I decided to try a McCafe because if it tasted good but was cheaper than Starbucks or another coffee chain, then it would be a good option. I went through the drive-thru and ordered a small iced latte. I shouldn't have been surprised that in McDonald's super-sized world, a small would be 16 ounces of seriously strong coffee. It was so potent I saved half for the next day, which did make the $3 price a good deal, although it wasn't as cheap as I expected (iced drinks are more expensive; their hot lattes are cheaper).

Then the very next day, after I'd enjoyed my day-old latte, I read an article in the Los Angeles Times about McDonald's coffee investment and I felt bad about supporting what will likely lead to an increase in milk consumption, if McDonald's gamble pays off. The article quoted a dairy expert saying, "When per capita milk consumption rose in 2006 for the first time in 20 years, McDonald's was a prime reason." Why? McDonald's had started offering milk in plastic containers, which became so popular that other fast-food chains followed its lead. "The dairy industry is counting on the same sort of effect from McDonald's espresso coffee drinks," the article said, and then had this shocking statistic, "which can contain up to 80 percent milk." If (let's be real ... when) McCafes become popular, that's a lot of milk -- 1 1/2 cups for a 16-ounce drink. That means a lot of milk production, which is not good for the environment (cows are a source of methane pollution, plus concerns over the amount of water used on dairy farms).

But when I made this argument to my coworker, she played devil's advocate and said "So are poor people not allowed to buy coffee but rich people who can afford Starbucks can?" No, of course not. I know that Starbucks and other coffee chains have led to more people drinking coffee and thus consuming more milk, but my concern with McDonald's is that it's even more pervasive in our culture and its coffee is cheaper, which could lead to people buying coffee more often, no matter their income.

I think the solution is that everyone should buy less coffee and try to make it at home more often. I'm not saying I'm a saint. I buy coffee about once a week, the last time being on Sunday after a run. I felt like I deserved to indulge and since I'd gotten up too early to make coffee, I decided to splurge on an iced latte at Seattle's Best. But was my impulse buy worth $2.80 for a measly 12-ounce drink that also wasted a plastic cup? In the time it took me to wait in line, I could have gone home and made my own coffee. And I would have been happier with it. They were out of vanilla so I flavored my latte with cinnamon, which doesn't taste so great. And when I make coffee at home, I use a half cup of milk, probably less than what was in my McCafe or Seattle's Best drink.

And let's face it, making your own coffee saves money too. McDonald's may be promoting their drinks as a cheaper alternative to Starbucks but MyCafe beats out McCafe any day.

Saving water in the shower

One of the sacrifices I'm making for the environment is publicly sharing my personal life in this blog. So here's my second post about showering. Yes it's about hygiene, but water -- and will we have enough of it in the future -- is a big issue so I feel it's justified.

In my first post I timed my showers for a few days and found that when I tried, I could get them around five minutes long. Not under five, which was my goal, but not too shabby either. One other trick to saving water would be to turn off the water when shaving. But call me a spoiled American, but that just didn't sound pleasant. Today I thought of this halfway through shaving so at that point I sucked it up and reluctantly turned off the water. I expected immediate goose bumps and my core body temperature to take a nose dive. No water diva here, it wasn't that bad. It may help that it's summer, but I didn't get cold. And I shaved faster, theoretically saving time but here I am blogging about it before I leave for work so the time saving is a wash (oh that was bad I know).

I once had a roommate who was from France and I could hear him turn off the water mid-shower, presumably to shave, so my guess is that this is common in Europe but hasn't taken hold in wasteful America. I'm not going to make any grand promises, but I'll try to turn off the water again. If I can get it to become habit, it may become second nature, liking turning off the water when I brush my teeth or wash my face. Now I'd better go because the clock is ticking and my drive to work isn't getting any shorter.

Oh, and coming up, a post about McDonald's. ...