Shady enterprises. .

• Author: Pennybacker, Mindy
• Position: GREEN GUIDANCE - Green products, sustainable forestry

The latest news about global warming may tempt you to throw up your hands and run for the shade--preferably some with a hammock. After all, it's a vast problem that can easily make individuals feel inadequate. Yet consumers can help quite a lot, not only by conserving fossil fuels but also by choosing certified, forest-friendly products. While gasoline-fueled vehicles and coal-burning power plants release C[O.sub.2], trees absorb it. Forests also support a rich diversity of species and help keep our water clean--not to mention providing shade.

Here's a sampler of forest-friendly staples, produced in ways that conserve these precious resources. To be sure that a product complies with its green claims, check to see that it's certified by an independent, third-party organization.

Coffee. Shade-grown organic coffee, raised beneath rainforest canopies, is perhaps the easiest forest-friendly product to find. It's now carried by Starbucks (stores in 28 countries) and Procter & Gamble (their line is called Millstone). Many smaller companies also sell it in grocery stores and online. These include Cafe Mam, Caffe Ibis, Equal Exchange, and Grounds for Change, whose products are also certified fair-trade. A portion of proceeds from Thanksgiving Coffee Company Gorilla Fund Coffee helps preserve the habitat of these forest dwellers.

Cocoa. Cocoa farming's effect on tropical forests is mixed, but in some places--in thinned native forest in south-central Cameroon and Bahia, Brazil, for instance--it has helped preserve these habitats. La Siembra Cooperative, Green & Black's, Plamil, and Sunspire carry shade-grown, organic, and/or fair-trade certified chocolate. Yachana Gourmet donates profits from sales of its Jungle chocolates to an Ecuadorian rainforest foundation.

Certifiers or labels to look for: Bird-Friendly, Rainforest Alliance, Quality Assurance International, Soil Association, Transfair, USDA Certified Organic. For more info, see Coffee and Chocolate Product Reports at www.thegreenguide.com.

Wood. Four billion hectares of the world's forests--half the original cover--are now gone. "Standing forests is what we're after," says Ned Daly of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an outfit that certifies products from "well-managed" forests worldwide. Daly stresses the need for consumer demand to support this management scheme. If you're building or furnishing a home, FSC-certified wood is available from major companies such as IKEA, Home Depot, Lowe's...