The last 20 years have seen an uninterrupted boom in the opening of cafes and coffee houses across the United States, specializing in quality coffees, baked goods and a warm, thoughtful atmosphere. They have often been portrayed as bastions of liberalism unwelcoming of other views, but in fact, the cafe culture tends to be warm, welcoming and conducive to the expression of diverse viewpoints. In this way, coffee culture is less about liberal politics than the elevation of the independent thinker.
Why Coffee Houses Foster Independent Thinking
Posted by Joseph Robertson
Joseph is Executive Director of Citizens' Climate International. He is the lead strategist supporting the Acceleration Dialogues (diplomatic climate-solutions roundtables) and Resilience Intel—an effort to move the world to 100% climate-smart finance. Joseph represents Citizens’ Climate in the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition, the UNFCCC negotiations, and other UN processes, and is founder of Geoversiv. His articles appear from time to time in the Guardian. He served as Interim Director for the Food System Economics Commission from April through November 2020, and is a senior advisor to EAT for sustainable finance. He is a lead contributor to the Earth Intelligence podcast.