Dung-Chuan Wen, a multifaceted artist and coffee professional, seamlessly merges his roles as an Australian Specialty Coffee Association’s Barista Championship judge and a coffee roaster to spotlight the profound impact of climate change on the coffee industry. Wen’s artistic journey, deeply inspired by the challenges of the Anthropocene era—especially climate change and species extinction—reflects his commitment to integrating art with pressing social issues.
Wen’s academic experience at Curtin University under the guidance of Dr. Andrew Sunley Smith, combined with the influence of Joseph Beuys’s concept of social sculpture and the Fluxus movement, has significantly shaped his unique approach to art. Beuys’s “7000 Oaks” (1982–7) and Rasheed Araeen’s ideas on the liberation of art from traditional confines served as key inspirations for Wen’s creation of the “7000 Coffee Trees” project, which merges art with environmental activism.
The Birth of “7000 Coffee Trees”
In 2021, Wen initiated the “7000 Coffee Trees” project, a long-term, Fluxus-inspired endeavor, in response to the devastating frost that hit Brazil’s coffee-growing regions. This project, funded through Wen’s graduate studies, sought to use art as a means of addressing climate change’s impact on coffee production. Wen purchased frost-affected coffee beans, transforming them into artistic expressions that included live coffee brewing demonstrations and the use of augmented reality (AR) technology. The project made its debut at the 2022 Rising Futures exhibition, where it combined traditional paintings with AR to engage viewers on a deeper level. Proceeds from the project were donated to World Coffee Research (WCR), underscoring the project’s mission to address the environmental challenges facing the coffee industry.
Wen’s motivation for “7000 Coffee Trees” stemmed from his firsthand experience as a coffee roaster, witnessing the catastrophic effects of the July 2021 frost in Brazil. The event led to significant losses for coffee farmers, which inspired Wen to leverage his expertise in roasting and his passion for art to support those affected. While pursuing his master’s degree in art at Curtin University, Wen studied Joseph Beuys’ concept of Social Sculpture. Inspired by Beuys’s “7000 Oaks” project and supported by a creative grant from the university, Wen launched “7000 Coffee Trees.” Through this grant, he purchased coffee beans from the affected farmers, roasted them himself, and organized a charity sale, raising $1,000, which was donated to World Coffee Research to help address the challenges posed by climate change to the coffee industry.
Expanding the Vision: Phase Two of “7000 Coffee Trees”
The second phase of “7000 Coffee Trees” aims to further develop the project by actively implementing the concept of social sculpture through the creation of a sustainable business model. This phase will focus on expanding the project’s business scope and effectively marketing the products.
“7000 Coffee Trees” represents more than just a business; it is a social enterprise model that combines high-quality products with a dedication to sustainable social and environmental development. Wen’s vision for “7000 Coffee Trees” serves as an exemplary model for social enterprises, demonstrating how art and business can converge to create meaningful social impact, and inspiring more companies to follow suit in their pursuit of corporate social responsibility.
Recognition and Achievements
“7000 Coffee Trees” has garnered significant recognition, being exhibited at the 2024 Australian Specialty Coffee Association Coffee Championship and being named a finalist in the 2024 Environmental Art & Design Prize. These accolades underscore the project’s impact and its innovative approach to addressing environmental and social challenges through art.
Environmental issues are a matter of heated debate in the contemporary world. Climate change is having a huge impact on the coffee industry. On 20 July 2021, the temperature in Minas Gerais, Brazil abruptly plummeted to -1.2ºC. This has significantly impacted coffee trees that depend on a specific growth environment, resulting in significant frost burn and the loss of coffee trees for coffee farmers. Many small-scale coffee farmers have even lost their entire crop (Grant 2021).
The modern coffee industry’s consumption is mainly built on the capitalist system. From coffee growers; to green bean suppliers; to coffee roasters and cafe owners, everyone is focused on maximising profits, with the philosophical idea of anthropocentrism as the goal of economic growth. Coffee farming, dry milling and sorting of green coffee, packaging of green coffee for export, transportation from coffee farm to harbour to the warehouse to roastery energy combustion for roasting grinding, and packaging, brewing water for making coffee, and coffee waste all have a sizable carbon footprint. One cup of batch-brew coffee has a carbon footprint of 0.209kg (Wendel 2021), which can be offset by planting 0.008 trees. However, due to the increasing frequency of extreme weather events and surmising that the previous development model for economic growth continues, coffee trees are projected to become extinct by 2052. Coffee has become a luxury good, available only to a handful of wealthy people, while the rest can only sip cultured coffee (Lab-grown coffee).
The 7000 Coffee Trees is a social design project designed for the year 2052 based on the philosophical concept of ecocentrism. As Frank Jackson (1993) reviews in “Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change” by Victor Papanek that many features of modern consumerism must be dismissed in order for the fixed solution to succeed. This project analyses consumption patterns and environmental issues from a moral standpoint and formulates a social design system where people develop natural resources and contribute back to the environment. Pioneered by the coffee industry, the user must plant a tree and maintain continual watering in exchange for a daily cup of coffee. The project aims to engage 7,000 users annually in each city. The 7000 Coffee Trees project is expected to plant 70,000, 140,000, and eventually 210,000 trees in each city by 2032, 2042, and 2052 respectively. Anthropocentric consumerism has resulted in the overexploitation of natural resources and climate change in the Anthropocene era. In order to mitigate the impact of climate change on the environment, this social design places coffee consumption at the forefront, changes current consumer behaviour, and promotes sustainable coexistence with the environment.
Rhetoric Framework
1. Formal analysis: This project describes how to address the impact of climate change on the coffee industry through social design - a new trade practice, by using data from the most recent climate change on frost damage in coffee-producing regions
2. Effect analysis: There are a total of 13,810cities worldwide. This project is scheduled to begin in the Australian city of Perth. The annual goal for each city is 7,000 trees. In the future, if every city agrees to participate in this project, it will result in a considerable number of trees being planted, which will help alleviate the issue of climate change.
3. Elaboration of the design rules: By planting trees and feeding back to the natural environment, the consumption of coffee generates new consumption behaviour and environmental symbiosis. It also introduces the philosophical thought of ecocentrism.
4. Reconstruction or determination of the intended effects through an interview with the responsible designer.
5. Identification of contra-intentional factors: The same design can have different possibilities for interaction in front of different people and contexts. Therefore, special attention must be paid to the accessibility of such plans. As Winner (1980) mentioned in “Do Artifacts Have Politics?” even if the design has no intention and cannot be responsible, the design still affects people’s choices and social appearance at various levels.
6. Using the concept of decorum and determining a possible range of activities during the design process.
Figure 1. Annina Schneller, Relevant (or disputed) effects of public-transport information design artifacts relative to their level of impact (logos, ethos, pathos), 2015, image, reproduced from Annina Schneller’s article.
Figure 2. Annina Schneller, Example for design rules operative in commercial graphics, specifying the formal and stylistic means that can be used for creating elegant designs, 2015, image, reproduced from Annina Schneller’s article.
Risk
1. How should trees be planted to preserve biological diversity and maximise the benefits of planting trees?
2. How can this enterprise continue to deliver coffee to users in a sustainable manner in the absence of substantial earnings?
3. How to devise an alternative mechanism for users to cooperate with this plan, given that the planting of trees cannot be done under physiological settings?
Solution
1. In order to maximise the benefits, augmented reality (AR) technology is used to analyse the overall environment and select tree species suited to the local environment to preserve biological diversity.
2. This project will cooperate with local enterprises, through such cooperation methods as B4SI (Business for Societal Impact), CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), and ESG (Environmental Social and Governance). Enterprises can achieve United Nations’s sustainable development goals such as sustainable consumption and production, climate action and biodiversity, forests, and desertification (United Nations 2022). Furthermore, businesses can make benefit but also solve environmental problems.
Figure 3. Indorama Ventures, Sustainability, Social, and CSR Framework, image, 2022, reproduced from Indorama Ventures website.
3. This plan can be executed with the aid of AI robots for users whose physiological conditions prevent them from carrying out this plan themselves.
Summary
Due to human exploitation of resources and ensuing pollution, the earth’s ecology is confronting environmental issues such as climate change and global warming, thereby gradually turning the planet unsuitable for human habitation. Capitalism-driven globalisation, industrialisation, and the development of the environment emit huge amounts of greenhouse gases. Anthropocentrism has given rise to consumerism, prompting human beings to shape consumer behaviour for the purpose of economic development. However, this behavioural pattern is to blame for accelerating the deterioration of environmental conditions. Rethinking human behaviour and adopting the philosophy of ecocentrism to design new consumption behaviours are the strategies to address environmental challenges. As Moran, Harringon, and Sheehan (2018) point out, everywhere, the basis for a differentiated future design should acknowledge personal worldviews and those of others. Thus, other’s worldviews can be derived from other creatures, just like the concept of ecocentrism. This is evidenced by the huge damage to coffee trees caused by the severe frost in Brazil in 2021. The 7000 Coffee Trees project examines consumer behaviour through the lens of social design, shifting coffee purchases from those motivated by personal interests to those driven by environmental interests. This means that those who benefit from the cradle to the grave are coffee shop owners, roasters, green coffee suppliers, coffee growers, and coffee farmers who traditionally buy coffee. The 7000 Coffee Trees social design is committed to changing the consumer experience by encouraging purchasers and users of coffee to also plant trees to achieve carbon neutrality. This new type of coffee consumption behaviour aims to encourage users who buy coffee to also consciously give back to the environment and play a critical role in creating a greener and more sustainable world. With the aim of gradually mitigating environmental problems over the next 30 years, these actions will benefit the environment.
List of Figures
Figure 1. Annina Schneller, Relevant (or disputed) effects of public-transport information design artifacts relative to their level of impact (logos, ethos, pathos), 2015, image, reproduced from Annina Schneller’s article.
Figure 2. Annina Schneller, Example for design rules operative in commercial graphics, specifying the formal and stylistic means that can be used for creating elegant designs, 2015, image, reproduced from Annina Schneller’s article.
Schneller, Annina. 2015. “Design Rhetoric: Studying the Effects of Designed Objects.” Nature and culture 10 (3): 333-356. https://doi.org/10.3167/nc.2015.100305.
Creswell, John W. author. 2018. Research Design : Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches / John W. Creswell, J. David Creswell. Fifth edition.. ed. Thousand Oaks, California : SAGE Publications, Inc.
“ESG (Environmental, Social And Governance)”. 2022. Corporate Finance Institute. https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/other/esg-environmental-social-governance/.
The aim of this project is to increase awareness of environmental issues using current and carefully aligned forms of contemporary art production. The progress of human civilisation has created the Anthropocene, within which the global climate crisis has become a paramount issue. This is the main theme to be represented in my work.
I intentionally conscripted my quotidian day job when I worked as a coffee roaster at Humblebee Coffee, focusing on the impact of daily consumption of natural resources, the exploitation of materials, and the impact of climate on this industry together with the capitalist economy in which coffee is embedded.
Climate change is also having a serious impact on coffee producing areas. The temperature in Minas Gerais, Brazil, fell to −1.2 degrees Celsius in July, 2021, causing the worst frost damage to coffee plantations (Grant, 2021). I contacted Andre Selga, of Southland Merchants (A Brazilian green bean supplier to Australia based in Adelaide). According to an interview with Espigao Farm, the coffee trees in the Chapadao production area have been seriously damaged by frost, and many coffee trees need to be cut down and replanted.
In my investigation of German artist Joseph Beuys, I was particularly intrigued by his art form known as ‘social sculpture’, particularly 7000 Oaks (1982). Beuys social sculpture provided me with a fresh perspective on contemporary art whereby it may be possible to harmonise and disseminate environmentalism, politics, and new scientific facts. Not only can I communicate with the public but I can also deepen vigilance against these environmental challenges by using methods of creation taught from practising social sculpture. Using coffee as a medium in my art practice, I am able to connect people and highlight environmental issues. When people partake in one of my project coffees, they receive information explaining its origins, and a direct encounter through my service on climate effects. They can also donate money to help these frost-affected farmers through the 7000 Coffee Trees platform. This project is about direct social outcome and impact.
Through the use of technology, media installation and the notion of social sculpture. I want creative practice to make people think about their relationship with the environment and be mindful of their actions regarding their contribution to climate change. Ideally, my projects are created from a basis of ethical assessment whilst avoiding unnecessary waste and overuse of resources.
Process
The plan of 7000 Coffee Trees to think about how social sculpture can be connected with technology, such as social media and extend reality, to develop a wider resonance and increase availability to a broader audience, to improve accessibility and awareness of the project, and increase the direct social and economic impact by aiding the affected coffee growing areas.
