It’s no surprise that we humans LOVE coffee. What’s not to love? Coffee is the sweet elixir of the gods that fuels our entrepreneurial endeavors, or at least makes many of us far more pleasant to be around.

A good and easy way to make a change and love your coffee even more is by ditching the paper coffee cup.

While Earth Day may be over, that doesn’t mean we should give up trying to be responsible inhabitants of this lovely little planet. The little changes and choices that we make are going to make the biggest positive impact.

Some staggering facts about disposable paper coffee cups:

1. 58 billion paper cups are tossed out annually in the United States ALONE.

2. Every four paper cups manufactured equals one pound of C02 emissions (if one pound doesn't seem like that big of a deal, here’s why you should worry about it).

3. 20 million trees are cut down to make paper cups every year.

**4.**12 billion gallons of water are used in the making of paper cups annually.

5. If you were to save a cup a day for 40 years you would save 24 trees.

6. 53,000 homes could be powered every year by energy that’s used to make and dispose of paper cups.

7. Many paper cups are coated with plastic and therefore cannot be recycled.

The moral of the story is that paper cups use an unbelievable amount of resources to manufacture and create an unnecessary amount of waste.

What are the alternatives?

So what is an environmentally responsible person to do? Well the obvious answer is to switch to a reusable option.

• A travel mug! There are a plethora of models to choose from and even some on the more innovative side.

Brick-on Brick mug from Think Geek

• Drink coffee at home, in your jammies. Coffee + Jammies = Productivity! Or out of mugs at the coffee shop (jammies optional).
• Share cups with other likeminded Earth enthusiasts through cup sharing programs like this one!

Good to Go on FastCoExist.

Freelancers, how do you get your environmentally friendly coffee fix?