The effects on the environment were not and are not good.  If we demand more and more coffee, and contribute to its being grown in the sun instead of the shade; along with the use of many pesticides, and the cutting down of valuable trees;  this will soon have catastrophic effects on our planet.  Shade grown coffee in a natural habitat would have to be the responsible answer.  Supply and demand would drive the price up, of course, but we can no longer continue to ignore the devastating effects of this kind of farming.  It seems as if the fair trade laws and getting rid of the middle men in the selling of coffee, has not done a lot to correct the inhuman conditions, and sweat shop mentality, that some workers are forced to live with every day.  Clean drinking water should be the beverage of our greatest interest and concern for the world.  We could live with less coffee and more humanity.  I don't know of many instances where the  "Fair-Trade-Laws are really working.  Big business always seems to find another way to get big profits, by circumventing these agreements.