Everyone knows that transportation patterns -- and the social and personal choices that produce them -- are intimately linked to environmental issues, from land use to air pollution and beyond. The Washington Post's Katherine Shaver recently diversified news coverage of this already-complex blend of subjects by stirring a little coffee into the mix.

Specifically, she reported on the apparent role played by premium coffees -- and America's seemingly endless love affair with a growing assortment of espresso concoctions and other expensive brews -- in aggravating traffic congestion and increasing automotive emissions. A U.S. Department of Transportation analyst has identified the "Starbucks Effect," also applicable to competitors of the Seattle-based chain, in which a growing number of people have replaced home-prepared coffee with regular morning trips to the outposts of Starbucks and its competitors. The analyst "build her thesis from the department's National Household Travel Survey, a periodic study of about 70,000 households in which each member keeps a diary of comings and goings -- who's driving where, how far and for what purpose," Shaver writes.

See: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61460-2005Apr17.html