Now when you stop by Caffé Vita for your daily cup of coffee, you can help save an animal’s life. Not too shabby.

For every bag of Zoo Special Reserve purchased at Caffé Vita, $1 will be donated to Woodland Park Zoo. The farmers who grow this coffee promote biodiversity by setting aside over forty percent of their land as a nature reserve, which protects the habitats of native tropical animals and birds such as gray foxes, armadillos, anteaters, parrots and butterflies. The Zoo Special Reserve coffee beans were sustainably farmed using innovative systems of composting, recycling and water conservation under the belief that healthy, organic soil and diverse shade cover produces superior coffee.

Zoo Special Reserve is sold in 12-ounce bags of whole beans for $13.95 at all six Caffé Vita locations in Seattle, though the easiest one for you to get to would be the Queen Anne location at 813 5th Avenue North.

Caffé Vita will continue to work with Woodland Park Zoo this summer when they travel to Papua New Guinea to help improve community livelihoods while protecting biodiversity and the habitat of the endangered Matschie’s tree kangaroo.

This story is part of an innovative partnership announced today between the Common Language Project, University of Washington and Next Door Media. Read about the partnership here.

As zoo officials announced the closure of the popular Nocturnal Exhibit, thousands of people turned to Facebook to organize an effort to save it.

Photo courtesy Ryan Hawk, Woodland Park Zoo.

Thanks to Internet activism, the exhibit may not be closed forever, but a critical fundraising deadline looms. Click here to read “Lights out, Computer on.“

This is the final weekend to enjoy the Night Exhibit at the Woodland Park Zoo.

(Photo by Ryan Hawk, Woodland Park Zoo.)

The zoo announced earlier this year that they must close the exhibit as a cost-cutting measure.

“The exhibit’s final closure date will be March 1, 2010,” the zoo website states. Some animals will be transferred to other exhibits at Woodland Park, others will be sent to other zoos.