With a torn book in hand, a steaming cup of coffee and a small empty plate accented with pastry crumbs on the table before him, acting junior Conner Wilson seems to be enjoying the uninterrupted peace away from campus. A regular at Café Plaid, Wilson appreciates the atmosphere that is offered.

“It’s really chill, and a great place to study and read. It also has the best coffee on Campus Corner,” Wilson says.

Café Plaid is a popular refuge for students because it offers a surprisingly relaxed atmosphere despite the gobs of people swarmed around the counter to order their lunch sandwiches and salads.

Assistant manager Miguel Hallman often witnesses students buying the bottomless house coffee. He says students will “sit with their computers, stay here for hours, sipping on some coffee.”

The quaint coffee and bakery offers 100 percent Fair Trade and certified organic coffee, free of preservatives. Not only does the organic coffee attract health conscious customers but also those concerned about protecting the natural environment. Excluding decaf, every type of coffee is “Shade Grown,” a process that fosters homes to local birds.

Hallman believes that offering Fair Trade coffee is important because it provides small farmers with livable wages. Unlike chain cafés, which purchase beans from mass consumer farms that contain pesticides, Café Plaid purchases beans from small organic farms around the world.

One block away on Campus Corner is a similar café named The Earth.

Inside the Cafe, opposite of the mural that depicts an earth surrounded by a colorful wreath of flowers, is a small counter that provides several bar stools and a perch for patrons to view and drool over homemade organic cookies with names like Cowgirl and Ginger Molasses. While The Earth is currently much smaller than Cafe Plaid, it lacks nothing in character. It is apparent that customers share a friendship with the employees. They’re on a first name basis at The Earth and the atmosphere is laid back with its old tables positioned into clusters so patrons sit next to others they may not know.

Art History graduate candidate Sarah Beasley suggests that those who come to The Earth are part of an “Earth Family.” It’s a place where ideas are spread and concepts are renewed. Beasley started becoming organically conscious after she began eating at The Earth. Now she finds eating organically to be very important.

The focus of The Earth is not to push a certain lifestyle but to offer a healthy alternative for good food. The Earth takes organic food seriously. It receives most of its produce from local farms, which is also available at The Earth Natural Foods grocery store on Flood Ave. Those who come to The Earth are usually looking for organic, vegetarian or vegan food. But don’t be fooled, even though the menu is focused on vegetarian and vegan lifestyles, many customers are not vegetarian.

Employee Marty Landers explains that The Earth caters mostly to vegetarians, with 95 percent of the menu containing vegetarian food. Landers explains that you can, however, tell who the vegans are because “they are very up-front” about their food choices.

“We love our vegans,” Landers quickly adds.

Fair Trade products to vegetarianism, Cafe Plaid and The Earth offer students welcoming atmospheres with earth and health concious choices.

To purchase your copy of Sooner 2012, visit www.studentmedia.ou.edu or call 405-325-3668.