Fair Trade

Featured Do-Gooder: Fair Trade the White House

On random Fridays Smart Family Tips will feature an organization that is a “Do-Gooder”: a group that works to help both people and the environment. The Do-Gooders may be companies, nonprofits, or any organized group that focuses its efforts on making the world a better place.

Last week I republished a post I’d written about the importance of Fair Trade. Karen Snyder kindly left a comment letting me know about a movement I was unaware of, but am pleased about.

Several groups and individuals have gotten together to invite the First Lady, Michelle Obama, to make the White House a Fair Trade Home. Here’s the info from their website, www.fairtradewhitehouse.com:

Fair Trade the White House is a coalition of fair trade vendors and organizations that are inviting the First Lady to join the fair trade movement and make the White House a “Fair Trade Home.” The purpose of the outreach is to raise greater awareness of fair trade to the American consumer so each person will choose to “Join the Fair Party,” and integrate more fair trade purchases into their regular buying habits so that poverty is reduced in America and around the world.

WHO: We are a grass-roots, nonpartisan coalition of fair trade organizations, vendors, retailers, schools, individuals and consumers.

WHAT: We are cordially inviting the First Lady to join the fair trade movement and declare the White House a “Fair Trade Home.”

WHAT IS FAIR TRADE? Through fair trade, people producing a product are treated fairly, paid fairly, and are being fair to the environment.

WHY: Having the White House seek to purchase and use fair trade goods encourages households throughout America to refine their buying habits toward ethical consumption so that poverty, both in America and around the world, is reduced.

WHERE: We are seeking an endorsement by the First Lady to be celebrated through a vendor gift bag exchange which will be given to the First Lady and her staff by key voices in the fair trade movement.

WHEN: Our public invitation to the First Lady was unsealed May 29th, 2009. Throughout the year, we will seek online signatures from consumers and organizations to show the First Lady the momentum and support of the fair trade movement. We hope that the First Lady will accept our invitation, the goal is to conduct a ceremony in May 2010 in honor of “World Fair Trade Day.”

HISTORY: Anti-Body (anti-poverty, beautiful body), an all natural fair trade body-care company initiated this campaign in February 2009 to bring greater awareness of fair trade to the American consumer. A steering committee joined Anti-Body in June 2009 and is comprised of representatives from Alter Eco, Dr. Bronner’s, Equal Exchange, Fair For Life (IMO), Fair Trade Federation, Fair Trade Resource Network, Green America, Handmade Expressions, L. Ishii & Associates, TransFair USA, and advocate Jacqueline DeCarlo.

If you believe in the value of fair trade, please visit the Fair Trade White House site and sign your name to the invitation.

Filed Under: Do Good Tagged With: Fair Trade, white house

Fair Trade. It Matters.

by Beth 2 Comments

I’ve found myself in the middle of a fairly large project, so for the next few days I’ll be running some posts that appeared in the early days of this blog — I think only about 5 of you were reading back then.

This post originally appeared here on February 10, 2009.

The things I’m most interested in when it comes to food and drink are buying products that are free of chemicals and pesticides, and buying locally whenever possible. There are some items that cannot be purchased locally, and some of those, I’ve been unwilling to do without. Two of those items are coffee and tea. When spending money on items from abroad (or even close to home, for that matter) I believe I have a social responsibility to purchase from companies that promote fair wages and fair working conditions for their employees and suppliers. We’ve all heard about the sweat shop labor in China and in other countries and many of us changed our buying habits as a result. An issue that has received less press, but one that is equally appalling, involves the conditions of, and wages paid to, coffee and cocoa farmers. This is where Fair Trade Certification come in.

What is the problem?

According to Global Exchange,

The United States consumes one-fifth of all the world’s coffee, making it the largest consumer in the world. But few Americans realize that agriculture workers in the coffee industry often toil in what can be described as “sweatshops in the fields.” Many small coffee farmers receive prices for their coffee that are less than the costs of production, forcing them into a cycle of poverty and debt.

What can we do?

Look for the Fair Trade label on the coffee and tea products we buy. According to Transfair, a nonprofit, third-party certifier of fair trade products:

The Fair Trade Certified™ label guarantees:

A fair price
The Fair Trade Certified label guarantees that farmers and workers received a fair price for their product. The Fair Trade price means that farmers can feed their families and that their children can go to school instead of working in the fields.

Quality products
By receiving a fair price, Fair Trade producers can avoid cost-cutting practices that sacrifice quality. The Fair Trade producers’ traditional artesanal farming methods result in exceptional products.

Care for the environment
Most Fair Trade Certified coffee, tea and chocolate in the US is certified organic and shade grown. This means that the products you buy maintain biodiversity, provide shelter for migratory birds and help reduce global warming.

Community impact
Empowered by the economic stability provided by Fair Trade, members of the COSURCA coffee cooperative in Colombia successfully prevented the cultivation of more than 1,600 acres of coca and poppy, used for the production of illicit drugs. In Papua New Guinea, the AGOGA cooperative, is investing in a medical team to meet the healthcare needs of its isolated rural community. In the highlands of Guatemala, indigenous Tzutuhil Mayans in the La Voz cooperative are sending local kids to college for the first time. Near Lake Titicaca, in Peru, the CECOVASA cooperative is assisting members from Quechua and Aymara indigenous groups in raising coffee quality and transitioning to certified organic production.

“The fair price is a solution. It has given us the chance to pay a good price to our farmers. Those who are not in Fair Trade want to participate. For us it is a great opportunity. It gives us hope.”
-Benjamin Cholotío

Fair Trade coffees and teas can be purchased through a variety of companies. Two are:

Equal Exchange, offering coffees, teas, cocoa products, and snacks.

Green Mountain Coffee has an extensive line of Fair Trade Coffees including Newman’s Own Organics, as well as Fair Trade Teas and Hot Cocoa.

Fair Trade does not necessarily mean more expensive. I’ve been buying Nell’s Breakfast Blend, one in the Newman’s Own line, from Green Mountain for some time now. It costs no more than the non-Fair Trade coffee I’d been buying before. All it takes is a little time to consider where our purchasing dollars go.

Don’t forget to enter the business card giveaway. Deadline is Friday, 9/4 at midnight EST.

Filed Under: Do Good Tagged With: equal exchange, Fair Trade

World Fair Trade Day on Saturday

by Beth 1 Comment

Saturday is World Fair Trade Day. To celebrate, Equal Exchange is offering their full Fair Trade Curriculum,Win Win Solutions: An Introduction to Fair Trade and Cooperative Economics,(downloadable online) for free.

There is an introductory section and four units:

Unit 1: Our Choices Matter

Unit 2: Understanding Fair Trade

Unit 3: Understanding Cooperatives

Unit 4: Make a Difference

Equal Exchange writes that the program,

offers 124 pages of interactive classroom activities. Composed of four units, the curriculum raises students’ awareness of the core issues surrounding food production and trade. It provides a link between personal actions and community efforts that create a more just and sustainable world. An interdisciplinary educational resource, the Equal Exchange curriculum addresses U.S. curriculum standards from a wide variety of subjects while providing a Fair Trade education. The flexible structure allows teachers to easily incorporate one or two classes into current lesson plans, or use all four units.

In collaboration with educators, Equal Exchange seeks to extend the concepts of fairness and sustainability into the classroom and engage students in the Fair Trade movement.

If you work with children, this is an excellent resource for educating them about Fair Trade. This is also an excellent resource for educating yourself if you’d like to know about how Fair Trade and Co-ops work.

Filed Under: Do Good Tagged With: equal exchange, Fair Trade, world fair trade day