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Why Fair Trade Matters

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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.

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Featured Do-Gooder: EWG & The Kid-Safe Chemicals Act Project

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From time to time 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.

This is the second in a series of posts about the Environmental Working Group. Today’s focus is their Kid-Safe Chemicals Act Project. I posted EWG’s 10 Americans video two weeks ago and hope some of you had a chance to watch it. If not, you can find it here.

Why do we need a Kid-Safe Chemicals Act?

According to the EWG, “Babies are born pre-polluted with as many as 300 industrial chemicals in their bodies when they enter the world.” EWG has done extensive testing on a range of people and has identified 455 chemicals in our bodies. The consequences of all of these chemicals in our systems is yet unknown. But there seems to be a direct connection between the introduction of thousands of new chemicals into the products we use, and are exposed to everyday, and the increase in serious diseases.

How has this happened?

The Toxic Substances Control Act, which was first passed in 1976, immediately deemed safe some 62,000 chemicals with virtually no data to confirm this. Since then, another 20,000 chemicals have been introduced — again with little to no data confirming their safety. The TSCA has not been amended since its inception. Currently, under federal law, chemicals do not have to be proven safe to enter or stay in the consumer market. EWG cites the ramifications of the current law: “neither manufacturers nor the EPA are required to prove a chemical’s safety as a condition of use.”

How can this be fixed?

With the Kids Safe Chemicals Act as a start. The Act will involve a “fundamental overhaul of our nation’s chemical regulatory law.” From EWG’s website–

Specifically, the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act:

  • requires that industrial chemicals be safe for infants, kids and other vulnerable groups;
  • requires that new chemicals be safety tested before they are sold;
  • requires chemical manufacturers to test and prove that the 62,000 chemicals already on the market that have never been tested are safe in order for them to remain in commerce;
  • requires EPA to review “priority” chemicals, those which are found in people, on an expedited schedule;
  • requires regular biomonitoring to determine what chemicals are in people and in what amounts;
  • requires regular updates of health and safety data and provides EPA with clear authority to request additional information and tests;
  • provides incentives for manufacturers to further reduce health hazards;
  • requires EPA to promote safer alternatives and alternatives to animal testing;
  • protects state and local rights; and
  • requires that this information be publicly available.

What can we, as individuals, do?

One thing that was underscored by last week’s Do-Gooder, WE ADD UP, is that each person counts. It’s easy to think, “I’m only one person, what can I do?” but it’s one person and then another and then another. . . We really do add up. If enough of us tell our elected officials in Washington that we want stronger chemical regulation and testing, it will happen.

photo credit: www.ewg.org/kidsafe

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Homemade Laundry Detergent 101

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flickr photo by lavocado

I admit it; I make my own laundry detergent. Across the web there are die-hard laundry soap makers and serious detractors. The die-hards laud the money savings and claim their clothes get cleaner. The detractors believe that it’s a waste of time; after all, time is money. Those in the middle applaud the desire to be more frugal, but ultimately feel that it’s not worth it for them (see Frugal Dad’s post on this topic). My story goes something like this . . .

About a year ago I read an article somewhere long forgotten about a person who made his own laundry detergent. He said it was easy and cheap. I was intrigued, so I Googled. What I found were hundreds of links and at least a dozen different recipes for detergent. Most of these recipes involve cooking up a liquid brew and storing the concoction in a 5 gallon bucket. Because I was going to be making and storing this stuff myself, I opted for what looked like the easiest option: powdered detergent. The first go-round, it took me about 20 minutes to mix up a batch that lasted for months. I’m now down to 10 minutes, tops, but it’s really closer to 5-7. Once I’ve invested this minimal amount of time, I’m set for at least 3 months. Then I do it again.

Here’s my base recipe:

1 bar Fels Naptha soap (I buy mine from Soaps Gone Buy for less than $2/bar)

1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (NOT baking soda) I get this at Kroger, in the laundry aisle

1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax (from Target)

That’s it. I grate the bar of soap by cutting it into chunks and putting it in my food processor until it’s pulverized. Then I combine the ingredients in an airtight container and use 1-2 tablespoons per load of laundry. I multiply the recipe based upon the size of my container; usually I make it in 3 bar/3 cup batches. It’s naturally low-sudsing so it’s perfect for HE front loading washers like mine. It works fine in standard washing machines, too.

I started making my own laundry detergent because I was curious about how easy it would be and how well it would work. It really couldn’t be easier and I do believe it cleans better than the very expensive brand name I’d been using for years. I’ve continued to make, rather than buy, laundry detergent for the past year for several reasons:

Cost. For me, it’s come out to about 5 cents per load compared with the 32 cents per load I was paying. I do a lot of laundry which has equaled a significant savings.

Less Packing which equals less waste. I’ve been able to avoid a year’s worth of plastic jugs.

Fewer chemicals, both down the drain and next to our skin. There was some concern about Fels Naptha containing petrochemicals, but according to the MSDS sheet, it does not. It does contain hydrocarbons, which I’ve learned are an organic compound made of hydrogen and carbon. The health risk, according the MSDS sheet, is a 1, which is low. As Allie pointed out with baking soda, there are few perfect products out there. But I do know the mixture I’m now using has fewer chemicals than what I used before.

If you decide to give it a try, let me know how it works for you.

Photo credit: lavocado on flickr.

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