|
|
Coffee And Fair Trade: Enjoy Drinking Coffee For A Better World!
The World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) celebrates World Fair Trade Day on the second day of May as a global event drawing support from many different types of organizations that share common goals.
To name a few of these goals: improving economic conditions for disadvantaged producers; improving working conditions; paying a fair price for goods and services; helping to establish gender equity, and achieving accountability and transparency.
Coffee plays an important role in the economy since coffee is second to petroleum; worldwide, in terms of the total number of beans sold which is the main source of revenues for millions of people around the world. In celebration of this special day, there are literally hundreds of local events that take place in the US in what is commonly referred to as Fair Trade Coffee Breaks. By the way, these are not your everyday “coffee breaks.” Instead, they are community programs featuring music, coffee trade films, food, fashions, eco culture from different countries and ethnic groups, contests, children’s games and many family activities. They can be a great way to spend a day and could be taking place in your local area. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: fair trade, fair trade coffeeRelated posts
Fair Trade Clothing For The Conscious Consumer
Fair trade products offer an affordable, high quality alternative to mass-produced items for the conscious consumer. Purchasing fair trade products directly supports a more equitable international trading system, and provides numerous benefits to both the producers and the consumers.
Fair trade is a social movement that seeks to bring greater equality and justice to the system of international trade. These trade products are made in small production units and cooperatives and the producers are paid a fair and sustainable wage for their work. Further, the traditional production methods ensure that these trade products are made with the least amount of environmental impact. The use of natural fibers, dyes, and other materials means that both the producers and the consumers benefit; the producers are not exposed to toxic and hazardous materials and the consumers can rest assured that the products are non-toxic for the person that is using or wearing them.
Developing countries are increasingly becoming sources of cheap labor multinational companies. Most of the internationally established businesses have their presence in either one or more developing countries and cheap labor is the main reason for which multi-national corporations flock to these countries. More competition in the global market often leads to increasing exploitation of producers in the developing nations. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: fair tradeRelated posts
Fair Trade and Local – Can They Co-Exist
“Fair trade” – what a wonderful concept! Simply put, trading fairly means paying a decent, respectable (by local standards), price or living wage for someone’s time, talent or labor. “Fair trade” is a relatively recent concept, and an antidote to the common exploitative practice of paying rock-bottom slave wages to workers to minimize costs and maximize profits. “Fair trade” is, well, only fair, in a world of huge financial disparities.
“Fair trade”, as commonly practiced, however, does have its drawbacks. Most importantly, it is usually applied only to workers in communities in which the average standard of living is much lower than our own. Therefore, “fair trade” generally means that the goods or services so designated, are obtained from a great distance outside the US. Distance means importing, and importing means increasing the carbon footprint of the item or service purchased. In addition, purchasing from abroad means reducing the amount of badly-needed money circulating within our own local economies. If “fairly traded” goods are mainly non-local and they compete with locally-made goods, then local people must seek markets elsewhere, often in smaller economies. This is good news for importers and exporters, but bad news for the environment and for producers who must try to sell at high relative prices to maintain a decent standard of living in a more expensive economy. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: fair trade