my care2
make a difference

healthy & green living

more than 4,000 ways to enhance your life

customize your free newsletter

Customize your Healthy & Green Living newsletter now


Gaiam_weight-loss_160x133
hagl_da

Fair Trade: A Little Effort Goes a Long Way

posted by Heather L. Jones Dec 13, 2007 8:11 pm
Fair Trade: A Little Effort Goes a Long Way
2 comments

By Heather L. Jones, Care2 Green Living contributing writer

Buying Fair Trade is a laudable goal for the socially conscious: It’s a practice that ensures safe working conditions and equitable wages for people in developing countries who, in the capitalist free market system, have been easy targets to overwork and underpay in order to beef up someone else’s profits.

If you pay people in a third-world country a fair wage, the kids there are more likely to go to school and get educated because they don’t have to work to help the family get enough to eat. If a community organizes into a farm co-op and earns enough to invest in more organic practices, it can develop a healthier and more sustainable approach for future years—and future generations.

Unfortunately Fair Trade is still fairly new, so a consumer won’t be able to just walk into the closest supermarket and swap out all their old staples for Fair Trade-certified alternatives. It takes more effort—and more money.

How much more? Well, for some items, such as coffee, you won’t notice a difference if you’re already drinking something better than Folgers out of a can. (Some critics say that’s because now that so many people can make a living wage by producing coffee, there’s more on the market and the prices are being driven down. Bummer!)

For other things, you’ll have to really feel like helping others to pay Fair Trade prices. For example, in a higher-end supermarket where a 3-oz. Ghirardelli bar was priced at $2.49, a 3.5-oz. Fair Trade-certified “Alter Eco” was $3.99. At a food co-op, “conventional” bananas were 59 cents per pound, while Fair Trade bananas were $1.49 per pound. Prices will vary, but these numbers give you an idea of how much more you can expect to pay.

Sorry, but it’s going to cost you more if the people harvesting your bananas or the cocoa for your chocolate bars aren’t getting a raw deal.

If you’re committed to Fair Trade ideals, you’ll want to join your local food co-op if there’s one in your area. You’ll find a wider selection of certified products, and as a co-owner, if there’s something you’d like to see on the shelves, you can pipe up.

Another option is to urge your local supermarket manager to carry more Fair Trade products.

Co-Op America’s Fair Trade Guide offers tips on mobilizing your community to campaign for such products. It includes a sample letter you can refer to when you write to your store manager, and it lists Fair Trade importers of such produce as coffee, chocolate, sugar, produce and spices.

Funny thing about the free market society here in the United States that can be so crippling to the small farmer in a third-world country: The big corporations want to please us, because they want our business, so we do have a say and we can make a difference.

Heather L. Jones is a freelance writer and editor who lives in Davis, Calif.

More on Green Home Decor (164 articles available)
More from Heather L. Jones (8 articles available)

2 comments

2 comments

add your comment »
2 Comments       add a comment »
Bryon Carter

When thinking of fair trade I always consider how difficult it is for everyday people (including me) to stay "fair" in any aspect of life. It's a habit I think. Then I consider the vast variables involved on a global scale and get overwhelmed very quickly. I don't want to see a farmer in the amazon put out of work but I don't want the amazon put out either. I think any discusion of fair trade should certainly include conflict resolution dialouge & so on.

Jan Sadauskas

I wonder does all of that increase in price for Fair trade certified go to and benefit the farmer or does that middle man who didn't labor at all get a portion.

Please enter your comment.
1500 characters remaining

who's talking about this story?

  • Excerpt: [...] key to making “your fix” responsible is using farmer and plant-friendly Fair Trade, organic, or shade grown–coffees. In addition ...
  • Blog: Coffee 4 Life « Responsible Frugality
  • Tracked: Aug 21, 2008 10:11 am

Disclaimer: Care2.com does not warrant and shall have no liability for information provided in this newsletter or on Care2.com. Each individual person, fabric, or material may react differently to a particular suggested use. It is recommended that before you begin to use any formula, you read the directions carefully and test it first. Should you have any health care-related questions or concerns, please call or see your physician or other health care provider.

17505

Gaiam_pilates_300x250
Get a Care2 Tee
Copyright © 2008 Care2.com, inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved