The list has been updated with two new labels;
The Whole Trade Guarantee and Equitable-Trade. Learn more and see the rest of the labels by checking out this post! Show Me Your Label: A Guide To Fair Trade Labels.
“I pity a man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth will starve in the process.”
Benjamin Harrison,23rd President of The United States
I was trying to find some funny quotes on pity the other day to make a comment on a friends Facebook page when I came across this quote from Benjamin Harrison. It immediately made me think of the principles of Fair Trade and the journey I have been on over the past 2 years. It got me thinking about the different ways we treat people and how that treatment may differ based on two categories: people we see and people we don’t.
I’m sure most of us have seen people in desperation, people begging for assistance. In my community they can be seen on a bench outside the local Safeway playing some type of musical instrument with an open container at their feet that has a few coins or bills in it. Continue reading
From Fair Trade Resource Network
Submit photos – June 1-26Vote for photos – June 27 to July 16Guidelines – Contest rules and photo specificationsOrder 2013 Fair Trade Calendar – Early-bird discountsContact Us – contest administratorWinning photos from last year – some photos voted as winners last yearSubmit Photos June 1-26, 2012Read below for contest “Guidelines/Eligibility” to make sure your photos qualify for this contest.Email each photo, with a caption up to 50 words , to photocontest@ftrn.org. FTRN will not post your name, email address, nor a photo title. Each photo must have a resolution of 300 dpi at 5 x 7 inches. For best quality in printed calendar, the photo should have resolution of 300 dpi at 9.5 x 14.5 inches. Photo must be in one of these formats: jpg, tiff, pdf. Your accompanying caption should include location photo was taken, name of individuals pictured as much as possible, and relation of photo subject to Fair Trade.Pay submission fee of $10/photo at FTRN’s Online Store. Pay using Paypal or a Credit Card. Photo submissions are $10 per photo; you may submit as many photos as you want. 1 photo costs $10, 5 photos costs $50, etc.. Within 2 business days of receiving your payment, your photos will appear on the Photo Contest page.
Fair Trade Resource Network has launched “Best in Fair Trade” Awards for N. America nonprofits & businesses. The public can nominate (by March 31), and vote, for U.S. & Canada organizations doing exemplary work in Fair Trade in 5 categories:
FTRN created the contest since no awards existed to honor organizations across all major Fair Trade recognitions. Winners will be celebrated during World Fair Trade Day in May!
Nominate, or self-nominate, nonprofits and businesses before March 31. The public will then vote for any finalists during April.
At the heart of Fair Trade is the desire for people to be treated fairly. Producers and farmers should be paid a fair price for their products. No one should be forced to grow or pick anything I eat or … Continue reading
It’s simple to think about but harder to actually put into practice at times. I’m going for it though! I’m searching for new ways to live a Fair Trade lifestyle. It’s not about huge, crazy, radical restructuring of my life. It’s getting to that, but to put in more simpler terms, it’s about choosing differently about how I’m going to spend my money. Today, it’s about Flip Flops.
Read more about Autonomie Project here!This was supposed to the Valentines Day that I went all in with Fair Trade. I wanted to do something special and unique for my wife and I didn’t want to just go down to the store and get something. I wanted it all to be Fair Trade.
I located Organic Bouquet on the web and saw that they were having a special on “Fair Trade USA Certified” roses.Everything looked good! Lets remember however, that I am a man and I was doing this on Monday the 13th. So I called the company to see what the deadline was for getting the roses shipped out and delivered on Valentines Day. It was confirmed that if I placed the order by noon my time I would have it on my doorstep on Valentines Day. So I placed the order: $50 for 2 dozen assorted roses and almost $20 for the shipping. Continue reading
Have you ever wondered what exactly to look for when trying to buy Fair Trade? It can be a little confusing to decipher the labels or perceived rhetoric about “Fair Trade” and get down to finding the actual products available in the market. But once you know what to look for, it actually becomes quite easy.
Certified Fair Trade products are not available in every type of merchandise that we may think of. There is a small but comparable list of things available at this point and the best way to find those products is by looking for the “label”. The above photo is a collage of all the Certified Fair Trade and Fair Trade related logos that I am aware of. What is to follow is a listing of each logo and a brief description of what they mean and information about the parent organization. I hope you’ll find this helpful and that it may take some of the guesswork out of shopping Fair Trade.
See All Labels and Continue Reading Here!As for Oliver’s Market, it is one that seems to be concerned with high quality products and support of the local community. It boast a wide variety of Fair Trade products and a giant selection of local goods. The company website declares, “Our mission is to provide the communities we serve with the finest grocery store in the marketplace.To this end, we seek out our customers’ specific needs and tailor our products and services to meet those needs.We carry the largest possible selection of natural, conventional and gourmet products. We carry only the highest quality meat, produce and deli products, buying locally whenever possible.”
Here is a list of the Certified Fair Trade Products that I found… See All Products and Continue Reading Here!
Is Starbucks fair trade? If you ask this in a Starbucks store, many times you will get a “yes” from one of the barista’s. If you ask the average person on the street they may not know. And as for me, my answer is a little mixed. No, they are not a Fair Trade company. They do, however, carry a fair trade labeled coffee.
To get into the debate about whether or not Starbucks is good or evil is not what I want to do here. I know that many people choose Starbucks as there shop of choice and that many in the world of Fair Trade choose not to support Starbucks. My goal is to provide those who frequent Starbucks with knowledge and options and encourage a Fair Trade choice.
Starbucks does in fact carry a Fair Trade labeled coffee, although it can be hard to find and it has recently changed. If you are familiar with the coffee giant you may recognize their fair trade coffee as “Cafe Estima”. It was a multi-region, dark roast blend that was available on most of their coffee shop shelves. This line, however, has been discontinued in stores and is now only available on-line. Starbucks has recently introduced a whole new line of roasts and has added a new line of Fair Trade Certified coffee as well: the Italian Roast. The Italian roast, like the line it replaces, is a multi-region dark roast and should be available on most Starbucks store shelves. It may or may not make its way into a grocery store near you.
So just to be clear, the Italian Roast is the only line of Starbucks coffee that is Certified Fair Trade. From their website, Starbucks says, ”As one of the largest purchasers of Fair Trade Certified™ coffee, Starbucks is committed to paying fair prices to help give farming families a better life and ensure coffee farms are protected for the future.” Because Starbucks is a giant corporation it is not hard to see that it does in fact buy a large amount of Fair Trade coffee but it only puts that coffee into one line that it sells in its stores.
The good news for Starbucks goers is that there is more than one way to get your hands on some Italian Roast Fair Trade coffee. 1) Consider substituting the Italian Roast for another Starbucks coffee that you purchase and make at home. Most stores should carry the 1lb bags of this roast on their shelves. 2) If not available at your local store, check out online. 3) If the store you frequent has a “Clover” machine, ask the barista to brew you a fresh cup with the Italian Roast. All stores should accommodate this request and I have had a “Clover” cup of the Italian Roast in the Healdsburg store. 4) If there is no Clover machine, ask them to brew you a french press cup with the Italian Roast instead. Again, most stores should be willing to accommodate your request and it is more common than you might think.
Is Starbucks as a company Certified Fair Trade? No, but they do carry a Fair Trade Certified line of coffee and it’s possible for you get it in beans, grounds, or freshly brewed at your local store. It’s different than you may remember, no longer Cafe Estima, but rather Italian Roast. So if you are keen on trying new things, ask for a Clover or french press of this Fair Trade coffee next you visit a Starbucks. And if you were wondering why Starbucks no longer carried the Cafe Estima, now you know that they were not discontinuing all things Fair Trade, but rather changing to a different roast.
Only available on-line
