So many of us see the myriad problems in our world and want to help in some way, but ultimately we find ourselves getting overwhelmed and feeling hopeless....enter Fair Trade.
Fair Trade is a social movement that is seeking to address the world's most serious problems (from poverty to climate change and everywhere in between) in a way that makes it easy for each and everyone of us to contribute. It seeks to change the world with the power of our purchases.
We consume everyday, but we spend little time thinking about the effect those purchases have on other communities, people, and the environment. The current dominant international trading system allows for the free flow of capital and trade with very little in the way of protection mechanisms for those that may be harmed in the process. Because of this deficiency in the system, the big international corporations producing so many of our products are free to set up shop in whatever part of the world that offers the lowest labor costs and regulations, as well as the lowest environmental regulations. The results are not good. Brutal labor practices (including child labor) that would be considered atrocious in any civilized society and severe environmental devastation have been well documented. Entire communities and societies in developing nations have had their lives destroyed as they are forced to compete with extremely cheap, highly subsidized goods coming from developed countries. Of course they cannot compete, and so they are forced into urban centers to find work as their farms are shut down. This carries with it numerous negative consequences as the drug and sex trades become some of the few viable alternatives, crime and violence increase, and the countries as a whole are persuaded to take on more and more debt in an unending cycle of poverty and destitution. Without taking the time to learn where our products are coming from, we unwittingly perpetuate this cycle, and we contribute to further degradation of the environment as lands, waterways, and food systems are polluted and made toxic by lack of oversight in how these companies get rid of the waste in their production process.
When we make blind purchases, when we spend our hard earned dollars on products that come from this process, as consumers we are demanding that this process continue. We are voicing our approval and actually doing worse than doing nothing at all. However, if we were to take a few minutes to educate ourselves on where our money is going, what the companies that make our products are doing, how they are treating their labor, the environment, and the communities in which they are doing business, then we can demand something different. We can demand a more just, equitable, and environmentally sustainable system. We can demand this, but more importantly, we can actually move it in that direction.
Fair Trade is a movement that recognizes the realities of an integrated and connected world. And so it works within this reality to establish a system based on transparency, sustainability, dialogue, and respect. When we purchase a product that is made within the Fair Trade system, we are ensuring that, in the process, the environment is protected, the people and communities making the products earn a fair wage and are empowered with the ability to develop, and that the rest of the world is made aware of this alternative and of our demands for its expansion.
Most of us do not have the time in our busy lives to be politically active, to protest, to lobby our representatives....heck, some of us don't have time to vote in elections. Our voices are lost. Our demands are not heard.
Choosing to spend our money on responsible companies and organizations that manufacture and produce within the Fair Trade system reclaims our lost voice. Purchasing Fair Trade ensures that our demands are heard. And Fair Trade most definitely provides the opportunity for us as individuals to make the changes in the world that we have always desired but found powerless to affect......
....more to come on Fair Trade achievements, stats, updates, as well as creative ideas.
