Quest for Fair Trade - Prologue
I am on a quest to convert my consumption to fair trade products on a shoe string budget. At the moment, I use no fair trade products I know of. As an abolitionist and activist, I feel it is my responsibility to shop responsibly; to walk the talk. It seems like a daunting task at the start: convincing my wife to shop fair trade when I don’t even know what to buy yet, searching for new versions of everything we buy, giving up some comforts and favorites, communicating with businesses, etc. Now that I think of it, this is crazy!
There is a growing number of items that are certified as Fair Trade; here are some practical certified products that are currently available by fair trade conscious businesses:
- chocolate
- coffee
- tea
- some fresh fruits
- rice
- flowers
- sugar
- vanilla
- wine
- handicrafts
- toys
- handbags
- scarves
- paper products like stationery and note cards
- olive oil
I am aware there is a plethora of information on the internet regarding where to shop for fair trade goods, what is available, for how much, etc. Indeed, I will be relying on information from the internet for research. However, in order to develop shopping habits that are socially responsible and utilitarian, I need to find fair trade products that are accessible to my current life style.
Disclaimers:
- I am not an expert on Fair Trade - this is an academic pursuit.
- I prefer milk chocolate and I do not consume alcohol.
- I have limited to no funds.
- Fair trade goods are not always clearly labeled. There are a number of different methods and labels which I intend to discover. That being said, I may miss something.
- I am assuming (unless I discover otherwise) that products and ingredients that are made and produced in the U.S.A., Canada, and Europe are fair trade by default. I will be focusing on imported products and ingredients my family consumes from other areas of the world that have no equivalent from the U.S.A., Canada, and Europe.
- Constructive criticism is accepted (this is not an inclusive statement).
- The motivation behind this mission is to eradicate human trafficking (a.k.a. slavery). I am not advertising or recommending any particular product or business except to serve critiquing the availability, accessibility, and quality of products and their respective distributors.
One hope I have of this quest is to effectively counter apprehensions to buying fair trade products. This means educating myself and others to what is available and affordable and what businesses are the most socially responsible. The potentiality to dispel myths and quell concerns about fair trade shopping, of course, is contingient upon my discovering that switching to fair trade products is indeed practical and affordable.
So begins the expenditure.
See also:
What is Fair Trade, and does it make a difference?
FB Comments
Jennifer Dye 2/10/2010Yay! Good luck. Try local farmers markets and the sort. They usually have pretty high standards and requirements to participate (i.e., have to be grown locally, usually no chemicals, fair prices, etc) and usually cheaper than grocery store. Same goes for their handicrafts and anything else sold there.
Chad R. Downum Hopefully, locally grown produce is fair trade, though there is quite the human trafficking problem here in the US. Farmers markets are a good source of organic foods, as well as stores such as TJ’s, Whole Foods, etc. Those types of stores tend to be more socially resposibile, providing products that are organic, gluten-free, locally grown, etc. They typically have more fair trade products, but have fewer and farther between locations than mainstream supermarkets.
The products I am focusing on will be imports and more specifically imports from Asia, Africa, and America (less the US and Canada). These are products I use every day such as rice, ethnic foods, clothing, plastics, electronics, etc. THe stores that sell these are the ones that are nearby and practical to our lifestyle. This is who I will be focusing on mostly.
