Please Buy Fairtrade

Having spent many years in the UK doing tourism research I am quite familiar with Fair Trade. Travelling through Wales you will even pass through places that have earned the distinction of being a Fair Trade town or city. Yet, when I ask my American students about Fair Trade they give me a blank stare in response which is deplorable.

What is Fair Trade? According to the book, 50 Reasons to Buy Fair Trade, by Litvinoff and Madelely and published in 2007 in the UK (available at http://www.plutobooks.com/), 'it is trade with a difference.' In short, fair trade was launched in response to the fact that when consumers in "developed nations" buy food and clothing at ridiculously low prices it means that the person that ultimately produced them is living in some third world country and barely making a living all so others can (to my way of thinking) selfishly get their bananas, for example, at $.39 a pound (which you better enjoy now because that crop is being wiped out a virus that is sweeping around the world). In effect, Fair Trade is a way for the person to earn a fair price for the fruits of their labor to do things we Americans take for granted like education, health services, clean drinking water, and so forth.

As the authors describe it: Fair trade is a way for us to help the world's poor every time we shop. With fair trade, producers in poor countries recieve a decent return -- a fair and stable price or wage for their products. And also in many cases they get extra money - a premium - to invest in their business community. Buying fair trade products is a way to bring about a better, more generous world. It can help to make poverty history (which the UN pledged to end, by the way by 2014 and not doing so well on that goal). Many fair trade products carry the fair Fairtrade Mark...which is awarded by an organisation called Fairtrade Labelling Organisations (FLO) International to products that meet internationally agreed fair trade standards.

So please look at the products you purchase for your school's kitchen/labs or your home and choose those with the Fairtrade Mark and do your part to help those who are at the mercy of literally three to five food conglomerates on our planet who purchase from those who are powerless on a "take it or let it rot in the fields or dock" basis. Yes, you will pay a little bit more but you can feel good consuming those products knowing someone was not kept in poverty so you can enjoy you cheap cup of coffee, chocolate bar, t-shirt, and so forth. You will also improve your health because the Fairtrade Mark indicates the food and animals were raised in a responsible manner. Besides, as educators you have a responsibility to educate your students about Fairtrade because it helps you and them become better stewards of the people, animals, and plants on the planet that is our home in the context of the the teaching, research, and service we do in our respective culinary arts and tourism programs.

For a great online source regarding Fairtrade, visit the Fairtrade Foundation's website at: http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/