Why Fair Trade?
I am by nature an optimist. I like to think that someday in the not too distant future all people everywhere will be able to make a decent living for their families. I like to think that someday in the not too distant future all children will be well-fed, have good medical care, and will get a good education.
I also believe in living my values. So I support Fair Trade. And I want everyone to have an opportunity to help create a bright future for all of us.
Fair trade is an organized social movement which promotes equitable and ethical standards for international labour, environmentalism, and social policy in areas related to the production of all types of goods ranging from handcrafts to agricultural commodities.
F air trade means paying a fair wage in safe and healthy working conditions.
F air trade means environmentally sustainable practices.
F air trade means gender equality.
F air trade means a decent future for many of the world's poor.
F air trade means doing unto others what you would want them to do for you if the roles were reversed.
F air trade means a bright future for all of us.
Your purchase of fair trade items is a way to help shape our common future.
A word from our CIO
We're all in this together. At last count there were something like 6 and a half billion of us on this planet and by some estimates there may be 12 or even 15 billion of us before the world's population stops growing.
I'm old enough to remember the end of colonialism, It was supposed to bring prosperity to all those new countries.
It didn't.
Then there was the green revolution. It was supposed to end world hunger.
It didn't.
There were other well-meaning programs. Although some of them did have a modest bit of success, mostly they failed. It seems that all these programs were designed to be coutry to country. They were grand programs that demanded grand solutions.
Yet even as the grand programs were failing, many individuals were quietly making a difference. Microloans, mostly under $100, helped many poverty stricken families get the tools and supplies they needed to create a second income, even while grass-roots movements created markets for their products.
Fair trade does not require the participation of governments. Individuals doing their small part can help make this a better world, and while individually none of us can do very much, collectively we can make a difference. Collectively people can succeed where governments have repeatedly failed.
That's why fair trade.