Fair Trade & Social Justice
OCA's New Fair World Project
The Organic Consumers Association launched the Fair World Project (FWP) in September 2010 to promote fair trade in commerce, especially in organic production systems in developing countries as well as at home, and to protect the term "fair trade" from dilution and misuse for mere PR purposes. FWP fills the critical need for a watchdog of misleading fair trade claims, and a cheerleader for dedicated fair trade mission-driven companies.
News
July 13, 2006
Sandy Horrell, 59, of Crestwood, shops the organic aisle of the Shop n' Save produce section. ( David Carson/P-D)
Grocery chains worried about growing competition from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are facing a new headache: The giant discounter is launching a 10-month marketing campaign to promote its food operations, starting with organics.
Industry experts see the move as part of Wal-Mart's effort to attract more affluent shoppers while polishing an image tarnished by criticism from labor and consumer groups over its operations and employment policies.
Wal-Mart is a Read more
Grocery chains worried about growing competition from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are facing a new headache: The giant discounter is launching a 10-month marketing campaign to promote its food operations, starting with organics.
Industry experts see the move as part of Wal-Mart's effort to attract more affluent shoppers while polishing an image tarnished by criticism from labor and consumer groups over its operations and employment policies.
Wal-Mart is a Read more
News
July 10, 2006
MEDIA -- It’s official. Not only is this tiny
borough, the county seat, known as "Everybody’s Home Town," it became
the "First Fair Trade Town in the U.S." as shoppers and strollers
enjoyed Media’s Second Saturday of the Month event.
Councilwoman Monica Simpson formally announced the designation to a crowd of more than 100 people waiting to enjoy the Media Chamber Chorale at the Plum Street Mall.
It came on the heels of a resolution passed June 15 by borough council -- one of five criteria established by the British and European Fair Trade Read more
Councilwoman Monica Simpson formally announced the designation to a crowd of more than 100 people waiting to enjoy the Media Chamber Chorale at the Plum Street Mall.
It came on the heels of a resolution passed June 15 by borough council -- one of five criteria established by the British and European Fair Trade Read more
News
July 6, 2006
Wayne Roberts is coordinator of Toronto's Food Policy Council, chair of the Coalition for a Green Economy, member of GET's Board of Advisors, co-author of Get a Life! and Real Food for a Change, and politics/economics columnist for NOW
End of big biz In the new epoch of capitalism, big-box bullies will be no more, says small-mart guruby By WAYNE ROBERTS
If hometown business enthusiast Michael Shuman has his crystal ball in working order, we now know where global insecurities about pandemics, terrorism and scarcity in the new century lead. The affluence of the 1950s Read more
End of big biz In the new epoch of capitalism, big-box bullies will be no more, says small-mart guruby By WAYNE ROBERTS
If hometown business enthusiast Michael Shuman has his crystal ball in working order, we now know where global insecurities about pandemics, terrorism and scarcity in the new century lead. The affluence of the 1950s Read more
Press Release
July 4, 2006
In the June 12, 2006 Washington Post article "For Wal-Mart, Fair Trade May Be More Than a Hill of Beans," writer Ylan Q. Mui describes one of Wal-Mart's foreign suppliers of fair-trade coffee, a Brazilian co-op farm. The article paints a glowing picture of Wal-Mart's investment in a small coffee farmer, complete with a portrayal of how the company's never-ending quest to cut supplier costs led it to remote Poco Fundo.
Unfortunately, this is only a small part of a larger picture. Wal-Mart's worldwide impact on fair trade and organic standards, farmers and consumers runs much deeper Read more
Unfortunately, this is only a small part of a larger picture. Wal-Mart's worldwide impact on fair trade and organic standards, farmers and consumers runs much deeper Read more
News
June 30, 2006
Consumers seeking to eat healthy while giving something back to their community and society are growing in number. All around the nation, people are choosing to eat locally for good reasons. In this time of easy and prevalent global travel, it's still a novel idea to support your hometown farmer, but the idea seems to be catching on in more ways than one.
The vast majority of what North Americans eat comes from an average of 1500 miles away. According to Worldwatch Institute, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit organization, since 1980 there has been a 25 percent increase in the Read more
The vast majority of what North Americans eat comes from an average of 1500 miles away. According to Worldwatch Institute, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit organization, since 1980 there has been a 25 percent increase in the Read more
News
June 30, 2006
WASHINGTON, DC, June 30, 2006 (ENS) - Conservation International (CI), a nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC, has entered into a partnership with the British online travel agent responsibletravel.com to improve market access for small ecotourism enterprises globally.
The partnership is aimed at providing small ecotourism operators the means to market and promote their destinations to consumers and tour operators.
Responsibletravel.com (RT), an on-line travel agent based in Brighton, England, was launched in 2001 for travelers who want vacations that benefit Read more
The partnership is aimed at providing small ecotourism operators the means to market and promote their destinations to consumers and tour operators.
Responsibletravel.com (RT), an on-line travel agent based in Brighton, England, was launched in 2001 for travelers who want vacations that benefit Read more
News
June 30, 2006
Pittsburgh is a city full of farmers. Farm markets are everywhere, from the North Side to the East End to the South Hills, in parks and in parking lots and on street corners and even on the steps of the City-County Building, Downtown.
Read more
News
June 27, 2006
True confessions: I love McDonald's French fries. They're a guilty pleasure. I also enjoy shopping at Whole Foods, the organic grocery chain in my neighborhood. I feel virtuous loading my cart with brown eggs laid by happy chickens in comfortable nests, or eating beef from free-range cows. When I pull a can of Amy's Organic Soup from the shelves I envision Amy and her grandma in an 18th-century restored farmhouse kitchen chopping tomatoes and adjusting spices.
Whole Foods makes a large dent in my pocketbook that I rationalize by saying I'm supporting family farms and putting my Read more
Whole Foods makes a large dent in my pocketbook that I rationalize by saying I'm supporting family farms and putting my Read more
Press Release
June 26, 2006
WASHINGTON, DC Ã The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is deeply disappointed that Starbucks continues to drag its heels on a five-year-old commitment to offer consumers an alternative to milk and dairy products derived from cows injected with Monsanto's controversial recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH). Furthermore OCA is outraged that company staff in at least one Starbucks location in Washington, DC threw numerous signed letters against rBGH from paying customers into the trash when these customers attempted to give them to the manager.
The genetically engineered Read more
The genetically engineered Read more
News
June 23, 2006
Bryant Terry, founder of b-healthy. What do you think about Wal-Mart offering organic products? -- Haven Bourque, San Francisco, Calif.
That's the million-dollar question. Jumping on the organic bandwagon will probably mean higher profits for Wal-Mart, so they gladly carry products with the organic seal. But it's important to remember that Wal-Mart has very little concern for public health, the well-being of small farmers, or the economy of local communities.
Which leads us to the bigger problem -- the organic seal. Most people are thoroughly confused about what the Read more
That's the million-dollar question. Jumping on the organic bandwagon will probably mean higher profits for Wal-Mart, so they gladly carry products with the organic seal. But it's important to remember that Wal-Mart has very little concern for public health, the well-being of small farmers, or the economy of local communities.
Which leads us to the bigger problem -- the organic seal. Most people are thoroughly confused about what the Read more
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