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
Sian Lewis, Jobs with Justice (202) 365-9122 walmart@jwj.org
Fred Azcarate, Jobs with Justice (202) 316-0236 fred@jwj.org
Thousands to "Quarantine" Wal-Mart as Hazardous to Community Health
WASHINGTON, DC shareholders meeting, thousands of concerned citizens in hazmat suits, face shields and rubber gloves will attempt to "quarantine" Wal-Mart locations across the country.
This "Bureau of Workers Health" organized by Jobs with Justice and the Ruckus Society will be armed with yellow caution tape, health hazard signs, and "Notices of Read more
News
May 28, 2006
EUGENE -- It would seem as natural a fit as brown rice and beans, but the proposed pairing of the city known for its green leanings and the company that made its name in all things organic is going over about as well as veal at a vegan dinner.
Whole Foods Market wants to open a 55,000-square-foot grocery store in downtown Eugene, an area that city leaders have struggled to revitalize for years, but a vocal contingent of locals says the natural foods giant isn't welcome.
Opponents fear Whole Foods, a publicly traded company with 184 stores across the country -- Read more
Whole Foods Market wants to open a 55,000-square-foot grocery store in downtown Eugene, an area that city leaders have struggled to revitalize for years, but a vocal contingent of locals says the natural foods giant isn't welcome.
Opponents fear Whole Foods, a publicly traded company with 184 stores across the country -- Read more
News
May 28, 2006
In a move that is directly contrary to recent trends in food trade, Maine's greenhouse vegetable production will nearly double with a 23-acre complex to be built in Madison. Greenhouse backers want to grow vine-ripened tomatoes for the regional Northeast market, where customers are hungry for tomatoes all year long.
The news that U.S. Functional Foods' tomato greenhouses will use 18 times as much electricity as all the residential consumers in the Madison Electric territory gives a sense of the scale that's involved.
Greenhouse production on this scale is nothing new in Read more
The news that U.S. Functional Foods' tomato greenhouses will use 18 times as much electricity as all the residential consumers in the Madison Electric territory gives a sense of the scale that's involved.
Greenhouse production on this scale is nothing new in Read more
News
May 26, 2006
Posted by David Roberts at 5:23 PM on 26 May 2006
Did you know that foodie writer Michael Pollan (look for my interview on Tuesday!) has a blog? Probably not, because it's hidden behind the cursed NYT Select subscription wall. Too bad -- it's a great blog, and deserves wider readership.
The latest entry reviews arguments against corn ethanol that will be familiar to readers of this blog, and concludes with this:
So why the stampede to make ethanol from corn? Because we have so much of it, and such a powerful lobby promoting its consumption. Ethanol is just Read more
Did you know that foodie writer Michael Pollan (look for my interview on Tuesday!) has a blog? Probably not, because it's hidden behind the cursed NYT Select subscription wall. Too bad -- it's a great blog, and deserves wider readership.
The latest entry reviews arguments against corn ethanol that will be familiar to readers of this blog, and concludes with this:
So why the stampede to make ethanol from corn? Because we have so much of it, and such a powerful lobby promoting its consumption. Ethanol is just Read more
News
May 24, 2006
Sometimes you just have to let the possibility breathe.
Sometimes you just have to allow that something grand and good and healthy might actually be born from the bowels of the dank and ravenous megacorporate world, like flowers from a dung heap, like vodka from old potatoes, even if it comes right alongside the nastiest, most abusive federal environmental policy you will see in your lifetime.
Take Wal-Mart, the most famously offensive, town-destroying, junk-purveying, labor-abusing, sweatshop-supporting, American-job-killing, soul-numbing, seizure-inducing, hope- Read more
Sometimes you just have to allow that something grand and good and healthy might actually be born from the bowels of the dank and ravenous megacorporate world, like flowers from a dung heap, like vodka from old potatoes, even if it comes right alongside the nastiest, most abusive federal environmental policy you will see in your lifetime.
Take Wal-Mart, the most famously offensive, town-destroying, junk-purveying, labor-abusing, sweatshop-supporting, American-job-killing, soul-numbing, seizure-inducing, hope- Read more
News
May 25, 2006
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. promised Wednesday to fight the city of Hercules in court if the city's redevelopment agency follows through on its plan to use eminent domain to take 17.27 acres of land from the nation's largest retailer.
"That would be the next step, to challenge it legally,'' Wal-Mart spokesman Kevin Loscotoff said of the Hercules City Council's resolution, adopted unanimously, Tuesday night, authorizing the use of eminent domain.
"Our position is that it's wrong," Loscotoff said. "It would mean there's virtually no limit on government's ability to take private Read more
"That would be the next step, to challenge it legally,'' Wal-Mart spokesman Kevin Loscotoff said of the Hercules City Council's resolution, adopted unanimously, Tuesday night, authorizing the use of eminent domain.
"Our position is that it's wrong," Loscotoff said. "It would mean there's virtually no limit on government's ability to take private Read more
News
May 17, 2006
A study focused on the effects of Wal-Mart stores on poverty rates found that an estimated 20,000 families nationwide have fallen below the official poverty line as a result of the chain's expansion.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., based in Bentonville, Ark., ranked No. 5 on the St. Louis Business Journal's most recent list of the area's largest employers. As of Dec. 31, Wal-Mart employed 13,005 people in the St. Louis metro area.
The study -- Wal-Mart and County-Wide Poverty -- written by Stephan Goetz, a professor of agricultural and regional economics at Pennsylvania State Read more
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., based in Bentonville, Ark., ranked No. 5 on the St. Louis Business Journal's most recent list of the area's largest employers. As of Dec. 31, Wal-Mart employed 13,005 people in the St. Louis metro area.
The study -- Wal-Mart and County-Wide Poverty -- written by Stephan Goetz, a professor of agricultural and regional economics at Pennsylvania State Read more
News
May 10, 2006
We spoke recently by telephone with the Berkeley-based author of the lauded The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (Penguin, $26.95). Michael Pollan shared his thoughts on vegans, organic farmers, and the movement that's taking us beyond organic. Here's the gist of that conversation‹stripped of fat, corn-based additives, and chemicals, of course.
Seattle Weekly: So, what did you eat last night?
Michael Pollan: I went to a sushi restaurant.
What does it mean when, at Elliott Bay last month, 350 people showed up for your SRO reading?
The event had
Read more News
Starbucks-Show Me the Money!
This is a little coffee tale about fudging the truth with statistics. Or maybe it's that the largest specialty coffee company in the world simply made a little inadvertent mistake. You be the judge. As people learn more about the long-term crisis in coffee pricing, they are wanting to know what their favorite coffee company is paying its farmers. As a 100% Fair Trade company, our answer is easy - we pay $1.41/lb at a minimum to the farmer cooperatives for all of our coffees. To this we add a Social Equity Premium of five cents and a Cooperative Read more
This is a little coffee tale about fudging the truth with statistics. Or maybe it's that the largest specialty coffee company in the world simply made a little inadvertent mistake. You be the judge. As people learn more about the long-term crisis in coffee pricing, they are wanting to know what their favorite coffee company is paying its farmers. As a 100% Fair Trade company, our answer is easy - we pay $1.41/lb at a minimum to the farmer cooperatives for all of our coffees. To this we add a Social Equity Premium of five cents and a Cooperative Read more
News
April 28, 2006
Speaking to Boston's community, health, and policy leaders, Mayor Thomas M. Menino discussed this morning the importance of affordable and accessible healthy food for all of Boston's residents. Mayor Menino stressed that eating patterns are important contributory factors to reducing the risk for heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and even some cancers. He noted, however, that for many of the city's elderly and low-income residents, it can be difficult to access affordable healthy and fresh foods and urged leaders to come up with a plan to close this disparity.
"Those of you here Read more
"Those of you here Read more
Pages
for Fair Trade & Social JusticeDownloads
Videos
Scientific Studies
