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
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
News
Student groups blast new McDonald's study, "Economic Impact: Tomatoes in
Florida, Report 1"
April 28, 2006
Mr. Jim Skinner, CEO McDonald's Corporation McDonald's Plaza Oak Brook, IL 60523
Mr. Skinner:
We expected better from your company.
No, we were not shocked when McDonald's initial response to the dire human rights crisis in Florida's fields resembled a carefully scripted crisis management plan.
No, we were not surprised when your company in blatant contempt for the industry-changing precedents established in last Read more
Florida, Report 1"
April 28, 2006
Mr. Jim Skinner, CEO McDonald's Corporation McDonald's Plaza Oak Brook, IL 60523
Mr. Skinner:
We expected better from your company.
No, we were not shocked when McDonald's initial response to the dire human rights crisis in Florida's fields resembled a carefully scripted crisis management plan.
No, we were not surprised when your company in blatant contempt for the industry-changing precedents established in last Read more
News
April 18, 2006
Tully's Coffee Corp. has designed its first blend of fair trade espresso with the help of college students and will begin selling the blend at the University of Washington in the coming months.
The blend consists of Chiapas beans from Mexico, Sidamo beans and Yirgacheffe beans from Ethiopia, and Sumatra Gayo Mountain beans from
Indonesia.
Representatives of UW Housing and Food Services, along with The Fair Trade Coalition, a UW student group, selected the espresso blend after tasting samples with Tully's roastmaster, Brian Speckman.
The Fair Trade Read more
The blend consists of Chiapas beans from Mexico, Sidamo beans and Yirgacheffe beans from Ethiopia, and Sumatra Gayo Mountain beans from
Indonesia.
Representatives of UW Housing and Food Services, along with The Fair Trade Coalition, a UW student group, selected the espresso blend after tasting samples with Tully's roastmaster, Brian Speckman.
The Fair Trade Read more
News
May 8, 2006
Fair trade is all about making sure third world farmers get paid a fair price for the crops they produce.
It sounds worthy - and it is - but it's also turning into a huge business opportunity for companies with an eye for untapped markets.
Erica Adutwumaa Kyere is a cocoa farmer from Ghana.
In New Zealand a block of chocolate made from her product costs $5.80, compared to $3 for a relative block from a big company.
The farmers who grow the cocoa that goes into the cheaper block of chocolate make between $44 and $158 per year. In comparison farmers Read more
It sounds worthy - and it is - but it's also turning into a huge business opportunity for companies with an eye for untapped markets.
Erica Adutwumaa Kyere is a cocoa farmer from Ghana.
In New Zealand a block of chocolate made from her product costs $5.80, compared to $3 for a relative block from a big company.
The farmers who grow the cocoa that goes into the cheaper block of chocolate make between $44 and $158 per year. In comparison farmers Read more
News
April 13, 2006
Although this is just a conservative estimate, and I have no real data to back it up, I'd be willing to bet that nearly 3 million IU students visit Starbucks every day.
I, meanwhile, had been able to avoid ever even stepping foot inside a Starbucks, let alone spending any money there, until this school year, when Starbucks managed to establish, at least within the Indiana Memorial Union, a monopoly on coffee that actually somewhat resembles coffee. As depressing as my inability to resist the convenience is from a personal standpoint, it's been quite an educational experience. Read more
I, meanwhile, had been able to avoid ever even stepping foot inside a Starbucks, let alone spending any money there, until this school year, when Starbucks managed to establish, at least within the Indiana Memorial Union, a monopoly on coffee that actually somewhat resembles coffee. As depressing as my inability to resist the convenience is from a personal standpoint, it's been quite an educational experience. Read more
News
April 8, 2006
"Is it fair trade when you get designer prices for it?"
"New York educational standards should require students to learn the relationship between their shirts and the global world."
"We need to connect fair trade with local poverty in Ithaca."
Such were the thought-provoking comments at a March 24 workshop, "Fair Trade and Local Development Initiatives," for area K-12 teachers on the Cornell campus in Ithaca, New York. Among the educators gathered for the day-long workshop was a team of Lehman Alternative Community School (ACS) teachers and two representatives Read more
"New York educational standards should require students to learn the relationship between their shirts and the global world."
"We need to connect fair trade with local poverty in Ithaca."
Such were the thought-provoking comments at a March 24 workshop, "Fair Trade and Local Development Initiatives," for area K-12 teachers on the Cornell campus in Ithaca, New York. Among the educators gathered for the day-long workshop was a team of Lehman Alternative Community School (ACS) teachers and two representatives Read more
News
April 22, 2006
Gone are the days when fair trade goods were available only at charity shops and church bazaars. Fair trade - or Fairtrade, as it has branded itself - is now big business.You can choose Fairtrade coffee in high-street outlets like Starbucks and Prêt a Manger, and local authorities are starting to declare themselves Fairtrade councils. More than 1,000 products are now certified as Fairtrade in the UK and, on an international level, the industry estimates it benefits five million producers worldwide.
Yet with multinationals moving to cash in, and supermarkets approaching fair trade Read more
Yet with multinationals moving to cash in, and supermarkets approaching fair trade Read more
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