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Feature article

10 ways to get some fairtrade into your day | by Joanna McLeod

Feature article No. 5 | 20 April 2007

It’s Fairtrade Fortnight from 28 April until May 13. Fairtrade aims to share the benefits of trade more equitably between consumers, producers and the environment. To put it in its simplest terms, you get to buy yummy chocolate (and other products) and the cocoa bean growers get paid a living wage.

So how can you participate in fairtrade? Here are ten things to consider incorporating into your daily life:

the fairtrade label

The fairtrade label.

  1. Learn to spot a fairtrade label. This is a seal of approval that appears on products that meet internationally agreed fairtrade standards and which guarantees to consumers that their purchases will benefit the producers, their families and the surrounding communities from the developing countries that they originate from. In New Zealand, the fair-trade label is displayed to the right.

    For more information on fairtrade labels and the certification and standards of fairtrade products, visit The Fairtrade Certification System.

  1. Think about your morning coffee. What kind of beans is it made from? A lot of coffee growers around the world are forced by international consortiums to sell their crops at almost less than what it costs to grow it. This means they spend their lives in poverty. Many coffee roasters in New Zealand now offer a fairtrade blend that is guaranteed to have earned its growers a fair price. Perhaps you could get your flat white from a café that will make your coffee with fairtrade beans.

    For list of coffee roasters that offer fairtrade beans, visit this list supplied by the Fairtrade Association.
  1. Convert your workplace to a fairtrade workplace This can be as simple as putting up a poster on your notice board or in the staff room publicising that you are using fairtrade certified tea and coffee. You can find out more about becoming a fairtrade Workplace on the Fairtrade Fortnight website:
    http://www.fairtrade.com.au/ftf/convertwork.html
  1. Send your message to shops and companies. Ask your local stores to stock fairtrade products. Write to manufacturers to show you care about their workers.  Only two percent of the coffee in New Zealand supermarkets is fairtrade while in the UK, consumer pressure has got that number up to 30-35%.
  1. Hold or support an event during Fairtrade Fortnight in May, by having a fairtrade morning tea, displaying a fairtrade poster, or any other way possible – be creative!
  1. Do your gift & home ware shopping at a Trade Aid store. Trade Aid stores stock a large range of all kinds of nice things, and when you buy products you can be assured that the craftspeople were paid a decent wage for their work.
  1. When you’re buying other people presents, stop and think. Does your friend really need more products for their birthday? Or would they perhaps be happy to know you’d made a donation in their name to an organisation that they support?
  1. Investigate big business claims about fairtrade. Many large corporations may have in place some guidelines for what they call ‘ethical coffee’, but will not back these guidelines with a price guarantee for farmers. For more information read the article ‘Fair-weather friends’ in Trade Aid's magazine Vital. (pdf. 880kb)
  1. Bake ethical cookies!
    • Cream one cup of butter with two cups fairtrade golden sugar
    • Add one tsp vanilla and two free-range eggs, beat well
    • Add two and a half cups of flour, one teaspoon baking powder, one teaspoon baking soda, two cups of oatmeal, a pinch of fairtrade cinnamon, some chopped nuts (optional) and a chopped-up large bar of  dark fairtrade chocolate, mix lightly
    • Roll into balls, place on trays lined with waxed paper and squash with a fork.
    • Bake at 180 degrees for around 10 minutes.
    When you share your delicious cookies, serve them with fairtrade cocoa, tea and coffee, and be sure to tell the people who are eating them that you used fairtrade products to make them so tasty. 
  1. Swap your sweatshop-produced sneakers for some No Sweats. They look almost exactly the same as a certain kind of oldschool canvas shoe, but are fairtrade, sweatshop-free! You can buy them in Trade Aid stores or online at http://www.nosweatstuff.com.au.  

Related link: Fairtrade Fortnight
Contact: Email. communications@nzaid.govt.nz

Page Last Reviewed: 11 May, 2007

Document URL: http://www.nzaid.govt.nz/library/articles/archives/fairtrade.html

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