Shopping Can Change the World!
Take the "Fair Trade Challenge" - buy ALL of your holiday gifts from Fair Trade sources!
The holiday season is upon us, and you may be wondering how to spend your dollars ethically, and ensure the gifts you give benefit those who made them as well as those who receive them. Thankfully, lots of great purchasing alternatives exist, such as fairly traded goods from around the world.
You're invited to take the "Fair Trade Challenge" - buy all of your holiday gifts from fair trade sources! This will make the holidays a time of joy for producers as well as gift recipients, and you'll feel better, too!
Chances are if you're reading this, you understand the importance of Fair Trade, and in having an equitable and fair partnership between consumers and producers. You're not alone. According to the 2003 Report on Trends in Fair Trade, total sales for the Fair Trade industry in North America in 2002 were $180m, an increase of 44 percent from 2001. The question remains, how little is $180m when compared to the overall market?
While the Fair Trade movement is growing, we've got a long way to go, and we need your help. If the Fair Trade movement is to succeed, consumer awareness and understanding need to expand. The same 2003 Report notes many Fair Trade companies agreed that growing consumer awareness is having a positive impact on the Fair Trade movement, and that stepped up efforts to educate consumers about Fair Trade have lead to increased sales.
WHERE TO BUY Fair Trade Certified and fairly traded products:
For Fair Trade, Organic coffee, chocolate, and tea, visit: Dean's Beans or Equal Exchange
For fairly traded crafts, household goods, clothing and other goods listings, visit: Fair Trade Federation or Global Crafts
Gift giving is more important than you may think!
Fair Trade retail stores distribute information to customers, organizers reach out to communities, and industry professionals write about the benefits of Fair Trade, but it doesn't have to end there! Consumers can be proponents and motivating leaders of the Fair Trade movement, in an effort to end the cycle of poverty and pervasive environmental degradation that run rampant throughout many parts of the world.
By giving a Fair Trade gift, you're sharing an awareness that can inspire others. This holiday season, you have the opportunity to enlighten friends and family about the benefits of Fair Trade. Perhaps like you, they will shift some of their spending to Fair Trade.
When you give a soapstone box to Aunt Lucy this holiday, and attached is a small card that reads "the artisan who handcrafted this box received a living wage," perhaps she will begin to question how her own spending choices affect the world. That would be the best gift of all.
