Is Fair Trade Really Fair?
By Anne O'Loughlin
Filed Under News & Reviews, The Big Picture | 1 Comment
With the beginning of October comes the official kick off to Fair Trade Month, a month-long celebration and promotion of Fair Trade certified products. Indeed, the Fair Trade movement has a lot to celebrate this year. According to the Fair Trade Labelling Organization International (FLO), consumers around the world spent more than $3 billion on Fair Trade certified items in 2007, a whopping increase of 47% from the previous year! An increasing amount of diverse products are also entering the Fair Trade market, thus expanding consumers’ options from the traditionally known Fair Trade items such as crafts, coffee, and chocolate to include fruits, wine, flowers and even soccer balls and shoes. This means, that now over 1.5 million producers and workers in approximately 58 developing countries can benefit from increased business due to Fair Trade sales.
It’s been commonly understood that Fair Trade is a preferable, more moral way of conducting business than the conventional ‘top down’ approach of major, multi-national corporations in which sweatshops tend to thrive and the workers on the lowest levels are squeezed. The underlying principles of Fair Trade are to deliver more than just a financial package to the workers, in order to not only guarantee that they are paid a fair rate/wage but also to create a system in which a long-term, sustainable relationship is developed between the buyer and third world producers that will ultimately empower these workers and their community to thrive and succeed in the global marketplace.
In recent months, however, some organizations have doubted the true benefit of Fair Trade and have started to question the validity and impact of the movement. On February 25, Britain’s economic think tank The Adam Smith Institute, a self-proclaimed leading innovator of free-market economic and social policies, published a report by Marc Sidwell entitled “Unfair Trade”. Mr. Sidwell argues that Fair Trade is actually anything but fair and while Fair Trade and its supporters may have positive intentions, it actually does more harm than good.
Sidwell writes that Fair Trade distorts local markets by fixing a high price of goods for only a small percentage of producers (thus hurting the majority of the other farmers producing the same goods at lower costs who are allegedly excluded from Fair Trade business practices). He also argues that Fair Trade is “irrelevant” to large scale poverty relief and does not aid economic development properly, rather it prevents the poor from gaining the proper tools to successfully improve their financial outlook. He goes on to claim that Fair Trade actually prevents farmers from advancing their technologies and efficiencies and the opportunity for diversification, and are thus actually stuck in an unsustainable practice.
Sidwell furthermore asserts that Fair Trade is merely a marketing scheme that rewards inefficient farmers who produce poor quality goods, thus also being unfair to the consumer who allegedly has a wealth of ethical purchasing options available to them without even knowing it due to the overwhelming monopoly of Fair Trade certified goods.
As would be expected, the release of this report caused a backlash of responses from the Fair Trade community and ethical bloggers alike, including a lengthy, evidence-driven press release from The Fairtrade Foundation attempting to discredit Sidwell’s arguments. They angrily write, “Two billion people work extremely hard to earn a living but still earn less than $2 per day and the FAIRTRADE Mark enables consumers to choose products that help address this injustice. As no-one is forced to join a fair trade producer organisation, or to buy Fairtrade products, you would think that free market economists like the Adam Smith Institute would be pleased at the way the public has taken our voluntary label to its heart…”
So how is Fair Trade really affecting the workers of the world and is its global impact truly innovative and revolutionary, or merely smoke and mirrors as Mr. Sidwell points out?
After spending 17 solid pages tearing the Fair Trade mission into pieces, Sidwell’s only suggestion for a viable alternative is to follow the global path of Free Trade. He uses China and India as two examples of how Free Trade has lifted traditionally poverty-stricken countries into more solid financial positions where they very recently have been successfully lobbying for global economic leadership positions. While Sidwell’s examples may offer some element of truth, it certainly does not account for the long list of human rights abuses and exploits both countries have added to their economic repertoires.
With a debate like this, we have to stop and ask ourselves…is the explosive growth of China and India truly having a proper ‘trickle down’ effect? That is, are the workers of the world, the people at the lowest level, the people that bear the grunt of globalization on their backs really feeling any kind of financial relief or reward from the macro economic improvements of their nations? And what about the workers living in countries that are not advantageously growing with globalization, such as Peru, Argentina, Ethiopia, Haiti…the list goes on? Do they have no opportunity for growth…or can the Fair Trade market act as an outlet for these workers to exit the fringes and become active players in the global marketplace? Perhaps what the world needs is a harmonious balance between Free and Fair Trade in which poor nations on a macro level and lower class workers on a micro level can all flourish together. After all, with a happy, healthy workforce comes increased loyalty, ownership and productivity which ultimately trickles up to the overall economic growth of the nation as a whole.
Regardless of anyone’s argument, I can tell you that after personally experiencing close contact with real people in the developing world, doing business under Fair Trade principles is a rewarding and effective method of trade. It provides wonderful opportunity to meet, get to know, and partner directly with the people that are actually making our products. I see firsthand how our business effects and improves their lives, the lives of their families and their community. And I hear the passion, excitement and pride in their voices when they receive a new order. Maybe I missed something…but to us, this is what Fair Trade is all about.
Posted on October 12, 2008 |
Can Wal-Mart Trade Fair?
By Anne O'Loughlin
Filed Under Conscious Commerce | 2 Comments
Wal-Mart is a word that typically conjures up images of bulldozed forests making way for big box retail, swarming shoppers, low cost & low quality products, CEO’s with fat paychecks, and sweatshops in China. Its bad reputation has inspired mass protests, websites devoted to outlining its wrongdoings (such as WIPE, short for Wal-Mart Is Pure Evil), and popular documentary films like Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices. Though with increasing consumer demand for products that make positive environmental and social impacts, even Wal-Mart is making an effort to conserve waste, promote sustainability, and support Fair Trade.
On April 1st, as part of its “Earth Month” initiatives, Wal-Mart released a detailed press release about their plan to launch six new coffees under their Sam’s Choice brand that would include organic, Fair Trade certified, and Rainforest Alliance certified blends. A Fair Trade certification requires certain environmental, social and economical requirements to be met and, most importantly, the producer group to receive a fair price with a set minimum. The Rainforest Alliance certification program also carries heavy requirements that target longterm sustainability and environmental health. The coffees will be roasted by Cafe Bom Dia, a Brazilian Fair Trade cooperative that is one of the first roasters to become Carbon Neutral. Continue reading Can Wal-Mart Trade Fair?…
Posted on July 3, 2008 |
Smokin’ Threads: Hemp Makes Fashion Sense
By Jenn Breckenridge
Filed Under Sustainable Style | Leave a Comment
Due to numerous stigmas surrounding the herb marijuana, hemp fabric has been a tough sell in the fashion market until just recently. Though “industrial hemp” is legal to use in the US, growing it is not. Hemp fabric is generally imported to the US by China, Hungary, Thailand, Romania and Chile. The farming of hemp requires no pesticides or herbicides, requires little water, and actually helps clear soil of toxins by a process called “phytoremediation,” making it far superior to cotton production. As sustainability struts to the forefront of fashion, designers have started taking note of this fiber, once thought of as the type of material found in flour sacks, not Sak’s Fifth Avenue.
During the California Gold Rush of the 1850’s, this extremely durable fabric was used for the very first pair of jeans by Levi Strauss. Even with all the cultivation challenges, hemp still makes its way into plenty of American closets today. Simple, Adidas, and New Balance are using this strong, biodegradable material for their super fly sneaker styles. Eco fashion lines like Habitude and Mountains Of The Moon have sexy, sophisticated dresses and tops of hemp and silk blends. Recent collections by fashion giants Armani and Dolce & Gabbana have featured fiercely taylored hemp suits. Green bag designers Helen E. Riegle and GreenOne utilize this fabric for their handbags and totes, and emerging brands like Hoodlamb are using uber warm hemp-based fake fur in their urban wear.
Continue reading Smokin’ Threads: Hemp Makes Fashion Sense at In The Loop…
Posted on June 30, 2008 |
Top 5 Eco Cities
By Pippa Sorley
Filed Under The Big Picture | 18 Comments
Every year urban sprawl spreads upon farmland, forests, and shorelines. Rural areas are rapidly losing ground to their rival cities. Hundreds of thousands of people flock each year to their nearest city in search of sustainable employment. Farmers are losing their farms, ranchers are losing their pastures, and fishermen their livelihoods. Some say it is unavoidable-with population growth comes development. And with development, comes a loss of nature. So, in light of this inevitability, we face a predicament. If cities generate the greatest pollution across continents, which ones are taking the lead in their fight against climate change? eCo Times searched for the greenest cities, attempting to find one on each continent. We picked out our Top 5 and a couple of runners up which seemed to deserve it. Each of these cities have gone above and beyond standard operating practices to implement policies and incentives to create a truly sustainable urban environment.
CURITIBA, BRAZIL (SOUTH AMERICA)
With a population of 1.6 million, Curitiba represents a model sustainable city. Faced with a fast-rising population, worsening air pollution and imminent gridlock, this city turned its center into a pedestrian-only zone and transformed several key highways into roadways reserved solely for mass transit. By planting millions of trees, the city created “green moats” to buffer against the harmful effects of polluting industry. Perhaps Curitaba’s most famous greening story is that of its innovative recycling program. The Mayor created a social and environmental revolution by offering groceries and bus passes to the city’s poor in return for bags of recyclables. The result? Two-thirds of Curitiba’s garbage is recycled. Continue reading Top 5 Eco Cities…
Posted on May 29, 2008 |
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