Global vs Local Trade?
After all, most Fair Trade goods (coffee, tea, indigenous crafts) are imported from remote locales like China, Ghana, or Peru, incurring the obvious transportation emissions.
The panel argued in favor of Fair Trade with the following points:
- Most mainstream goods are already imported from remote regions, anyway, making transportation moot.
- Most Fair Trade items are not available locally. For example, coffee isn't grown in the Midwest, as far as I know.
- Some Fair Trade crafts actually help the environment by collecting and incorporating litter, such as potato chip bags, into items.
- Fair Trade farming also encourages environmentally sustainable farming practices.
- By providing fair wages where workers live, Fair Trade also discourages illegal immigration.
What do you think? Where do you stand on Fair Trade vs Local Trade?
Looking Ahead...
Chicago has a few shops devoted to Fair Trade goods. I'll visit them this month and report back on what I find.
Ecoscene is testing a handbag made from recycled potato chip bags. To get this upcoming review, be sure to sign up for Ecoscene for Her here >>
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Interesting! I would be happy to visit any fair trade shop with you that you choose - and liveblog the whole thing :-)
# Posted By Molly
| 10/25/08 7:23 PM
Great! Let's head to Green Heart on La Salle.
# Posted By Carmen
| 10/26/08 3:10 AM
I wanted a pair of fair trade shoes. I have wide feet, so I already knew that it would be a challenge. I finally went down to a local shoe repair place and talked the guy into making me a pair. I really feel that the rubber meets the road in fair trade when you are trying to get a local craftsman to make you a custom object. I ended up paying several times what a pair of mass produced imported shoes would have cost, but now I can stand in front of people with a smile on your face and say "there is no slave labor in these shoes."
# Posted By Tian
| 10/29/08 5:08 AM
Check out Mohop shoes (http://www.mohop.com/). The designer's husband was in my running group and he told me that they go to great lengths to make sure the materials are sustainable (solid cherry from Potter County, PA) and I think they said something about fair trade but we were on a long run so I was too distracted to remember. They are definitely designer pieces but as they're all handmade, I'm certain she could help produce something for a wider foot that doesn't look like a pair of snowshoes :-)
# Posted By Adam Howitt
| 10/31/08 11:08 AM
The people who make the fair trade products overseas who are low wealth cannot afford the prices. The low wealth people here cannot afford to buy fair trade. I am a vegan who eats organic , and buys some raw fair trade items: i.e. cacao nibs or beans, coconut butter, bananas. I don't drink coffee, never did. I buy some organic cotton items for my grandson. My organic cotton socks are all worn out ( I had 3 pair) My income is $ 637 a month until I return to substantial income (plan to (start up my business gain). I have a lot of past due debt, but I can't pay it anyway on my income. I need dental work, about $1500 -- not covered by Medicaid. Anyway, it is difficult, but I have to eat organic and I have been a vegetarian since 1978. I stopped drinking alcoholic beverages and smoking cigarettes in 1978. I stopped doing cheese and any form of dairy shortly after and have been a vegan too long to remember what it is to eat cheese from dairy milk. No, I don't shop at Aldis, Wal Mart or eat out of a tin can (10 cent on sale cooked, denatured vegetables and soup). I also do not eat 10 and 25 cents Ramen Noodles. When will fair trade also mean fair price for all? Low wealth people deserve to live and eat green , too.
# Posted By DrM
| 11/2/08 9:34 PM
I support both and with all the living we do.. so can everyone.
# Posted By Jennifer
| 11/18/08 5:46 PM
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