The month of October is TransFair USA’s Fair Trade Month, and the 2010 theme is “Every Purchase Matters”. The goal behind this years theme is to stress and illustrate how individuals can get involved with Fair Trade and what impact that can have on farmers and laborers across the globe. TransFair USA is the United States’s only third-party certifier of Fair Trade products. Therefore they have leveraged the month of October to increase consumer awareness of what fair trade certified products are available, how to find them, and what impact they have locally and globally. The global impact can be felt as we begin to remove harmful child labor practices and slavery from the supply chain. Locally the impact can be done at the checkout, or buy working to increase the number of Fair Trade towns across the country.
What is Fair Trade?
The Fair Trade label is applied to many types of food stuffs, which have high levels of exploitation, such as coffee, sugar, tea, cocoa, nuts, herbs, produce, etc. Fair Trade labeling also occurs on other consumer products, such as sports balls, clothing, rugs, etc. Fair Trade Certification empowers workers and communities to lift themselves out of poverty by investing in their farms/businesses and communities, protecting the environment, and developing the business skills necessary to compete in the global marketplace. Fair Trade is much more than a fair price, it enables safe working conditions, living wages for workers, prohibits forced child labor and slavery, is environmental sustainable, and prompts community development.
What is Fair Trade Certification?
For a product to be considered a Fair Trade, it has to be certified through an audit system, which ensures that all of the Fair Trade principles are met in the production, sale, and distribution of the item. The Fair Trade label is applied to October will be filled with giveaways on TransFair USA’s Twitter and Facebook pages, as well as any local events. Many events are registered on the TransFair website so that individuals can easily find Fair Trade programs near their homes and workplaces.
What Can You Do?
Fair Trade is everyone’s issue, it is more than looking at the world through a lens of more organic and healthy food, it is more than a fair wage for farmers…Fair Trade is the way to a sustainable future for all of the worlds children. So join the fight for children across the globe, and join your global citizens for coffee with a cause and drink Fair Trade today!
Take the opportunity this month to learn about Fair Trade with your children and go on a few of the great sites out there that have games and resources for kids, such asOxfam’s Cool Planet and Kidz @ Work . Please see my Fair Trade and Slave Free Links for more information. Please also see previous posts on Child Trafficking, Child Labor and don’t forget to check out the following resource pages:
