buy more fairtrade products

I buy Fairtrade products regularly now. And I’ve made my Mum buy them. Fairtrade sundried dates are the best:)

I’ve bought organic fairtrade shoes! They look like Converse, but instead of the converse brand they say BE FAIR GO FAIR. Some other Fairtrade stuff I’ve gotten: bananas, brown sugar, qiuona, chocolate, coffe cup, teaplate. The cup and plate are so pretty:]

I’ve already bought tea, coffee, hand soap, shampoo, shower gel, body scrub and cotton pads that are all fairtrade. The range of fairtrade products are very limited here in Norway, but I see that grocery shops are getting more of it all the time, and it makes me so happy. I’m thinking about purchasing a fairtrade t-shirt online now:)

I know they aren’t fairtrade, but it does make me feel better when I know I’m eating / buying ethically based products.

It is definitely worth doing.

• coffee / tea
• bananas
• clothes (when I can afford them and when I see them)

I need to look out for more fairtrade stuff.

I have bought coffee fairtrade for years, and remember a couple of years ago having a conversation with my Mum and Dad about it. My Mum said she didn’t, because how could a few pennies make a difference. I then told her how lame that attitude was and also that a little bit goes a long way.

I haven’t spoken to my parents about it since (I don’t want to preach as I prefer leading by example unless someone asks), and I was amazed that last month my Dad said out of the blue “I’ve been thinking more about things, and I realised that buying fairtrade is so important”. I almost cried, as it reminded me that as he gets older he seems to be becoming more thoughtful!

Hurrah, good on him! I love the guy.

I haven’t quite got out of the supermarkets yet, but am trying to select fairtrade options where the choice is availible. Did slip recently when my ‘special offer’ instinct kicked in, completely silencing the ‘ethical shopper’ voice. It was only when I got home that I realised that the bag of ground coffee wasn’t fairtrade. (Still, at least it was Waitrose)

Action Aid recently exposed how workers at both ends of the supply ball’n’chain are being squeezed by Tesco’s hunger for offering low low prices. Not only are Costa Rican and Nicaraguan workers on the banana plantations given unrealistic targets and forced to work excessive hours for minuscule pay, with no right to organise and abuses of women’s rights commonplace, so too the migrant workers at the UK-based banana importer firm Pratts are similarly exploited. It may say ‘Fair Trade’ on the label, but it’s still more important for the supermarkets to maximise profits, minimise costs and sell ‘em cheaper than their rivals.

Before I left for college, I decided that I really needed to buy myself some fair trade coffee.

I did.

So, I just hope it will be good, because I can feel good drinking it.

I wholeheartedly recommend this to everyone. I buy fairtrade products whenever they are an option. I would like to see a greater range of produce available and more farmers and producers in the third world being given a better deal. Although I am glad that I am now regularly doing this, it has really just awakened me to the concept that my life here in a rich country is not disconnected from the billions around the world living in poverty who are being exploited. This has inspired me to learn more and do more. I feel like many more people would feel the same if only the information we receive was not controlled or influenced by business. Next step for me is to think of a bigger and better goal. I want to make a difference.

“The G8 demands action on climate change; the World Bank, controlled by the G8 nations, funds coal burning power stations and deforestation projects. The G8 requests better terms of trade for Africa; Europe and the United States use the world trade talks to make sure this doesn’t happen. The G8 leaders call for the debt to be reduced; the IMF demands that poor nations remove barriers to the capital flows which leave them in hock. The G8 leaders simultaneously wring their hands and wash their hands. We have done what we can; if we have failed, it is only because of the corruption of third world elites.

The question is no longer whether the undemocratic power the G8 nations exert over the rest of the world can be used for good or ill. The question is whether it will cease to be used.” George Monbiot