The Big Swap: Shea Butter
March 05, 2010 @ 09:00 AM
This entry continues our Big Swap series with shea butter. The Big Swap is a simple idea: for the next two weeks, swap out something you buy regularly for the Fair Trade alternative. Coffee, chocolate, cutting boards, bananas, and more. Learn more.
The Broken System
Shea butter has a rich history; the traditions of making it passed through generations of African women. It is well known as “women’s gold” because it is often the only source of income for economically marginalized women. Unfortunately, most shea butter on the market in the United States and Europe is not fairly traded meaning that the women who actually gather and hand craft the oil receive a fraction of the price… Read more
Fair Trade Shea Butter from producers like Alaffia has the power to change lives of the cooperative members. Very specifically, Alaffia was formed to help West African communities become sustaimable through the fair trade of indigenous resources, like shea. Women in West Africa have been excluded from the formal education sector which means they cannot read or write, making them less valuable as employees… Read more
The Big Swap: Rice
March 04, 2010 @ 09:00 AM
This entry continues our Big Swap series with rice. The Big Swap is a simple idea: for the next two weeks, swap out something you buy regularly for the Fair Trade alternative. Coffee, chocolate, cutting boards, bananas, and more. Learn more.
The Broken System
According to the Educational Network for Global and Grassroots Exchange (ENGAGE), rice is a main staple for 3 billion people around the world and employs over 1 billion farmers on all continents except Antarctica and yet world prices have fallen for rice farmers. In Thailand, the world’s biggest rice exporter, 68% of farmers have debt that is three times their income… Read more
Fair Trade Rice is not only of highest quality but ensures that farmers can get out of debt and care for their families. Organic Fair Trade Rice, like our rice from Alter-Eco further ensures sustainability for the environment. Due to the changes in farming methods, soil fertility is improved and there is no longer chemical runoff into local rivers which was negatively impacting wildlife… Read more
The Big Swap: Household Items
March 03, 2010 @ 12:53 PM
This entry continues our Big Swap series with household items. The Big Swap is a simple idea: for the next two weeks, swap out something you buy regularly for the Fair Trade alternative. Coffee, chocolate, cutting boards, bananas, and more. Learn more.
The Broken System
The earth is too often ignored, abused, and destroyed in order to produce the items we use, eat, and wear every day. This often happens without our knowledge or permission, but it happens nonetheless.
One aspect of this abuse is deforestation, which continues at an alarming rate… Read more
Fair Trade means environmental sustainability. It’s as simple as that. Fair Trade certification ensures that both people and planet are being afforded the dignity and respect that they deserve. Each Big Swap thus far has focused on labor issues, and rightfully so, but today we’re focusing on the environmental impact your purchases can have… Read more
The Big Swap: Tea
March 02, 2010 @ 12:00 PM
This entry continues our Big Swap series with tea. The Big Swap is a simple idea: for the next two weeks, swap out something you buy regularly for the Fair Trade alternative. Coffee, chocolate, cutting boards, bananas, and more. Learn more.
The Broken System
Much like the chocolate and coffee we have already featured in The Big Swap, tea is yet another fixture in our daily routines that starts with a complicated process and often mis-treated workers. Much of the tea we drink originates from the mountains in Africa and southeast Asia. Good crops require high altitudes and good rainfall and incredibly long hours… Read more
Fair Trade Tea literally has the power to change lives. In a short film about tea workers in southern India, a family from the Chamraj Tea Estate is featured. All of the issues described in the broken system are addressed and reversed. The Fair Trade Premium allows a joint board who represents the workers to determine how to spend the additional income… Read more
The Big Swap: Sports Balls
March 01, 2010 @ 02:07 PM
This entry continues our Big Swap series with sports balls. The Big Swap is a simple idea: for the next two weeks, swap out something you buy regularly for the Fair Trade alternative. Coffee, chocolate, cutting boards, bananas, and more. Learn more.
The Broken System
The sports ball industry has long been marred by child labor, meaning that our children are often playing with balls that were made by their counterparts in the developing world. The same toy that brings so much joy to a child here in America is the symbol of oppression and despair thousands of miles away.
Pakistan, which supplies around 70% of the world’s soccer balls, has been among the chief… Read more
Fair Trade sports balls address the problem head on. Rather than set up shop in an area without the stigma of child labor, unfair working conditions, and bonded labor, our partners work right in the middle of the crisis, in Sialkot, Pakistan.
Their idea is simple: what if sports balls brought joy to everyone? What if the women and men stitching were paid fairly, treated like human beings… Read more
