Our 31 Days of Fair Trade has begun!

Have you heard? Global Exchange along with our friends at Equal Exchange and Green Halloween have set up 31 days of fun ideas and activities (and a contest!) that will have you eating Fair Trade bananas, hosting movie screenings, baking delicious Fair Trade goodies, recycling Halloween costumes, and giving out Fair Trade chocolates to trick-or-treaters.

So far so good!

So far this month, we’ve had folks getting in the Fair Trade habit and watching a movie about Potong Cooperative Tea Garden in India. (With every viewing, Equal Exchange is donating a tea bush to farmers in India.)

And we’re just getting started…the month has barely begun, so there’s lots of actions still ahead to look forward to. Let’s take action together.

Here’s how to TAKE ACTION:

• Check out the calendar of 31 Days of Fair Trade Action activities so you can take action daily to support Fair Trade
• Visit FairTradeHalloween.org for the whole list of actions
• Follow us on twitter @GXFairTrade or on Facebook where we will deliver your daily action each morning at #fairtrade31.

Looking forward to taking action with you.

For 31 days we’ll set out fun ideas and activities (and a contest!) that will have you eating Fair Trade bananas, hosting movie screenings, baking delicious Fair Trade goodies, recycling Halloween costumes, and giving out Fair Trade chocolates to trick-or-treaters.

So Oct. 1st, check out our website for the whole list of actions, or follow us @GXFairTrade or on Facebook where we will deliver your daily action each morning at #fairtrade31.

We’re thrilled to announce that Equal Exchange is selling organic milk chocolate minis and organic dark chocolate minis in bulk, so this Halloween you can support cocoa farmers (including children!)  by passing out delicious, socially responsible chocolate to trick-or-treaters. Equal Exchange will be taking orders starting October 1st.

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Also, consider joining me at the second National Fair Trade Campaigns Conference Oct 26-28! Fair Trade enthusiasts from all over the country will come together to share experiences and resources, sharpen leadership skills, and build momentum for Fair Trade. Register for the event.

Looking forward to working with you to Fair Trade your Halloween!

Despite the heat, many people turned up at our booth to demand “We Want More from our S’mores!” Visitors cooked up S’mores and posed with signs such as “Hershey: Children are More Important than Chocolate!”

Global Exchange and our Raise the Bar Hershey Campaign allies have been pressing Hershey to end child labor in its cocoa supply chain and start sourcing Fair Trade certified cocoa.

Global Exchangers Kirsten and Jenny taking part in the action

This summer we are once again calling on Hershey and the rest of the cocoa industry to END grinding poverty and abusive child labor in the cocoa fields…by making a statement with our S’mores!

That’s why last weekend we took to the heat and served up Fair Trade S’mores. Lots of people joined in for some delicious fun in the sun.

Check out the S’mores pictures! Photos from the day are on our Facebook page.

TAKE ACTION!

• Send a petition to Hershey CEO John Bilbrey saying…Raise the Bar Hershey! We Will Not Tolerate Child or Forced Labor in Cocoa!

• Plan your own S’mores action: Download this step-by-step checklist available here. 

Fair Trade Federation Conference attendees

Beyond the Label: Building Better Fair Trade Businesses: A look at the 2012 Fair Trade Federation Conference

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In the midst of Fair Trade labeling debate small businesses that link consumers with artisans and farmers in the Global South maintain a clear focus: How do we continue to support the artisan communities we have partnered with in bringing Fair Trade products to our customers?

While the debate between Fair Trade labeling organizations Fairtrade International (FLO) and Fair Trade USA (formerly Transfair USA) rages on, 162 Fair Trade retailers (myself included), wholesalers and producers gathered last month in Bellevue, Washington for the Fair Trade Federation (FTF) Conference to strengthen connections, share information and ultimately better our businesses.

FTF is a trade association that strengthens and promotes North American organizations fully committed to Fair Trade, a just and sustainable global economic system in which purchasing and production choices are made with concern for the well being of people and the environment.

Founded in the late 1970s by a group of alternative trade organizations, including Global Exchange, FTF has 248 current members, with a majority engaged in the production and sales of Fair Trade crafts and an increasing percentage of Fair Trade commodities. The FTF recently opened up membership to include fully committed Fair Trade cafes. FTF business membership is determined by an initial screening and an annual renewal process.

Fair Trade Federation logo

The FTF member logo, while not a label of Fair Trade certification, is used to identify member businesses. This is particularly useful in the identification of Fair Trade crafts, since there is currently no certification label for craft products that represents the diversity in raw materials and production techniques.

Most FTF members seem to agree that a certification of crafts would hurt Fair Trade craft production on all levels by generalizing standards and thus creating an advantage for larger scale factory based production.  Currently under debate is the question about whether FTF member businesses should be allowed to include the FTF member logo on Fair Trade products they sell. The FTF board of directors is in the process of developing a new policy about this based on member feedback.

As the program director of the Global Exchange Fair Trade Stores, I attended the FTF Conference with the intent to build coalitions, share best practices and bring home concrete strategies for building on our 20 years in Fair Trade business….to get beyond the label.

Throughout a series of workshops, transparency was encouraged as a core principle of business growth.  FTF members opened their books to each other, sharing costing procedures, design expertise, inventory control and financial management.  In a world where cutthroat competition rules the marketplace, it is a refreshing reminder that cooperation and full-disclosure are pillars of strength within the Fair Trade movement.

Hmong weaver in Thailand Photo Credit: Global Exchange

The FTF defines transparency and accountability as one of its core principles:

“Fair Trade involves relationships that are open, fair, consistent, and respectful. Members show consideration for both customers and producers by sharing information about the entire trading chain through honest and proactive communication. They create mechanisms to help customers and producers feel actively involved in the trading chain. If problems arise, members work cooperatively with fair trade partners and other organizations to implement solutions.”

In a roundtable session between Fair Trade producers, wholesalers and retailers, a jarring reference was made to the “gas station model” in which four gas stations open on opposite corners of the same intersection.  This intersection becomes a destination and business for all four establishments improved.  Similarly, the bolstering of Fair Trade business must be done collectively and with the well being of artisans and farmer producers at its core.

During conference meal times, Fair Trade percussion instruments were distributed amongst producers, retailers and wholesalers and successively played to create layers of rhythm.  The heartbeat of the rhythm was held by the producers and the wild music-making a blaring representation of how the Fair Trade movement differs from conventional business.  The gas station model is one example of how Fair Trade business can apply conventional business techniques to strengthen our business models which are based on more than just the bottom line, but rather people, planet, AND profit.

While the labeling of Fair Trade certified commodities is critical in defining the future of the Fair Trade movement, we continue to move forward as a growing Fair Trade business network committed to strengthening Fair Trade as a positive alternative business model.

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TAKE ACTION!

Keep up-to-date about Fair Trade news, events and more…

• Subscribe to our Fair Trade blog to receive new Fair Trade blog posts automatically.
• Sign up for our Fair Trade email list to receive regular updates on our Fair Trade cocoa campaign as well as other news from the Fair Trade movement.

1) FAIR TRADE PHOTO CONTEST ACCEPTING ENTRIES NOW
Source: Fair Trade Resource Network

Fair Trade Photo Contest Accepts Entries June 1-26: 
The 4th annual Fair Trade Photo Contest has begun!

Fair Trade Resource Network and Fair Trade Federation, co-producers of this only photo contest in N. America about Fair Trade, welcome anyone to enter photos from producer or consumer countries. The 12 winning Fair Trade photos will be featured in the 2013 Fair Trade Calendar.

Why enter? To educate others about Fair Trade, and/or to help spread the word about your business or organization and the beauty of Fair Trade. Last year over 2500 people voted for the 78 photos submitted.

To learn more visit the Fair Trade Photo Contest web page, or email photocontest@ftrn.org.

2) FAIR TRADE “FAIR OLIVE HARVEST” TOUR TRIP TO PALESTINE

Palestine Fair Olive Harvest
October 26, 2012 – November 4, 2012
You are invited to join Global Exchange for a very special “Fair Olive Harvest” Reality Tour.

Travel to Palestine and Israel, and learn how fair trade cooperatives are restoring hope and providing economic alternatives to a population under occupation. Harvest olives with Fair Trade farmers, use organic farming practices, witness the community building strengths of Fair Trade cooperatives, and cultivate a greater appreciation of Palestinian traditions, food and people. You will also discuss integral human rights issues with Palestinian and Israeli organizations, as well as observe first-hand the effects of occupation on the Palestinian economy, tourism and life.

More information about this trip is available on Reality Tours’ website.

3) WEBINAR “What is the State of Fair Trade & the Movement in N. America?”

Source: Fair Trade Resource Network

Webinar Coming June 12: Fair Trade Resource Network (FTRN) Webinar #123 is happening June 12 to discuss “What is the State of Fair Trade & the Movement in N. America?” The webinar is for the public to learn about recent developments and ask questions to 2 panelists:
1. Jeff Goldman, Fair Trade Resource Network, Executive Director
2. Sean McHugh, Canadian Fair Trade Network, Executive Director

More details on FTRN’s website.
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FAIR TRADE IN THE NEWS …

• The Independent: Willy Wonka goes to Davos: secretive world chocolate summit to decide snack’s future
• Fair Food: Calling on food companies to ‘open up’ their supply chains!
• Independent (Ireland): Healthy eating: Susan Jane White says bananas are good for guys, and Fairtrade ones are good for us all
• Retail Times: Sunmagic launches 200ml cartons of Fairtrade Orange Juice and juice drinks
• University of San Diego: Fair Trade: USD Recognized for Commitment to Social Justice and Sustainability
• ABC Online (Radio) Bean there, done that: Fair Trade coffee
• New Hope 360: Behind-the-scenes benefits of the Fair Trade label
• Triple Pundit: The Future of Fair Trade
• AP Associated Press/Bloomberg Businessweek: Fair trade purists cry foul at including big farms
• Co-operative News: Santiago Paz Speaks About Authentic Fair Trade

THE FAIR TRADE ROUNDUP AND YOU!
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Mother's Day Gift Membership Package

This Mother’s Day (which is Sunday May 13^th in case it slipped your mind:) the folks here at Global Exchange are making it super easy for you to shower your Mom with Fair Trade love.

How, pray tell?

Well, our development team has put together a sweet package called the Mother’s Day Gift Membership Package. It’s a unique gift containing selections made by women for women.

Cool, huh?

The package comes with Fair Trade items from across the globe, and includes a one-year membership to Global Exchange. The membership alone usually costs $35 bucks, but you get the whole Mother’s Day package for just $50 bucks. So it’s actually a pretty sweet deal.

Here’s what the package includes:

• Customized Global Exchange tote bag from Handmade Expressions women’s Cooperative in India
• 3.3 oz. Fair Trade Earl Gray Tea from Rishi Tea
• Handcrafted necklace from Ember Arts Jewelry, made by women artisans from Ugandan refugee camps
• 3.5 oz. Fair Trade chocolate bar from Divine Chocolate, a cocoa cooperative from Ghana
• Women of the World CD from Putumayo Music
• 1 year membership to Global Exchange

Membership to Global Exchange includes the following benefits:

• 10% discount at our Fair Trade Stores
• Timely E-mail Action Alerts and Mailed Newsletter
• Free Entrance to the Green Festivals

Ordering is a breeze; you just go online here, fill out the shipping/payment info, then sit back and relax knowing your Mom is about to be showered with Fair Trade gifts from YOU!

So click here to give this special gift to your mom. Oh, and do it soon. The last day to order for guaranteed Mother’s Day delivery is May 7^th.

My mom and me on a ferris wheel. Circa 2009

To my mom and all the moms out there, thank you from the bottom of my heart!

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Halloween is a time for ghosts, goblins and the latest cartoon or sci-fi characters. And oh the candy!

This year is the fifth annual Reverse Trick-or-Treating on Halloween. Trick-or-treaters around the country will be handing out fair trade chocolate to over 100,000 adults who normally would be handing goodies to them.

This national giveback event focuses awareness on child slave labor, trafficking, poverty and hazardous environmental conditions rampant within the cocoa industry.

In 2003, the U.S. State Department issued a report stating that “approximately 109,000 child laborers working in hazardous conditions on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast,” a country where “the law does not prohibit trafficking in people.”

There’s documented forced child labor in the Ivory Coast, a large source of the chocolate sold in the U.S., said Kelsie Evans, worker/co-owner of Equal Exchange, a chocolate fair trade organization that supports farming cooperatives around the world who provide sustainable farming methods

The average cocoa farmer may earn up to $100 a year — nowhere near what it takes to take care of a family. To maximize cocoa yields, wildlife habitat gets destroyed and increased pesticide use is encouraged. All this for the gooey chocolate treats you hand out every year.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Harkin-Engel Protocol — an agreement by this country’s largest chocolate companies to put an end to forced child labor on cocoa farms in West Africa by 2005. While some of the chocolatiers have made strides to correct these abuses, Hershey’s has done little, activists say.

Global Exchange, Green America and the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) issued a joint report targeting Hershey named “Time to Raise the Bar, Hershey!” It details how hundreds of thousands of children are still being forced to work under abusive conditions for long hours on cocoa farms in West Africa, while others are victims of trafficking and forced labor. The documentary, “The Dark Side of Chocolate,” also profiles this sobering subject.

But change is happening. Five years ago, Global Exchange, a San Francisco-based, international humanitarian organization, partnered with Equal Exchange to create the first Reverse Trick-or-Treating event.

It’s a hard topic to talk about, says Evans. “Chocolate is seen as a source of joy in the world,” she said. But, she added, “children grasp some of these concepts about fairness.”

Equal Exchange provides all the chocolate for free to the campaign. Global Exchange provides kits for a $7.50 shipping and handling fee.

Global Exchange makes smaller kits for parents and individuals containing 15 pieces of fair trade, gluten-free, mini dark chocolates plus 15 informational cards and an instruction sheet that includes statements the kids can say as they hand out the chocolates.

Equal Exchange makes larger kits containing 150 mini-chocolates and other items for school groups and organizations.

All kits contain a flier and a coupon that lets participants purchase fair trade chocolate from Equal Exchange in bulk sizes. Reverse Trick-or-Treating happens Halloween night, says Kylie Nealis, the coordinator of the campaign.

“It’s kids taking action on a problem that affects other children,” she said.

“It’s a great teaching moment,” says Rodney North, The Answer Man and co-owner of Equal Exchange. “There’s a surprise factor of the child down the street is bringing the lesson to me — and you get to eat the solution.”

Global Exchange is offering Reverse Trick-or-Treating kits on a first come, first served basis. The deadline to place online orders has been extended this year to Monday October 17th.

Global Exchange has 1,000 kits available this year, so if you want to do something special this Halloween, don’t wait. You can order your kit at www.ReverseTrickorTreating.org. If you’re a day late, contact the group anyway to see about getting a kit. Groups wanting kits need to order online at www.Equalexchange.coop/rtt. Click on either the Retail Online Store or Interfaith Store links to order.

Reverse Trick-or-Treating is back for it’s fifth year to give you the opportunity to treat-n-teach your neighbors!

This Halloween, you can help end the exploitation of children in the cocoa industry and raise awareness of Fair Trade! Trick-or-Treaters will be handing Fair Trade chocolate back to adults, with informational cards attached, to explain the problems of the cocoa industry and how Fair Trade presents a solution. By providing children with a way to be active, hundreds of thousands of households in the US are getting the message that child labor and forced labor will not be tolerated by our kids.

You can take part by visiting www.reversetrickortreating.org and ordering your kit today. This year, Global Exchange is offering a limited quantity of kits to individuals so be sure to get your order in quickly! 

Each kit contains 15 mini chocolates, informational cards and an instruction leaflet. The kits are free, you pay just $7.50 for shipping, but we are asking participants to round up if they are able, to help cover costs.

If you don’t manage to get one of the kits, you can still take part! Download free flyers here and pass them out on Halloween. You can purchase Fair Trade chocolate at any of our Global Exchange Stores, or check out one of the Fair Trade companies listed below.

If you are part of a group, school or organization and want to purchase a group kit, please visit Equal Exchanges order page.

Reverse Trick-or-Treating is an initiative launched by the human rights organization Global Exchange in cooperation with Fair Trade companies Equal Exchange, Sweet Earth Chocolates and Coco-Zen, and is a collaborative effort of countless children, youth, and adults supported by institutions including nonprofit organizations, faith-based organizations, Fair Trade companies, and schools.

Get your kit today!

In supermarkets across the nation, activists are informing shoppers about the labor violations associated with Hershey’s chocolate products with smartphone-enables “Consumer Alert” cards on the shelves where the chocolate bars can be found.

The ‘Consumer Alerts’ include QR codes, which allow shoppers to take action on their smartphones right in the store as part of a larger campaign, including an online petition on Change.org with over 13,000 supporters.

Summertime is S’mores season, and Hershey’s is using this time to promote their chocolate as an essential ingredient in the S’mores recipe. With National S’mores Day coming up on August 10th, the Raise the Bar, Hershey campaign (comprised of Global Exchange, Green America, and the International Labor Rights Forum) is using this opportunity to let consumers know that they should use Fair Trade chocolate when making s’mores at their summertime event until Hershey’s makes a commitment to ending child labor in its cocoa supply chain by shifting to Fair Trade certified cocoa.

The Raise the Bar, Hershey campaign is encouraging everyone to take to their local supermarket and make a s’mores video. Watch this video and get inspired!

How it’s done:

1. Print copies of the Hershey consumer alert in color or in black and white and fold them in half, and grab your favorite video filming device.
2. At local stores, videotape yourself placing consumer alerts on the Hershey display, s’mores display, and/or Hershey section of the candy aisle. Have fun with it! It can be completely simple – no editing required.
3. In the video, be sure to say who you are, the town where you’re taking action, and why you care about ending child labor in the cocoa industry and replacing it with Fair Trade. At the end of the video, ask viewers to visit raisethebarhershey.org to take the action within a week themselves; zoom in on the www.raisethebarhershey.org URL on the consumer alert, if you can.
4. Send the video to all your friends, make it your Facebook status update, tweet it, upload it to YouTube, etc
5. Definitely email us a link right away at fairtrade@globalexchange.org, so we can share, post and celebrate your actions from coast to coast.

Simple as that! Now, what are you waiting for? Time to tell Hershey’s that We Want More from our S’mores!

Read the Press Release: Consumers Use Smart Phone Codes in Supermarkets to Campaign Against Child Labor in Hershey Bars.

Rally participants in front of Hershey Store in NYC Photo Credit: Diane Lent

World Day Against Child Labor was on Sunday, June 12th. Four days prior, the ‘Raise the Bar Hershey’ rally took place in front of the Hershey store in Times Square.

School children and social justice activists, along with Kerry Kennedy, President of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, and Lee Cutler, Secretary Treasurer of New York State United Teachers Union, rallied to call on Hershey to eliminate forced, trafficked and child labor from its cocoa supply chain.

Kerry Kennedy speaks to the crowd

The NYDailyNews.com reported:

Students from Public School 87, Brooklyn International High School and Benedictine Academy from Elizabeth, N.J., were among the 150 demonstrators, yelling, “Hershey’s: tastes good, feels bad.” The students have been studying global issues and were there as part of a field trip.

When reached for comment, Hershey’s spokesman, Kirt Saville, did not address the company’s child labor practices, but said it has been committed for the past 50 years to improving the West African cocoa communities.

One thing is certain; Hershey lags behind its competitors when it comes to taking responsibility for the communities from which it sources cocoa.

These kids scream for Fair Trade Photo Credit: Diane Lent

The rally was a spirited success, as you can probably tell from the pictures. If you’d like to see more pics from the event, check out these Flickr pages:

• Raise the Bar Hershey Flickr
• New York Fair Trade Flickr
• Greenelent Flickr

Global Exchange Fair Trade Campaign Director Adrienne Fitch-Frankel in front of Hershey

TAKE ACTION!

• Sign the petition telling Hershey Interim CEO John Bilbrey to Raise the Bar Hershey!
• Help support Global Exchange’s Fair Trade Campaign at www.globalexchange.org/donatefairtrade.
• Stay tuned for a video from the rally, which will be posted this week right here on our Fair Trade blog.