Fair Trade: What it is and How it Works

You may have heard of coffee, tea, jewelry, and chocolate being “fair-trade” recently, but haven’t bothered to really learn what it means.

The coffee we normally buy and brew for morning coffee doesn’t come from the U.S., it comes mainly from Africa and South and Central America. The growers in these countries make a living growing coffee, a commodity that’s price fluctuates with market demand. When demand is low, the farmers make much less money per bushel or pound of coffee that they sell, and have less money to buy food for their family and put their children through school.

In the same way, people work in mines, on cacao plantations, and in sweatshops, for next to nothing, to produce other goods that we buy regularly. The growers, laborers, artisans, and seamstresses work hard for very little pay. Our buying habits, which are constantly seeking the cheaper price, keep many people throughout the world bound to a life of poverty.

Fairly traded goods present a simple solution to such a large problem. Fair-trade coffee companies make sure the growers receive a fair and livable wage for their  coffee beans. Fair-trade jewelry comes directly from artisans who work in small shops and community centers to produce beautiful high-quality jewelry. Rather than peddling their goods on the street or in the market, they are sold to businesses, such as 10,000 villages, for sale in the U.S. The process also eliminates middle men, so the growers and artisans sell their goods directly to the company that sells it in the U.S.

Fair trade offers fair pay for the goods that people produce in other countries where they would otherwise be living in deep poverty. In addition, fair trade means that profits from the products bought will be put back into the community where the product came from, in the form of building a school, a community center, and other projects that benefit the whole community.
Fair trade also guarantees that the products were produced ethically, without child labor and sweatshops. Fair trade coffee, tea, chocolate, and other consumable goods are often also organic. Fair trade means that those people working on the land are using sustainable environmental practices.

Just as more and more people have realized that buying organically grown foods is better for the entire world; people are beginning to realize that their buying habits affect many other people in other countries. With this knowledge, the better buying option is to buy things that are fair trade goods.

So the next time you go to buy your cup o’ joe, ask for fair trade coffee.  The more we demand fair trade, the more positive impact we make on our environment!

Green Made in USA!

 

Eco Friendly Products made in the USA:

With the way the economy is looking these days, we are seeking out ways to save money.  There are actually several ways we can benefit from taking the time to purchase American made green products.

Helping our economy and helping our planet at the same times sounds like good sense to me, so I have found some great products options here –

 Toys:

Little Tykes (check site to see which toys are made in USA),

Creative Mom Toys,

Crayola,

GreenToys.com 

Toughtraveler ltd. (baby carrier),

( I am sure there are more,  I will still work on this list!)

Other Products:

Marcal – post consumer (recycled) paper products,

RaiseaGreenDog.com,

 Naturesgiftsandmore.com,

The Worm Factory,

All American Union roast,

100% American Kona, 

Cannondale Bikes,

Wiggys (camping/hiking equiptment),

Conversion Products -Recycled plastic furniture,

Quandra -fireplaces,

Solar Scapes,

Shirts of Bamboo,

New Balance,

Nalgene Outdoor Products-Now BPA free,

Maine Garden Products,

Kitchen Aide,

Earthbath,

Fire and Light glass ware,

Loggerhead Tools,

Thegroline.com-Live tree seedlings,

 JCPennys- Energy saving Drapes! 

 Made in the USA

By purchasing raw materials from the USA and Canada for manufacturing  products in the USA we reduce shipping distances both to facility and out to  customers. THUS SAVING ENERGY AND FUEL (Many products made in China actually start their life in the USA as raw material shipped to China to be manufactured, and then shipped back to the USA as finished goods for distribution.) Being made in the USA means a lot to us since we live and work here and so do the employees. You can be sure that the employees earn a better than living wage, receive health care benefits, Holiday and Vacation pay, are eligible for retirement plans, and actually like their job. By purchasing products from these companies who manufacture in the USA you help to perpetuate the local economies of the USA and North America directly.  

Bag the Lunch? Paper or Plastic…

PAPER OR PLASTIC SANDWICH BAGS?

Waxed Paper Bag: Raw Material source:(new) Trees,Petroleum-based paraffin or vegetable wax;

Energy Used: paper requires more energy than plastic to manufacture + the wax;

Disposal-Unrecyclable, however waxed paper will degrade in backyard compost at about same rate as leaves;

General Environmental Impact-Deforestation results in habitat loss.

Plastic Sandwich Bags: Glad, Ziploc & Best Yet use LDPE#4 plastic (none are labeled and some use PVC#3 which contain plasticizers you don’t want near your food);

Raw Material: oil;

Energy used in Production-Thousands of gallons of oil + energy for production; Disposal-Gags are not easily recycled by can be cleaned and reused again…;General

Environmental Impact-Plastic does not break down in nature.

BOTTOM LINE: Both are very poor alternative to reusable containers, but if you’re in a bind, the energy savings give plastic sandwich bags a slight edge over waxed paper, as long as you reuse them frequently and recycle them if you can.

  NEW FIND!!! Wrap-N-Mat! www.wrap-n-mat.com – reusable sandwich wrap and placemat in one! Hand washable, wrap it up and go!  KleenKanteen -eco-friendly safe stainless steel canteens www.kleankanteen.com