For those confused by all the fair trade labels — Here’s an explanation of what the labels in the US are, and what they mean.

And for an explanation of shade grown labels, go here.

Product certification labels

FairTrade Labelling Organization. FLO is the international org that certifies fair trade co-ops. It serves as an umbrealla org for the various national orgs — such as TransFair USA for the US, or FTAANZ for Australia — that provide fair trade product certifications.

TransFair USA. Within the US, TFUSA’s the nonprofit that provides the fair trade certification sticker (right) for products.

Labels that mark fair trade companies

Fair Trade Federation (FTF). An association of fair trade wholesalers, retailers, and producers that practice fair trade. To become a member, businesses have to meet a set of strict criteria. This is an association, not a certification label — though if you see the logo, that means the company’s a fair trade company.

International Federation for Alternative Trade (IFAT). The IFAT label identifies fair trade organizations. IFAT’s a global network of fair trade organizations — The label identifies member organizations, not specific products.

Tags: fairtrade, coffee, flo, transfair, ftf, ifat

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[The whole Certification Challenges series is here.]

While some 100% fair trade committed companies went through years of negotiations before ultimately deciding to opt for or against fair trade certification from TransFair USA, the nonprofit that provides the fair trade certification sticker, other companies have decided to remain uncertified and un-fair-trade, using the arguments of the committed companies as an excuse for doing nothing.

This is the real downside of the fair trade certification controversies. Companies that’re less-than-committed use the same excuses against fair trade certification as an excuse for not doing fair trade. And it becomes super difficult to tell who’s really supporting fair trade practices without getting the sticker, and who’s bullshitting.

Seriously, who’s to know? One article in The Idaho Business Review (2/7/05 issue, not avaliable online) alone points to a whole slew of coffee shops successfully caffeinating that gray area.

Take Tim Wright of Moxie Java, who says Moxie’s coffee “probably could be classified as fair-trade, but we don’t pay the extra to have it certified.” Kevin and Lisa Myers, owners of Flying M Coffeehouse and Purple Bean Coffee, say “We’ve always paid more than what the fair-trade levels are.” Then there’s Dave Ledgard, co-owner of Dawson Taylor Coffee Roasters, who says that — even before TFUSA came along — he was paying fair trade prices. Most of Dawson’s coffees aren’t fair trade certified, but he says he works to “make sure everything is sustainable” for farmers and their employees.

According to the Seattle Times, “Even some who are eligible for Fair Trade status say they don’t see why they should pay TransFair’s certification fee, which until recently had been 10 cents a pound, to simply rubber-stamp what they already know to be fair and ethical business practices.” As an example, the Seattle Times tells the story of one Nicaraguan co-op, which gets $1.61 a pound for its coffee, sold to Seattle-area retailers.

Yes, there are some quriks with certification. Geoff Watts, the head buyer for Intelligentsia Coffee, said in an article in Conscious Choice that while Fair Trade has certainly helped many farmers, the biggest problem with the program is the expense of certification and the time it takes to achieve it.

But without certification, it’s tough for the consumer to know who’s just talking and who’s actually walking the walk. The former often are more than happy to pin their un-fair-trade-certified-ness on the what they see as shorcomings of TFUSA, as opposed to taking responsibility for their own unfair practices.

Which is why I still want more companies to get their products fair trade certified, and to work with TransFair USA (and vice versa) in making fair trade certification both feasible and meaningful for all involved.

Some good talks between fair trade coffee companies and TFUSA seem to have happened at the Specialty Coffee Association of America conference earlier this month. I wrote a lil something about it, to come out soon in Just Things –

[The whole Certification Challenges series is here.]

Tags: coffee, fairtrade, transfair

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Tuesday night, something serious went down outside my apartment –

This pic was taken from my dining room window around 2:30 am. Yes, those are 3 men spread-eagled on the pavement. Six police cars were lined up down the street.

I checked the LAPD website the next day — Looks like the arrests had to do with an armed robbery down the street.

Weirdly, I live in what’s considered a relatively safe neighborhood — But really, anything can happen anywhere.

Still, I’m so glad I’m moving to Santa Monica in less than a week. Thanks to all my friends who’ve offered to help me move :)

Tags: santamonica, move, losangeles, lapd

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I totally thought I’d written about Le Pain Quotidien a while back, but I guess not. Must’ve just dreamt about it –

I’ve actually lunched at the Santa Monica location twice this month — once during Santa Monica’s Earth Day event, and once earlier this week with Jerry of The Change Strategy. Both times, I got the hummus/taboule/babaganoush plate — with organic white wine –

According to the website, Quotidien’s about “great tasting food, prepared naturally and organically.” We’re talking organic food and coffee, friendly service, and really, really yummy bread.

Quotidien’s a bit of a chain — They’re in like 8 countries or something. But at least in LA, they’re not ubiquitous — and it’s a nice treat for organic foodies :)

Le Pain Quotidien. Beverly Hills. 9630 Santa Monica Blvd. 310.859.1100. Los Angeles: 11702 Barrington Ct. 310.476.0969. Santa Monica: 316 Santa Monica Blvd. 310.393.6800. West Hollywood: 8607 Melrose Ave. 310.854.3700.

Update, 4/10/08: Here’s an updated and more detailed review.

Tags: santamonica, restaurant, lepainquotidien

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Remember when I complained about how Cafe Estima — Starbucks’ sole fair trade blend — wasn’t even listed on Starbucks web store?

Well, Starbucks has finally managed to update the fair trade portion of its website. In fact, Starbucks acted fast this time. Between my post earlier this month and now, Starbucks revised its website from saying that customers could get fair trade coffee by the pound or by the cup, to say that fair trade coffee’s avaliable “whole bean and ground.”

That’s right — Starbucks has taken out all mention of its previous promise to offer customers a French-pressed, fair trade cup of coffee just by asking for it.

These latest revisions happened so quickly, in fact, that the mermaid failed to copyedit for run-ons on its “Fair Trade in our Stores” page:

Pick up some Fair Trade coffee Get the facts about Starbucks, Fair Trade and buying coffee.

But rest assured — Not everything’s changed at Starbucks. Clicking on the “fair trade coffee” link (on right sidebar) on that page will still take you to the oh-so-familiar error page we’ve all gotten used to.

And never fear — Starbucks Challenge 4.0 will go on, launching May 1. I called Starbucks’ customer service number today — 800.235.2883, hit 0 to get to an actual person — and after 7 mins on hold, a nice woman called Perry assured me that customers can indeed ask and get a cup of fair trade coffee at Starbucks stores, though they may have to wait a bit if the store’s busy. The cuppa fair trade on demand policy — though now excised from Starbucks’ website — still stands.

Clearly, Starbucks has realized that all talk and no action’s not gonna make people happy. And since the mermaid so far’s been unable to take action on this issue, they’ve decide to talk less…

Tags: starbuckschallenge, coffee, fairtrade

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Rainforest Action Network held a fundraiser last Thurs, April 20, in Santa Monica, at the Nomadic Museum that’s housing the Ashes and Snow exhibit.

I sorta wish I’d had one fewer margaritas before getting to the fundraiser itself, where wine flowed freely.

For the record, the margaritas were Anna’s idea.

Some pics from and after the event:

Anna and Paul Scott, electric car dude; Anna and Greg Wendt.

And after the fundraiser, on the pier:

Fundraisers are fun –

More pics here.

Tags: rainforestactionnetwork, rainforest, ran, santamonica, environment, fundraiser

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There are moments when I think I really am going a lil fish crazy.

Like when I’m updating my “Seafood Watch” guide from the Monterey Bay Aquarium with the MiniGuide to Ocean Friendly Seafood from the Blue Ocean Institute.

All this cuz a girl womaning a booth at the Santa Monica Earth Day event told me that my Seafood Watch guide — which I’d replaced my Audubon Seafood Wallet Card with — was out of date.

The upside: Aside from farmed Rainbow Trout, which moved from the “best choices” to the “proceed with caution” category, all other movements require less caution for pescatarians. For ex: Pretty much all crab is now eco-eater friendly.

Yum. Are eco-anal seafood eaters making a difference? I hope so –

Update, 1/07: Now there’s all this news about mercury and DDT contamination — which makes me think I need to curb that sushi habit. Here’s one grassroots effort that could help –

Tags: fish, seafood, environment

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After about a week without reliable internet access, I’m now so overwhelmed by the backlog of info that I’ve got blogger’s block.

But the good news! My new laptop arrived! I’m at Velocity Cafe right now, which, after my move to Santa Monica, will be within walking distance for me.

I foresee a summer spent flip flopping my way down here to blog, and hopefully, to work on my dissertation, finally. Which sounds bourgeois and dilletantish, but I’d like to think that by drinking organic Groundwork Coffee at Velocity Cafe, I’ll be supporting local biz, organic farming, and fair trade while I’m at it.

I talked to Ric and Aleco at Groundwork Coffee on Monday, BTW. They still are planning to get their Rwandan blend fair trade certified — The shipment just took like 6 months to arrive. It’s there now though —

More about that later. First things first — I need to figure out how to move all the music on itunes on my desktop to my laptop…. Help!

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After logging on to find 400+ spam messages in my moderation queue, I’ve had to make some changes. From now on, the following words will be blacklisted on green LA girl:

ambien, cialis, nexium, phentermine, phpbbforfree, prevacid

This means that if you include any of the above words in a comment, it’ll get automatically deleted without my ever seeing it.

So — For all of you non-spammers who were planning to comment about the relationship between ambien and environmentalism — sorry :(

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A series that runs every Tuesday, where I ask questions unrelated to the environment, fair trade, or local politics that I’ve been wondering about but haven’t been able to google the answers to. Any advice is appreciated.

Are there any Flexcar users out there reading green LA girl? Since I’m moving to Santa Monica in a week or so — and hopefully getting rid of my car not too long after that — I’m looking for some assurance that Flexcar-ing won’t ruin my social life… BTW — Flexcar’s also looking for stories “in support of carsharing, including any anecdotes of how it has impacted your life, how you use it, and how important it is to you.” Send them to isupportcarsharing at flexcar.com.

Why does the text not show up in my search box (in the left sidebar)? The search function works — but I’d like to see what I’m typing –

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