Black Gold — a film about how the international coffee trade’s letting big western coffee corps rake in money while coffee farmers barely scrape by — is about to hit the theaters!
Thus, a collection. Here’s my review of the film. I met with Tadesse, the Ethiopian rep for many of the farmers in his country, as well as the British filmmakers.
And below’re my recommendations for action, if you’re either a fair trade activist or a filmgoer inspired to act. More actions to be added:
1. See the film with friends! If you live in NYC, Seattle, or Bellevue, it’s in theaters now :)
2. Get to know your local coffee shops and roasters. Why buy Nestle and Folgers — which BTW tastes horrid — when you don’t have to?
3. Make Starbucks step up. Demand that Starbucks brew fair trade coffee at least once a week, and take the Starbucks Challenge!
4. Create your own action plan! Get creative! Come up with your own ideas for action!
5. Volunteer at movie showings. Oxfam’s helping organize the activist stuff at movie showings, so here’s your chance to watch the film for free while volunteering for a good cause :)
6. Go see the film, seriously. Cuz it’s coming to Portland, Chicago, Washington DC, Nashville, and Madison this month –
7. Get the word out for the LA opening on January 12, 2007, at Laemmle Grande.
8. A couple more chances to catch Black Gold in LA! If you haven’t seen it, get to this film festival!
9. Black Gold at the Fine Arts Theatre on March 30, 2007.
10. Black Gold on PBS on April 10, 2007.
November 12th, 2006 at 10:30 pm
Not sure what the issue is…Starbucks has two days a week free trade already in this country..
and macdonalds has salads…
seems consumers have more power than is credited..be active stay active!!
November 13th, 2006 at 12:26 am
#7. Buy only FTO(Fair Trade Organic) green coffee beans, roast them yourself at home, and enjoy the best coffee you have ever had that no retailer can deliver.
November 13th, 2006 at 9:48 am
Hey gary — In the US, Starbucks serves fair trade coffee only about once a quarter for a week. Plus, they offer only one fair trade blend out of like 40 different coffee blends they sell :(
A.Mr. — Kudos to you for doin’ that — I have to say I just don’t trust my own roasting abilities; for now, I have to leave it to the experts :P
November 14th, 2006 at 4:27 pm
the ‘Fair Trade’ label says it all, Gary - if all other coffee is unfair and tastes no better, shouldn’t Starbucks be moving towards making it their standard? That’s the big deal.
And what’s with serving so much of their liquid in plastic containers…
(m)
November 14th, 2006 at 10:03 pm
starbucks is evil. how much needless waste, trash etc…. do they produce hourly? i’ve never ever heard of this 2 days a wk offering of fair trade and even if it were so why can’t it be daily, hourly totally??? give me a break. f— starshmucks, support your local brew shop. damn the man.
i also hope one isn’t serious about the umhum ’salad’ offerings from macdonalds. gross
November 15th, 2006 at 5:34 am
hi there -
maybe you could add a 7th “action item” to your list? our company, higher grounds trading co., is organizing a trip to ethiopia hosted by Oromia. we’ll be visiting farmers in the Yirgacheffe, Sidamo and Harrar regions, all of them primary co-ops belonging to Oromia. there are a few spaces left but the dates are fast approaching.
dates: jan 3 - 15th
more information is on-line at www.fairtradetours.com (a new initiative of our company)
see fair trade in action!
November 15th, 2006 at 6:43 am
screw fairtrade only once a week, try every day!!! i used to live in madison WI and they a\had about 5 small coffee shops that only sold fair trade coffee and even fair trade chocolate. if these little one-man coffee shops can afford to sell fair trade coffee (yes it is a bit more expensive) and still keep in bussiness, i think starbucks could go 100% FTO and still reap in the money. I personally refuse to buy ANYTHING from starbucks. it’s just not as good as those small coffee shops!
November 15th, 2006 at 7:24 am
Let us not forget our backyard countries in Latin America like Mexico,central America, Brazil and Colombia that also grow coffee. I come from Colombia which the coffee crisis has fueled so much poverty which fuels delinquency. and then I see the major roasters like foldgers, sara lee, nestle profit enormously by selling poor quality coffee. There has to be something wrong. I also want to let Americans know that Colombia exports only the best quality coffee beans to the US, but the major roasters mix it with old coffee and market it as the best coffee beans.
December 27th, 2006 at 1:13 pm
Is fairetrade really better when fairtrade is spending 1/3 of 5.3 m euro that was given to him on communication to promote is product.Fairtrade is already in Mcdonalds around the world do you think is t alright.At Wallmart you can buy a t-shirt made by 6 yo kinds in China turn around and buy a fairtrade product is there something wrong or… see Christian Jacquiau for more detail
December 28th, 2006 at 6:21 pm
Hey Martin111 — I’m not sure who you were refering to when you wrote “him.” Are you talking about FLO? Fairtrade Federation? TransFair USA? In any case, what I think you’re pointing to is a concern that big companies — that aren’t doing a whole lot of good in the world — might be able to greenwash their image by dipping their toes into fair trade certification. You might find this series of posts helpful in thinking through those issues.