>> Fair trade spirits — made from quinoa. Qino One Vodka wants you to take a survey to let ‘em know how you feel about fair trade quinoa spirit.

>> Write about “How selling goods under the Fair Trade label has improved the lives of people who produce goods such as coffee, tea, chocolate, rice, and flowers” to win a OneWorld’s Citizen Journalism Award, aka $125. I’m guessing it’ll help if you either 1) sell fair trade goodies, or 2) have visited people who produce fair trade goodies. That excludes me.

>> The United Farm Workers have wine: Black Eagle Wines, “a vintage of Napa Valley wines that celebrate justice and help organize people to earn a better living without having to rely on government assistance,” according to UFW’s press release. You must commit to at least half a case — that’s 6 bottles for $150 — to support the cause. (thanks for the tip, Genise)

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>> John Oliver suggests a label for all non-fair trade items on Comedy Central .

>> A Fair trade map! Find out where the fair trade towns and organizations are via this Google maps mashup. Maybe I can just get rid of my list of fair trade coalitions altogether.

>> An interview with fair trade company Alter Eco’s Edouard Rollet on SFist. On what to do with $15 and 2 hours in SF: “Get a coffee and some good fair-trade chocolate and eat and drink with the view at the top of Dolores Park.”

>> An argument for knowing your coffee Jon B. Rogers is the president and founder of the family-owned, San Leandro-based Rogers Family Company, which includes the Organic Coffee Co. and the San Francisco Bay Coffee Co.

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As of today, the US officially has a fair trade city: San Francisco! NoCalians are celebrating with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom at Dolores Park in San Francisco; they’ve timed their announcement to fall on World Fair Trade Day.

San Francisco may be the first fair trade city, but we already have six fair trade towns in the U.S. What’s the diff between a city and a town? That’s what I asked Wikipedia yesterday, but didn’t get a straight answer. Apparently, “the definition of cities (and town, villages, townships, etc.) is a matter of state laws and the definitions vary widely by state.”

I assumed that cities are relatively large, well-known places, while towns are teensy places out in the middle of nowhere. However, I then discovered that Milwaukee — a sort of but not totally way out in the middle of nowhere place — is on the list of 6 towns that received Fair Trade Town status.

So as of now, it’s unclear whether San Francisco will be considered the 7th of Fair Trade Towns, or the first Fair Trade City. In any case, here’s the list of fair trade cities and towns:

>> Media, Penn. (July 2006)
>> Brattleboro, Vermont (June 2007)
>> Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Oct. 2007)
>> Amherst, Mass. (Nov. 2007)
>> Taos, New Mexico (March 2008)
>> Northampton, Mass. (April 2008)
>> San Francisco, Calif. (May 2008)

You’ll notice I actually mentioned the first two towns in posts then sort of lost interest…. But now I’m getting interested again. Fair trade LA’s gotten more active — I wonder if we can either work with that group or create a new Fair Trade Santa Monica group to make the beach city I live in a Fair Trade Town –

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Hello World Fair Trade Day! Yes, today, May 10, is World Fair Trade Day. And I hope you’re reading this before noon (or 3 pm on the east coast) because that’s when the World’s Largest Fair Trade Coffee Break happens.

Fair trade, in case you’re a newbie, is about promoting equitable trade between “developed” and “third world” countries. Business as usual tries to squeeze out cheap labor and cheap exports out of less developed countries, then pretends altruism by donating “handouts” that equal just a fraction of what business unfairly squeezed out in the first place. In contrast, fair trade advocates promote equatable trade, arguing that trade on more equal footing, NOT aid (handouts), will help resolve some of the inequities in our world.

That sounds heavy, but for today, all you really need to do is take a coffee break. Fair trade advocates are trying to set the record for the largest fair trade coffee break ever! That sounds exciting, except that my guess is that this feat won’t actually be difficult to achieve, since no such big fair trade coffee break’s been planned ever before. I think the idea’s that we’re trying to set a big, impressive baseline that we can try to beat in years to come.

Anyway — Fun events are happening all around the U.S. Near me, Los Angeles has a weekend full of activities planned. And in San Francisco, even the mayor’s involved! Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Bay Area Fair Trade Coalition will “proclaim” San Francisco as a Fair Trade City at an event in Dolores park from noon to 2 pm in Dolores Park. Check out the fair trade events calendar to find out what’s going down near you.

[crossposted on BlogHer]

Tags: fairtrade, coffee

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Tomorrow, May 10, is World Fair Trade Day! And in celebration, World’s Largest Fair Trade Coffee Break happens tomorrow afternoon. Technically, the event happens at noon on the west coast — but any time in the afternoon will do to count towards the total.

So caffeinate wit fellow fair trade activists. In L.A., you’ve got two events to pick from:

>> Fair Trade LA will have a booth all day at the “Revel with a Cause” Santa Monica Festival at Clover Park, 2600 Ocean Park Blvd., in Santa Monica. Go not just for the coffee, but for the solar-powered music performances, recycled crafty activities, international cuisine served on biodegradable plates, and more.

>> Ten Thousand Villages Pasadena will provide hot and iced fair trade beverages - along with chocolate and other samples — to all visitors who celebrate the coffee break with them at 3pm tomorrow. Just stop by the store at 496 S. Lake Ave. in Pasadena. There, you’ll even be able to buy fair trade flowers for Mother’s Day.

Fair trade activities will continue throughout the weekend:

>> Later tomorrow night, celebrate the launch of a partnership between Ten Thousand Villages and Anti-Body to support a new fair trade coconut oil co-op in Liberia. Wine and appetizers will be served. When & Where: May 10 at 7 pm, at Ten Thousand Villages, 496 S. Lake Ave. in Pasadena.

>> On Monday, Jacqueline Decarlo — author of “Fair Trade: A Beginner’s Guide” and former director of the Fair Trade Resource Network — will speak. When & Where: May 12 at 7 pm, at Ten Thousand Villages, 496 S. Lake Ave. in Pasadena.

>> On Tuesday, Jacqueline Decarlo will speak again. When & Where: May 13, at 7 pm, UCLA’s Royce Hall, Room 156, 752 Charles E. Young Dr., Los Angeles.

Tags: fairtrade, coffee

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So it got warm in L.A., then semi-cold again — and I’ve been drinking fair trade, organic hot chocolate, courtesy of fair trade company Equal Exchange.

Equal Exchange’s Spicy Hot Cocoa’s got a kick of chili and cinnamon. Those spices, along with the cocoa powder, sugar cane juice, and vanilla powder, are all organic! And the cocoa and sugar are fair trade certified.

Which made me wonder: Why isn’t the vanilla fair trade certified?

Of course, TransFair USA — the nonprofit that awards fair trade certification for U.S. products, allows many products with just one fair trade ingredient to get fair trade certified. For example, some of Ben & Jerry’s coffee-flavored ice creams are fair trade certified because they incorporate fair trade coffee — despite the fact that the sugar, which makes up a larger part of the ice cream than the coffee, is not fair trade certified.

Considering that, Equal Exchange is already going the extra mile by using both fair trade sugar AND fair trade cocoa in its hot chocolate. Still, here’s what I heard back about the vanilla, thanks to Dary Goodrich, Chocolate Products Manager at Equal Exchange:

At this point, we have not been able to find a FTC vanilla suitable to our needs (e.g. organic, the correct format to work in our hot cocoa, and price accessible). This is something we will continue to look into as FTC vanilla becomes more readily available in the market. As you know we made the switch for our bars, which just requires ground vanilla beans and not vanilla powder. Also, vanilla is less than 1% of the product, which means we don’t buy much of it.

This answer satisfies me — but at the same time makes me a little sad that even a fair trade committed company like Equal Exchange can’t use fair trade vanilla in all its products….

That said, Equal Exchange’s come out with four different hot choco products, and to please the purists, some are all fair trade. The Drinking Chocolate and Baking Cocoa are made entirely of fair trade ingredients.

After trying out Equal Exchange’s cocoa, I was surprised to find that fair trade cocoa’s actually become a rather competitive market! I stopped by my neighborhood Whole Foods and Co-opportunity to find three different fair trade cocoas readily available on the shelves:

>> Dagoba offers a spicy Xocolatl Hot Chocolateas well as an unsweetened hot chocolate

>> Lake Champlain offers a hot chocolate
as well as unsweetened vegan cocoa.

>> Green & Black’s website only shows one fair trade cocoa powder, but I could swear I also saw a fair trade Maya Gold hot cocoa at Whole Foods the other day.

>> Trader Joe’s offers its own fair trade certified cocoa powder.

All of these products are both fair trade and organic certified — though the former comes with caveats. The unsweetened cocoas for all companies are basically made of organic, fair trade cocoa powder, so those are pretty much 100% fair trade products. As for the multi-ingredient hot cocoas, however, I couldn’t find out from these companies websites if the sugar and other ingredients were fair trade certified.
‘
I’ll keep looking into that — but I appreciate the fact that Equal Exchange lists both its full ingredient lists — including organic and fair trade information — on its website.

[crossposted on BlogHer]

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A twice-weekly sharing of eco-shwag.

Today’s giveaway is an eco-friendly, fair trade bamboo clutch! This pretty accessory’s handmade in northern Thailand using bamboo.

The bag comes courtesy of Bambootique, an eco-boutique where everything’s fair trade. Founder Beth Sethi also writes her own blog :).

The clutch is priced at $26 at Bambootique. Comment or email by Sunday to get into the drawing, which’ll happen Monday. US addresses only.

View my page on 29-Day Giving Challenge

Tags: fairtrade, bamboo, clutch, purse

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>> Help fair trade fruit company Oké USA buy a Bobcat Excavator! Why? El Guabo, a fair trade banana co-op in Ecuador, has experienced devastating flooding. The Bobcat will both help undo the damage and prevent / mitigate the impact of future floods. Your tax-deductible contribution will go directly towards purchasing the Bobcat.

>> Fair trade coffee company Equal Exchange goes to Saudi Arabia! A small chain of Saudi Arabian bakery-cafes will be brewing fair trade coffee from Equal Exchange :)

>> World Fair Trade Day’s coming up! Put May 10 in your calendar. Fair Trade Towns (FTT) and Fair Trade Resource Network (FTRN) are partnering up to organize and facilitate unified actions and events over a Fair Trade Fortnight (weeks leading up to and following WFTD).

>> Nick Francis and Marc Francis, who made the documentary Black Gold, talk about why they made the film in the Guardian.

>> Northampton, Mass., works to become the fifth fair trade town in the U.S.

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A twice-weekly sharing of eco-shwag.

Today’s giveway’s a I Heart Fair Trade tote bag, courtesy of TransFair USA.

This organic cotton tote’s made in the USA by the Co-op America-approved company Western Textile & Manufacturing.

Comment or email by Sunday to get into the drawing, which’ll happen Monday. US addresses only.

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Put it in your calendars: May 10, 2008 is World Fair Trade Day! Actually, put May 3 - 18 in your calendar, because this year, fair trade gets a 2-week celebration, aka the U.S. Fair Trade Fortnight.

This year, World Fair Trade Day ties fair trade with environmentalism with its theme: “For the Planet. For the People.” That link might seem a tad odd, considering the fact that fair trade goods are about fair international trade — meaning shipping goods from far off places into the U.S. and Europe.

That said, many fair trade goods are made with recycled or eco-friendly materials, and still others are food items, much of which is organically grown. Hopefully this fortnight will encourage not just consumers to think green, but producers — including U.S. companies importing fair trade goods — to think about the environmental impact of their products.

Want to get involved? Start planning a Fair Trade Break now — whether it be a coffee break with fair trade goodies or a house party with fair trade artisan goods for sale. Plan the break for any time during the fortnight — or time it to take place on May 10 at noon PST to help break the Guinness World Record for the World’s Largest Coffee Break! Fair trade activists all over the U.S. will be drinking a cup of fair trade coffee right at that time — Don’t be left uncaffeinated.

And on Sunday, May 11, celebrate Mother’s Day fair trade style with fair trade flowers. You can order them online via 1-800 Flowers and samsclub.com. If you’re feeling really ambitious, get your local florist to offer fair trade flowers. For help, contact Kazuko Golden, Floral Accounts Manager at TransFair USA, by calling 510.459.2317 or emailing kgolden@transfairusa.org.

And for other fair trade gifts — whether for your mom or for yourself — visit fair trade store Ten Thousand Villages and get free shipping between now and the end of the fortnight by using the promotional code “fair trade” at checkout.

[crossposted on BlogHer]

Tags: fairtrade, worldfairtradeday, fairtradefortnight

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