October’s fair trade month — yey! This explains why TransFair USA just bought an ad on my site :)
In fact, TFUSA’s put up a whole Discover Fair Trade site — perhaps more accurately, a Discover Fair Trade Certification site.
BTW — I’m at Whole Foods again right now, and though I’m out of coffee at home, I didn’t buy any coffee here because this Santa Monica Whole Foods doesn’t have a single fair trade certified whole bean coffee blend. They have some pre-ground stuff that’s fair trade certified, but that’s not yummy ’nuff…
Anyway — You can enter a v. cool sweepstakes on Discover Fair Trade — for a trip to Costa Rica, or 1 of 20 basket of fair trade goodies from World of Good :)
To kick off the fair trade festivities on green LA girl, here’s a lil list of some fair trade blogs you might check out. If you thought MY blog was a covering a teeny niche, the uber-specificity of some of these blogs’ll awe you:
Fair Trade Coffee News. Only news about fair trade coffee, all the time. Downside: Only posts once a week-ish, if that.
Fair Trade Coffee in Peru. Noah, a social scientist is studying fair trade on a Fulbright in Peru, and blogging his thoughts and experiences. Downside: Only posts once a month-ish, if that.
Fair Trade Sports. A blog all about new fair trade sports stuff hitting the market — so far, soccer balls, volleyballs, rugby balls, footballs, and futsal (I didn’t know what that was) balls — with musings on everything from child labor to yoga. Downside — It’s a brand new site, with lots of bugs and broken links –
And remember to support your local fair trade coffee shop — or at least take the Starbucks Challenge :) For more info ’bout getting further involved in the fair trade movement, start here :)
Update, 10/7/06: How could I forget?! Banana Blog — by the fair trade banana company Oke USA — is all bananas and all fair trade :)
Whole Foods sells Allegro Coffee by whole beans. Even though they’re not Fair Trade certified, they seem to be ethically sourced, with a stated commitment towards sustainablity and the environment. Check here: http://www.allegrocoffee.com/page.php/id/88.
Comment by Larry — October 1, 2006 @ 4:00 pm
fair trade month?
who came up with that idea?
Comment by Johan — October 2, 2006 @ 10:29 am
Larry — I’d like to believe that too, but the problem with Allegro Coffee is that it’s not 3rd party certified — We have to take Whole Foods at its word. You might be interested in reading more about Allegro in a post I wrote here:
“Allegro, Whole Foods’ coffee unit, launched a program in 2003 called High Five for Farmers that was to donate 5% of the sales from select coffees directly back to the farms. But according to the Wall Street Journal, this donation’s 5% of an undisclosed LOWER price — NOT the retail price — at which Allegro sells the coffee to Whole Food. Worse, this 5% is only applicable to one variety of coffee — out of more than two dozen — for just a 2-3 month period.”
Johan — I hav eno idea who assigns causes and things to months and days. One day, I’ll find out and start lobbying for a Siel Month –
Comment by Siel — October 2, 2006 @ 11:10 pm
Thanks for the mention, Siel!
We are finishing our “bug bash” on the site with family and friends this week. With our initial inventory due in October 20, you should see the site open for pre-orders within the next few days!
-Scott James, Fair Trade Sports
Comment by Scott James — October 3, 2006 @ 11:53 am
Bug bash! Sounds fun :)
Comment by Siel — October 3, 2006 @ 12:08 pm
Siel,
Lets us know if you need some tasty fair trade coffee. We can get some down to you asap. Check us out and let us know.. http://www.delapazcoffee.com
Comment by Jason — October 3, 2006 @ 12:52 pm
Hey Jason — Thanks for the offer! I’ll backchannel you about it :)
Comment by Siel — October 3, 2006 @ 11:00 pm