Meaning: I’ve talked to some diehard fair trade coffee people and asked them about their other buying practices. Where’d they get their computers, for ex? What car do they drive, and why? How did they furnish their houses? Where do they get their clothes? Have they signed up for green energy? Do they buy carbon offsets?

To almost all of these Qs, almost all of these wonderful coffee companies have replied with a “um, I don’t know, but yeah, that’s important” sort of response.

My point is that we are all people who buy many things other than coffee. Of course, if our life’s work’s in coffee, we’re gonna feel that others should also put a lotta research into that field as we’re passionate about it and see its importance.

But most people are not working in the coffee business. And while I don’t want to dumb things down to the simple “look for the label” level, I’m also skeptical about a program that — despite its wonderful efforts at transparency — basically would require people to slog through a lot of complicated information — AND research what that information means to try to make sense of it.

We could very easily limit the fair trade movement down to the full-time — or at least a v. serious part time — diehards. But that, to me, seems an elitist move. I feel lucky to have discovered the fair trade movement, and I’d like to see a fair trade movement that’s not so prohibitive as to scare away potential new activists –

I understand your critique, and I address it in the next issue of JT, which should be out today.

e, we haven’t said that this will necessarily compete with FLO’s certification. There’s no reason a seller couldn’t have both.

I agree that FLO is becoming more mainstream, and decisions such as pricing are slow and tedious. However, I do not find this a reason to throw out the whole system. Rather, this mainstream migration opens up new markets for other certifications that build upon the FLO standards (Not only are we FLO Certified but we are also….). And someday those “higher” standards will be considered slow and ineffective. This movement is in a positive direction. We should harmoniously blend with it, while striving for more excellence… rather, than be devisive. There is a positive way to do this.

yes you have to visit. we’ll organise something and bring you out for a speakers tour ;) fire up all the young activists here.

Cam — Just corrected the mixup on the post! Sorry about that — Hope all’s well in Australia — I wanna visit one day –

thanks for all your fantasticness. you are read every day over here in ANZ.

just a note – FTAANZ is NOT a member of FLO. Fairtrade Labelling ANZ is a member of FLO. FTAANZ and Fairtrade Labelling ANZ are two different orgs.

love from down under

I don’t believe this stems from a lack of good will on the part of the people in TransFair USA, or even necessarily FLO itself. I think it’s a structural problem, and I think it requires a structural solution.

The folks at Just Coffee and I have started thinking about what such a structural solution might look like. We would love your feedback.