I first met Jordan — the guy who let me crash at his place while I was in Boston — at the United Students for Fair Trade convergence in Denver February.

But that night, I’d been drinking lots to prep for the panel I’d put together. And while we said hello, and Jordan knew about green LA girl, he didn’t recognize me.

So we met again the way all cool people do these days — via the web :P Jordan made some amazing comments via the USFT listserv, and I quoted him here. Then, Jordan wanted advice on starting a blog for his fair trade banana company, Oke USA. So we chatted on the phone ’bout that.

And when I got to Boston, we got to chat for reals.

This guy really puts my pitiful undergrad existence shame. How? Jordan spent a summer in Ethiopia for Oxfam America (where he first met Tadesse), then spent a summer in Peru to learn how indigenous communities are facing modernization. In Sept. 2003, he went to Cancun as intern for Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. The same year, he got arrested protesting at the WTO talks. Then in Spring 2004, he went to El Salvador with HACIA (Harvard Association Cultivating Interamerican) Democracy. And in 2004-2005, Jordan lived in Morocco, teaching and hanging out with his now-sorta-fiance.

And the guy’s a couple years younger than me, the bastard.

All this is to say that I really look up to the guy, cuz he’s done all the things I wish I’d done but didn’t do cuz I was too self-absorbed.

So I asked Jordan a lotta Qs, specifically about the state of fair trade certification these days. Below’s some of what he said [For those new to the discussions about fair trade certification, read this first]:

“I think that TransFair currently doesn’t represent current stakeholders, and it should [represent them] — the people who built and fuelled the movement. TransFair wants to steer the car that’s being fuelled by other people. They don’t wanna be back there pushing the car, but they want to determine where it goes.”

“TransFair’s seized and has been allowed to seize a lot of power. So the activists and the mission-driven companies and the NGOs have to say whether that’s alright or not…. Someone’s gotta step up and show some leadership.”

“Equal Exchange and people like it — we started fair trade. We gave the power to TransFair, and we shouldn’t cede it to them.”

“There should be NGOs and mission-driven companies represented on the board of TransFair if it’s going to be a strategizing, market building organization. Otherwise, they should just be a certifying organization, not a marketing organization, a brand. Right now they’re a brand.”

When I asked how fair trade certification could be fixed, Jordan batted around a lotta ideas, from ousting Paul Rice, the current CEO of TransFair USA, to convening some sort of coalition — for ex the people who put together the Fair Trade Futures conference last year.

But these were just ideas. Jordan said that, ultimately, he didn’t know who exactly should lead the charge, or how, exactly.

Many activists are really looking to the NGOs and mission-driven companies to take action — NOT to abandon fair trade certification, but to make a more concerted effort to have a say in shaping it –

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