By Anne Consroe
My final suggestion for buying green gifts this year is to purchase fair trade. Fair trade is defined as a market-based trading technique for a variety of exports that promises a fair price. Keeping in mind environmental and social standards, fair trade promotes economic self-sufficiency in developing countries.
Many retail stores in your area sell fair trade products. A personal favorite is Ten Thousand Villages (http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/). Selling only fair traded products in more than 150 stores, Ten Thousand Villages supports small artisans and farmers in developing countries by giving them a significantly higher price for their goods than what importing companies would otherwise pay. They also cut out the middle men, leaving you with very decently-priced merchandise.
Fair trade coffee, tea, and chocolate is available in Whole Foods (http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/) and My Organic Market (http://www.myorganicmarket.com/).
Fair trade products can also be purchased through Equal Exchange (http://www.equalexchange.coop/).
This year, holiday shop with a conscience. To learn more about fair trade products, please visit http://www.fairtradefederation.org/ or http://www.fairtrade.net/.
A Fair Holiday
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1 comments:
These are all great ideas and resources. In addition, I'd like to suggest a resource for clothing since as of yet there's no "fair trade" certification for clothing.
SweatFree Communities and International Labor Rights Forum publish the Shop with a Conscience Guide every year. The guide features apparel retailers that source their clothes from factories where workers have a voice on the job -- ie. unionized workplaces or worker-owned cooperatives.
To see the guide and the specific criteria, visit www.sweatfree.org/shoppingguide.
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