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Fair trade versus organic? Sustainability versus fair trade? The old ethical shopping dilemma might just be on its way to being solved. It's World Fair Trade Day today and this year's theme is Fair Trade + Ecology.
Fair trade organisations all over the world are joining forces to show us that fair trade and sustainability almost always go hand in hand -- so we consumers don't have to compromise our green ideals by choosing fair trade. FLO standards prescribe sustainable farming methods and many clothing and craft companies encourage handmade products, which aren't dependent on oil for manufacture.
World Fair Trade Day, which began in 2001, is the brainchild of fair trade fashion pioneer Safia Minney and International Fair Trade Association (IFAT) members. They decided to allocate the second Saturday in May each year to celebrating and creating awareness around fair trade.
And it seems they've done a good job of spreading the fair trade gospel. Research published by the Fairtrade Foundation today shows that 70 per cent of UK consumers now recognise the Fairtrade Mark, compared to 57 per cent in 2007.
The fair trade movement wouldn't have come this far without conscientious businesses throwing themselves into the challenge of changing the way we think of trade, consumption and not least producers. Whereas 'producer fairness' has probably always been high on the agenda for most of them, there's no doubt that 'fairness to planet' also plays a big role now.
We've asked four pioneering fair trade companies in the UK how fair trade and ecology coincide for them and this is what they told us:
-- Divine Fairtrade chocolate: "Kuapa Kokoo, the Ghanaian cooperative that co-owns Divine, runs training programmes for its members to increase awareness of ecological issues and to this end, they work to maintain the best environment for their cocoa to grow. This means using integrated pest management, growing trees in the shade of the rainforest canopy and ensuring no virgin forest is used for expanding farms. Their carbon footprint is very low, and further down the supply chain Divine does not use any air-freight and is continuing to develop increasingly environmentally friendly packaging."
-- People Tree Fairtrade fashion: "We [People Tree] enable farmers and producer groups to support the sustainable use of natural resources and biodegradable materials -- for example through our Organic Cotton project in Bangladesh and also through the production of the Bora Aksu dresses for World Fair Trade Day, which were created using only natural dyes."
-- Cafédirect Fairtrade Coffee: "Fighting poverty and protecting the environment go hand-in-hand for Cafédirect -- that's why the theme of this year's World Fair Trade Day is so important. There are no livelihoods more threatened by climate change than those of smallholder farmers in developing countries -- the very people who are the heart of our company."
-- The Fairtrade Furniture Company: "The two issues of fair trade and Ecology converge for us on the choice of materials in which our chairs are woven. Take our Jepara chair for example, the frame is made of wood off-cuts which would otherwise be burned or thrown away. The banana fibre is a traditional weaving material which is a natural by-product of the local banana trees, so the environmental impact of both elements is kept to a minimum."
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