Be the Change – What are you going to do for Fair Trade Fortnight?
9-22 September is the new date for FairTrade Fortnight, chosen to mark 30 years since the Fairtrade Label started.
First Read how Fairtrade differs from other labels
Watch the (1 hour) video of the Green Christian Workshop led by Sarah Brazier, Head of Campaigns at Fairtrade Foundation on 7 Aug 2024
Read about Fairtrade Fortnight and the “Be the Change challenge to newly elected MPs. – Asking your MP to step up and stand with Fairtrade farmers, and supporters like you, who are leading the way in building a fairer future.
Maranda Green Of Christian Concern for On World is assembling material for churches to use. I do recommend the first poem here: and do look at the rest of the material. She will present some of it in the “Pray and Fast for the Climate material on 1 Sept.
Judith Allinson muses on what we can do:-
“I like this poem:- (taken from CCOW website)
It starts with a change
So outwardly insignificant
That no one would notice
Except the person
Behind you in the aisle.
Just a moment
When instead of seeing
Rows of labels
On a supermarket shelf
You imagine the people
Behind them,
Tilling the earth,
Sowing the seed,
Gathering the crops.
And you pause,
Wondering, .. (See rest of poem on CCOW website – carry o reading , it is quite moving)
So what can we do? How can we get the rest of our church folk involved?
Settle Methodist Church is holding a Fair Trade Coffee morning on 4 September – with a special display of Fair Trade Goods provided by a Fair Trade Worker from the neighbouring town 16 miles away. The church Eco-group are going to use Fair Trade flowers for the church one week and Hedgerow flowers/fruit the next week. (The church actually has green themed services all September to mark the Season of Creation)
I have been round Settle trying to find useful Fairtrade goods to highlight.
Each year in Settle there seem to be fewer Fairtrade goods for sale. The Coop and Booths Supermarket still sell FairTrade Bananas – unlike the new Asda Garage, so I will just buy bananas from the Coop or Booths. AND .. the Coop sold them just with a cardboard sticky band holding the group of five bananas together, instead of putting them in plastic bags.
The Coop did a have some Fair Trade Coffee and Tea (both useful items) and a good selection of Fairtrade red wine (and other colours). They had brown cane sugar.
In the (what I really consider mostly unnecessary section) The Coop did have some fair trade chocolate – (See photo below) though a more limited selection than ten years ago. The Premier corner shop in Settle also has a lot of Fairtrade chocolate.
Elsewhere I have a blog page “45 Teashops and Eating Places within 2.6 miles of Settle” that I maintain. ( almost 1 coffee shop per 100 people). I visited two this week that have started recently: Bold, and High Street Coffee; They both sell very high quality coffee. Bold works with a grower in Columbia and has set up a roastery in Carnforth. High Street Coffee get their coffee from Northern Star – a firm in Leeds which is registered as a B Corp. A “B corp”2” – I learned – is a label (as is the Fair Trade label)
A B corp is a for-profit company that has received certification from B Lab, a nonprofit organization founded in 2006.
To be certified as a B corp, a company must meet certain social and environmental criteria. (The outdoor clothing firm Patagonia is a more famous example of a B Corp)
SO why is Fairtrade unique? – You can see what they say here (and retweet or facebook it or copy it if you wish from their website:
There are many reasons Fairtrade stands out among certification schemes. Here are a few.
50% Producer-owned – Fairtrade is 50 percent owned by farmers and workers themselves, giving them an equal say in the system’s decision-making
Fairtrade Minimum Price – Fairtrade offers price stability through a Minimum Price for most commodities
Fairtrade Premium – Fairtrade offers some of the highest Premiums in the industry for producers to invest in their businesses and communities
Promoting collective organizing – Fairtrade producers are required to organize collectively, in cooperatives or workers’ organizations with a democratic structure and transparent administration, so they have greater bargaining power and control over their businesses
Producer support – Fairtrade licensing fees support direct services to producers, from improving agricultural practices to better business management
Advocacy to tackle challenges – Fairtrade advocates with governments and partners with businesses to tackle global challenges and increase commitments to sustainable production and consumption
Globally known, globally trusted – The FAIRTRADE Mark is the most widely recognized ethical certification label globally (per 2015 GlobeScan research)
—————————————-
Green Christian held a zoom workshop in August given by Sarah Brazier, Head of Campaigns at Fairtrade Foundation which you will soon be able to watch here.
Do tell us what your church is g doing in the comments section.
Rest of the poem
And you pause,
Wondering,
What their names are,
Where they live,
What difference it will make
If your hand picks up
This box instead of that,
Wondering: how do I
Love these neighbours?
Can I help change
This child’s long journey for water,
Her mother’s lack of healthcare,
The prospect her father faces
Of another year unable
To feed his family well?
Just a moment.
And the person behind you,
Her impatient baby
Squirming in the trolley,
May never realise
That in that brief hesitation, A life hung in the balance
.
Next: Green burials
Previous: It is an ancient Mariner…
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