Tomorrow, Saturday May 12th, is World Fair Trade Day.
The fair trade movement attempts to return a greater portion of the proceeds of any sale to the farmers, artisans, or workers who produced the product being sold. It’s as simple as that.
Like the organic and local food movements, it’s an attempt to increase consumer awareness and corporate responsibility simultaneously. While fair trade is generally considered a social or political movement, there are obvious environmental benefits as well.
Generally speaking, proponents of the fair trade industry embrace an understanding that social and environmental responsibility and a sustainable relationship with the planet are both good business and necessary practice.
So when you buy a fair trade pineapple, for example, not only are you sending a fair amount of your money to the pineapple farmers and their third-world communities, but you’re very likely also supporting an industry that has a healthy relationship with the environment.
Of course, just because something’s fair trade, it doesn’t automatically make it environmentally friendly. Buying locally-grown tomatoes is still better than buying ethically-sound tomatoes from a long way away, because you avoid the transportation. But the fair trade movement represents a renewed sense of consumer responsibility, and it’s a step in the right direction.
Tomorrow, provincial, state, and municipal fair trade organizations are hosting street sales, festivals, and bazaars all over the world, and stores that focus on fair trade like Ten Thousand Villages will be celebrating as well. The World Fair Trade Day website has all the information you need to immerse yourself in the fair trade movement in your neigbourhood.
