Fair TRade: ADOPT-A-SUPERMARKET

[Da Lone-Warrior]

http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/fairtrade/whatyoucando/supermarketcampaign.cfm

I saw a lot of Fair TRade products alternatives when I was in Sweden. Do you know why they were available? Because Christians in Sweden demanded that they be made available. We can do the same.

Supermarkets dominate the consumer food market, controlling access to what you can buy. And increasingly, the food market is controlled by companies with reputations for being leaders in the global 'race to the bottom'. For example, Wal-Mart, with its reputation for providing goods at cheaper and cheaper prices, is the fastest-growing supermarket chain in the US.

A few supermarkets carry a handful of Fair Trade offerings. But more needs to be done to help build a market for Fair Trade products and make them visible and accessible to consumers.

You can help. Co-op America's ADOPT-A-SUPERMARKET campaign is linking up Fair Trade advocates with stores in their local communities to keep pressure on supermarkets to increase the amount and variety of Fair Trade products sold and to ask stores to do their part to promote justice for farmers and artisans.

dlw

[Rubia Warren]

I buy Fair Trade coffee at my local store, and I order Yerba Maté online. I figure that's all I need to do- buy it- and they will see if there's a big enough demand or not that warrants carrying more. I also make coffee for half the neighborhood all the time anyway, and I tell people what it is when they ask. I'd rather people choose to go buy it than put the other kind of pressure on stores to carry it. Besides, it's all about changing minds right.
The Mexican style is to-die-for, BTW. The Espresso? Ehhh.... so-so. But I'm picky with Espresso anyways.

[technomage]

Sic transit libertas.

[Meh_Gerbil]

Why do I have to do this?
Why don't our representatives handle this issue?

[Da Lone-Warrior]

Why do I have to do this?
Why don't our representatives handle this issue?

It's a community based thing. Local consumer groups have the right to ask their local super-markets to stock a product.

You don't have to do it, it's just a simple way to love your neighbors in the 2/3rds world that help produce a lot of the stuff you eat or use most of the time for very little in compensation, in part due to their general poverty.

dlw

[NeilUnreal]

You don't have to do it, it's just a simple way to love your neighbors...

That's the most beautiful thing I've heard all day.

-Neil

[jason]

Sounds interesting. Do such groups exist in Australia ?

And are they lefty idiocy front groups or are they pro-free market ?

The site seems pro-free market BTW, so I am certianly interested.

Jason

[Meh_Gerbil]

It's a community based thing. Local consumer groups have the right to ask their local super-markets to stock a product.

You don't have to do it, it's just a simple way to love your neighbors in the 2/3rds world that help produce a lot of the stuff you eat or use most of the time for very little in compensation, in part due to their general poverty.

dlw

I meant the comment more along the lines of "Why aren't politicians on the ball with this?" Trade inequity is frustrating -- I don't wanna have some kid working in slavery so I can have cheap grapes.

[Da Lone-Warrior]

Sounds interesting. Do such groups exist in Australia ?

And are they lefty idiocy front groups or are they pro-free market ?

The site seems pro-free market BTW, so I am certianly interested.

Jason

I'd say you'd label them as pro-free market, inasmuch as it is all based on voluntarism. Contact them for yourself to find out if they exist in Australia. I'm sure they are...

dlw

[Da Lone-Warrior]

I meant the comment more along the lines of "Why aren't politicians on the ball with this?" Trade inequity is frustrating -- I don't wanna have some kid working in slavery so I can have cheap grapes.

Well, inasmuch it is not legal to take advantage of poor people living in third world countries, I don't think politicians are going to do anything until we make them do something(I'm thinking of something like pushing for a global min wage of sixty cents an hour or requiring that goods that are for consumption in the United states require worker compensation of at least that much.). This is something that we can do in the here and now, though.

dlw