The Chocolate Fudge Cafe

Below is a copy of the petition to Fair Trade the White House.  You can sign the petition at the official site.  Just click on the picture! 

Dear First Lady Michelle Obama,

As a nonpartisan coalition of Fair Trade organizations, vendors, and consumers, we cordially invite you to help extend the fair trade movement by declaring the White House a “Fair Trade Home.”

For more than sixty years, the Fair Trade movement has strived to create social and economic opportunities for the world’s poorest communities. As you know well, it is the poor who most acutely feel the effects of economic turbulence, climate change, and isolation. Fair Trade combats these issues.

As you may be aware, the movement toward ethical and sustainable consumption has grown to include faith-based centers, college campuses, businesses and individuals. The United States is also home to eleven “Fair Trade Towns/Cities” including Media, PA, Brattleboro, VT, Milwaukee, WI, Amherst, MA, Taos, NM, Northampton, MA, San Francisco, CA, Montclair, NJ, Ballston Spa, NY, Chico, CA, and Bluffton, OH.

Knowing that you and the President share these values, we invite you to extend the Fair Trade movement by making the White House a “Fair Trade Home” and increasing the number of items used by the White House which have been sourced according to Fair Trade principles. By requesting that your staff purchase items like food, body-care, and clothing made or sourced under Fair Trade Principles, your family’s example would show Americans how their purchasing habits can alleviate poverty, reduce inequality, and create opportunities for people to help themselves.

As a coalition of organizations, vendors, and consumers supporting Fair Trade, we represent 69 organizations, account for over $3.8 billion in annual sales and work with approximately 55,310 artisans, farmers and producers around the world.

We look forward to your RSVP. 

   Earth’s Sweet Pleasures is an official supporter of Fair Trading the White House!

Learn about the people behind your cup of Joe or chocolate bar.

In our globalized economy, trade is a primary means of impacting financial markets—and consequently, communities– worldwide. As the U.S. confronts its own shifting economic tides and we begin reevaluating our spending, many of us are pausing to consider what really matters. So as you make financial adjustments, consider the effects of your spending on the global economy, particularly on people and natural resources in developing countries. Looking for Fair Trade products is one way to ensure that your dollars reflect your values and use your consumer power to shift the global marketplace.

What Is Fair Trade?

Fair Trade is an international trade model that aims to build just, equitable, and sustainable business practices by linking producers in developing countries directly to purchasers in the global north. Fair Trade purchasers work directly with cooperatives and other small scale producers, eliminating the middlemen present in conventional trading and ensuring that producers receive a higher percentage of the price.

The Fair Trade movement was developed as a means of holistically addressing inequities in conventional development and trade models. In addition to setting a minimum floor price for commodities, which aims to cover the cost of production and cost of living in a local context, Fair Trade aids producers by requiring fair labor conditions, safe environmental practices, and fostering community development. The Fair Trade principles, to which all producers, importers, and exporters must adhere to receive certification, include:

• Fair Prices: Democratically organized farmer groups receive a guaranteed minimum floor price, plus a premium for certified organic products. Artisans and producers of non-commodity items are guaranteed a living wage in the local context.
• Fair Working Conditions: Laborers are guaranteed safe and healthy working conditions, a living wage, freedom of association, and opportunities for advancement. In particular, women’s leadership and participation in cooperatives is encouraged. Human rights and child labor laws are enforced and upheld to the most stringent standards.
• Direct Trade: Fair Trade importers purchase directly from farmer and artisan cooperatives, thereby building long-term relationships and sustainable business practices.
• Transparency: All Fair Trade businesses are open to public accountability and must maintain records of their environmental and business practices. 
• Democratic Organizations: Fair Trade supports cooperative systems in which each producer is a stakeholder in the business, participates democratically in decision-making, and benefits equally from generated revenue.
• Community Development: A “social premium,” a set sum given to the cooperative for each Fair Trade item sold, is invested in a business or organization in the local community democratically selected by the cooperative.
• Environmental Sustainability: GMOs and certain agrochemicals are strictly prohibited, and organic practices are encouraged and rewarded. Fair Trade produces are also required to adhere to practices that maximize use of raw, sustainable materials, and promote water and soil conservation, reforestation, species diversity, and environmental education.

What Types of Fair Trade Products Can I Buy?

Currently, Fair Trade coffee, tea, chocolate and crafts are widely available in North America, and bananas, sugar, honey, vanilla, olive oil, rice and flowers are increasingly making their way into U.S. markets. Fair Trade cotton, sports balls wine and beer are marketed in Europe.

How Do I Know That an Item is Fair Trade?

Two certifying bodies label Fair Trade items in the United States.

The Trans Fair label is currently only for food products.

Purchasing an item with this label guarantees that the product has been manufactured, sold, and transported in a socially and environmentally just manner. Membership in a Fair Trade Organization (FTO), a body that works with low-income artisans, is another indicator that a product has been fairly traded. While FTOs are not certifying bodies, they screen prospective members through a self-reporting process. The Fair Trade Federation (FTF) and International Fair Trade Association (IFAT) are two of the most widely recognizable FTOs.

However, it is important to remember that certification systems do not yet exist for all products. The mission of empowering farmers and artisans in developing countries and shifting the global marketplace in favor of low-income producers sometimes requires looking beyond a label and investigating the trading relationship of a given business or organization.

Learn more about Fair Trade practices and products:

The Fair Trade Resource Network
TransFair USA
The Fair Trade Federation (FTF)
International Fair Trade Association (IFAT)
Co-op America’s Fair Trade Page

To visit the original story and see a Fair Trade video, visit: http://www.newdream.org/marketplace/fair_trade.php