Fair Trade Blog

That’s what is posted on a small sign outside the retail greenhouse in our village of Gays Mills, Wisconsin, where we live.

It’s not your usual come on for a retailer. If I said it to you as you passed our shop on the sidewalk, I would be rude and insenstive. Still, I chuckle to myself everytime I see it.

We live in a village of 625 and counting down — but that’s another blog post.  Anyway, if we want the greenhouse to stay open, we have to walk in and spend money, regularly.  The greenhouse owner knows that, and we know that, so that’s why that little sign is posted near his front door, and why I see it when we stop each spring and fall to buy plants. 

The same is true of any business, whether it’s down the steet from you or not.  The technologies of travel and information exchange have made new forms of community possible and real.  In many ways, the Fair Trade community would not be possible if not for speedy travel and instant communications.  It’s allowing me to talk to you, a member this particular community, even if I never met you before.  

But just because we have a global reach doesn’t mean we don’t need you to survive and thrive.  We have a little community too, it’s just spread out over four or five continents and we all have to support each other.

So, let’s take a look at that sign again: 

“Get in here and buy something!”

… and keep shopping your good values!

Last fall I was lamenting to a friend and customer about the state of the economy. He said he didn’t think it had anything to do with the amount of money available, but everything to do with the velocity of money.

I understood what he meant right away. There is still money out there. Lots of it, in fact.  The country is awash in stimulus money from residential energy grants, to new infrastructure projects, to cash for clunkers, and that’s just the tip of the pile. 

Main Street needs it’s share of that new money.  As an accelerator of dollars, there is none better than your local downtown businesses. For every $100 spent, about $63 gets recycled through local hands like yours and mine.  

That’s the beauty of the program known as the 3/50 project.  It’s brilliantly simple.  Think of three independently-owned businesses that you would miss if they closed.   Stop at each one and say hello while you pick up something that will make someone smile. 

If you spend a total of just $50 at three independently-owned businesses each month you can help keep them open.  If just half of all the employed in the U.S. spent that much each month it means local businesses would benefit from $42.6 billion in revenue. 

We’re all getting back to basics and there’s nothing more basic than local brick and mortar.  Don’t forget to visit the one’s near you.

Keep shopping your good values!

Just this week, both the president and General Petraus made the astounding assessment that America and NATO are losing the war in Afghanistan. After eight years of fighting and attempting to rebuild that country, we are failing.

If you haven’t heard what Sarah Chayes, founder of the Arghand Cooperative, has to say about how to get out of this mess, here is a link to a guest interview she did on the Rachel Maddow Show this past Tuesday.

In the brief segment, Sarah advocates for making the Taliban irrelevant instead of working to defeat them on the battlefield or subvert them by negotiating with willing elements.  Both solutions have been floated by the new administration, though Obama has said that a larger military presence is certain.

Sarah also described the life and death struggle of everyday life for Arghand’s members.  I hope you watch her interview.  We’re all concerned about the future of the country as well as the little cooperative we’ve come to know and love through the wonderful soap they make.

I hope you watch this enlightening interview.

Keep shopping your good values!

I can’t remember a time when people did not complain about the stress and commercialism of the holidays.  For certain people, I suppose that the last minute rush is part of the fun.  You know the kind — with a twinkle in their eye, they share the adventures of their last minute rush– including all their gift shopping.  

American consumer culture has wrapped itself in the 30 odd days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Any honest retail owner will tell you that the holidays make or break them every year. 

We are no different here at Driftless Fair Traders, but we do make a difference with our e-store.  Most of our shoppers know that they are not simply buying a present, they are choosing a gift with something special.  That’s why more and more people are doing nearly all their holiday shopping with us.  

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of helping one of our customers pick out gifts for everyone on her list.  It wasn’t a simple thing and she spent a good deal of time making her choices.  But when we were finished, she was beaming, not only because she had accomplished her goal, but because she loved the experience of shopping for gifts she felt good about giving.  “You have such beautiful things,” she said more than once.  

We want you to feel as good about where your gifts came from as you do about where they are going.  That’s why we shop as carefully as you do this time of year.  Everyone wants the act of giving to be special and we work hard to make it a more satisfying experience. 

We hope you will visit our e-store and keep shopping your good values!

Now you can add Fair Trade Flowers to your shopping list!  TransFair, the only Fair Trade certification organisation in the United States, now certifies producers of the roses you give on Valentine’s Day, or that fall bouquet for grandma’s house at Thanksgiving.

The transition to Fair Trade production by growers, mainly in Colombia, Kenya, and Ecuador, is a huge improvement for workers at large flower plantations.

Production to satisfy the 19.5 billion dollar cut flower and plant market is labor and chemical intensive.  Workers at non-certified plantations often suffer from repeated exposure to toxic insecticides and herbicides.  When the crush for holiday shipments is at it’s peak, workers can be forced to work up to 18 hours without overtime pay to deliver flowers in time for big days like Valentine’s Day. 

Did you know that 90 percent of all gift flowers purchased in the US are given to women and that most of the floriculture workers on Fair Trade plantations are women?  It’s a parallel that demands mention.

Fair Trade in flower production directly benefits the women who make it successful.  In additon to a living wage for all it’s workers, certification requires employee benefits including 12 weeks paid maternity leave and childcare. 

Certification also alleviates a heinous practice common in modern agriculture — exposing workers to toxic chemicals.  Floriculture is the most chemical intensive agricultural practice in the world.  Studies have found over half of flower plantation workers showed signs of chemcial poisoning in countries like Ecuador. 

Plantations engaged in Fair Trade commit to reducing chemical use and provide saftey measures for workers like protective clothing.  Organic practices are becoming more widely used, but since flowers are simply admired instead of consumed, the transition has been slow in taking root.  While organic practice has not even been tried in production of the most common crops like carnations and lillies, organic practices continue to spread.

Fair Trade Flowers are readily available.  FTD, 1-800-FLOWERS, and even Sam’s Club offer them online.  Grocery chains including GIANT Food Stores, King’s Super Markets, and Whole Foods Market, offer them in their Floral sections. 

So the next time you want to say something nice, say it with Fair Trade flowers!

Keep shopping your good values!

It’s not always easy to become greener,  but we all recognize that it’s important to reuse, recycle, and restore in our personal environs as well as our businesses.  That, of course, is easier said then done. 

Businesess, as I have discovered, can be a huge consumer of all kinds of things from paper products to electricity and water.  In the shipping industry, for example, nearly every finished good you can think of is transported in a cardboard box.  Empty cardboard boxes can pile up at an astonishing rate.  

We keep a good number of the boxes we receive from wholesalers and use them to pack up customer’s purchases or ship orders we receive over the internet.  And they come in handy to store merchandize and supplies.  We do our best not to contribute to our local landfill. 

Even one of our wholesalers helped me out last week.  Minga Fair Trade Imports is in constant need of boxes for shipping.  So, after a visit, they were kind enough to take some of our largest boxes and bubble wrap off my hands.  Our back room is a little tidier and I feel better about not throwing away more boxes and packing.  

Almost exactly two years ago, when we were getting ready to open the store, we needed fixtures on a shoestring budget.   Mostly out of necessity, but also out of a desire to tackle waste, we went dumpster diving across the street behind a clothing store that was closing.

Dumpster diving is hard, dirty work, but we snagged some real finds.  Though you probably could not tell just by wandering around our store, many of the fixtures we use were saved from the landfill.   A little cleaning, imagination, and some paint worked wonders. 

An old vanity topped with discarded shutters became a jewelry display, while an abandoned tie rack is now a beautiful scarf display.  With a little care and creativity, a stack of dusty relics became valued display pieces. 

It takes constant effort.  This year I found great printed shopping bags made from recycled paper, but it required some thought and research.   But I’m happy to know that our customers will walk out of our store just as green as they came in. 

Keep shopping your good values! 

People are increasingly shopping with their principals as well as their pocketbooks in mind.  It’s not always easy to match your values with the places you shop or the things you buy.  We live in a fast paced and complex world.  It’s hard to keep up with what’s available and the busineses that provide them. 

There are tools that can help.   One great example, (one I use myself) is the Fair Trade Federation.   Not only does their website have current information about fair trade, but you can search for specific fair trade products under their “Find Products” heading on their homepage.

Want someone you can empathize with?  WalletMouth (Aptly named, don’t you think?), maintained by Bronwyn Ximm, documents her personal struggle to put her money where her mouth is.  The conversational way she presents information and tools she has tested herself makes this folksy site fun and valuable.  My favorite is her “Buycotts & Boycotts” section.

For a more interactive experience, check out dotherightthing.com.  Here you can help rate businesses on their social responsibility by submitting news articles about specific companies.  Visitors to the site rank the importance of the news and companies get a rating.   Currently, their top rated company is Seventh Generation, maker of green household products.  

In this political season the big issues are on everyone’s mind — global warming, the environment, social justice, and lately, race relations. We all get reminded more and more that our purchases count — they have an impact.  I want to know how you are making a difference with your pocketbook.  Drop us a comment on this post.

Of course, we are here to help you with new spring arrivals.  We look forward to seeing you in the shop and online. 

Keep shopping your good values!

Kile