A little time, a little research

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Here's what I've learned from my first "snow-day" as a teacher:

  1. Teachers will always be kids at heart. I'm pretty sure we were more excited than the kids. Immediate visions of sweatpants, hot chocolate (oh no, is that fair trade?!), watching movies, and fires in the fireplace came to mind.
  2. Even though am in the public school world, most of my friends are out of it. I thought I'd check facebook for comments about snow days and school out only to find that there weren't any! NONE! What?! Getting older I guess...
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So this gives me some time today to answer some questions I laid out yesterday about fair trade. I'm going to post any research, articles, and websites that I find. Also, this is MY journey. I encourage each person to wrestle with these things and figure out what it means for them. I do not judge anyone. If there are people who struggle to make ends meet or put food on the table, by all means, please shop at Wal-mart if you need and please buy the cheapest thing on the shelves. Everyone can do different things about these issues. Aaron and I have been blessed to both have jobs, a house, cars, and to be able to ask ourselves these questions in a new light. I still buy things at Wal-mart on occasion, I will still probably drink not fair trade hot chocolate this afternoon because that's what we already have in our pantry (although I probably will not purchase anymore). I'm just learning and I just want to share in case anyone wants to join me.

Here we go:

  • Ten Thousand Villages "Ten Thousand Villages is an exceptional source for unique handmade gifts, jewelry, home decor, art and sculpture, textiles, serveware and personal accessories representing the diverse cultures of artisans in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. One of the world's largest fair trade organizations and a founding member of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), the company strives to improve the livelihood of tens of thousands of disadvantaged artisans in 38 countries. Ten Thousand Villages accomplishes this by establishing a sustainable market for handmade products in North America, and building long term buying relationships in places where skilled artisan partners lack opportunities for stable income. Product sales help pay for food, education, healthcare and housing for artisans who would otherwise be unemployed or underemployed"   **From their website
    • They have store locations in several cities in the Southeast, but you can buy online as well. LOVE their products.
  • A list of top rated ethical businesses can be found at Ethisphere. 
  • You can find more fair trade retailers that sell online at Fair Trade Federation
  • Fair Trade USA has information about what fair trade is, ways to purchase things fairly, partners, and new articles about it. For example, here's a link to an article that was on their front page about cocoa. Or check out this GIANT list of fair trade companies. 
  • Fascinating- even Amazon has fair trade products. 
  • This is a good summary of how to identify fair trade products by their label
I realize it can be difficult to do all the research and have a fair trade option for everything we buy but when it doubt, it's probably best to buy organic. The people and animals and land have been treated with less chemicals. That's one issue with non-organic bananas- the chemicals are incredibly harmful to the workers. 

It's also easy to just buy second hand items- clothes, furniture, books, decorations, etc. I am so excited that Plato's Closet opened up in Anderson. It's one of my favorites. Consignment shopping is reducing consumption by reusing. It's wonderful and cheaper. 

We are also trying to use homemade cleaners using baking soda, vinegar, borax, or dishwashing soap. Maybe more on that another day.






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