NYC Fair Trade Coalition
Dishy dish Colin Firth wants you to make trade fair. How could you possibly resist Mr. Darcy? I know I couldn’t.
Last night I went to my first meeting in downtown Soho with the NYC Fair Trade Coalition. A newish organization a couple of years old, the NYCFTC is in the process of applying for grants, attaining non-profit status, and getting Mayor Bloomberg’s ear. (They have folks who used to work at Transfair USA, Oxfam, and Equal Exchange.) Something we agreed was most egregious in one of the bluest of blue states is the widespread ignorance about fair trade and why it matters. “It’s not like we’re going to be accused of being bleeding-heart liberals,” someone said.
Let’s take coffee, for example, because us New Yorkers, we sure like our coffee. It’s a far-more complex issue than it might seem at first glance, but Oxfam’s Make Trade Fair campaign sums it up thus:
There is a crisis destroying the livelihoods of 25 million coffee producers around the world. The price of coffee has fallen by almost 50 per cent in the past three years to a 30-year low. Farmers sell at a heavy loss while branded coffee sells at a hefty profit. …
Despite the stagnant consumer market, the coffee companies are laughing all the way to the bank. In the free market their global reach gives them unprecedented options. Today’s standardised coffee blends may be a mix of coffees from as many as 20 different coffee types. Sophisticated risk management and hedging allows the companies, at the click of a computer mouse, to buy from the lowest-cost producer to mix these blends. …
Profit margins are high—Nestlé has made an estimated 26 per cent profit margin on instant coffee. Sara Lee’s coffee profits are estimated to be nearly 17 per cent—a very high figure compared with other food and drink brands. If everyone in the supply chain were benefiting this would not matter. As it is, with farmers getting a price that is below the costs of production, the companies’ booming business is being paid for by some of the poorest people in the world. …
(Download the full report here.)
And in case you missed it the first time:
How do you tell if something is fair trade? Look for this label of certification on the packaging, which means that the product complies with the economic, social, and environmental criteria as laid out by Transfair USA, which is the certifying body in the US. (The UK has its own label.)
Note that the certification label only covers the product itself, not the entire brand.
Personal milestone: I managed to speak in front of a sizeable group of complete strangers (mostly about the Starbucks Challenge) without throwing up once.
Cara said,
March 1, 2006 at 1:51 pm
Go you! Congratulations on not throwing up! ;-)
green LA girl said,
March 1, 2006 at 6:43 pm
Yey for NYC fair trade! What were the other peeps like, age-wise? Just curious –
Adelin said,
March 2, 2006 at 1:54 am
Colin Firth - So hot. Coling Firth wanting to make trade fair? Even *HAWTER*.
jacqueline said,
March 2, 2006 at 1:58 am
i have seen that photo up on billboards around melbourne …. and have been known to incur some serious horn beeps from drivers behind me when i have not noticed the lights turning green.
The Worsted Witch » Morning IM said,
March 2, 2006 at 10:37 am
[...] Me: I’m leaving you for Colin Firth. Husband: We can’t all be fair-trade poster-boys. Me: I LOVE fair-trade poster-boys. Me: Hence the leaving-you-for-Colin-Firth part. [...]
green LA girl » Fair trade city coalitions said,
April 9, 2006 at 5:41 pm
[...] New York New York City Fair Trade Coalition. Dedicated to raising public awareness and increasing visibility and availability of Fair Trade products. Visit The Worsted Witch, an involved member, for more deets :) [...]