Green Options

Co-op America is a large member organization that works to harness the strength of consumers, investors, businesses and the
marketplace to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable
society. The Fair Trade cause was a perfect fit for Co-op Amierca’s mission and the organization serves as patron and parent to the Fair Trade Federation in the United States. Co-op America has recently released a "Guide to Fair Trade" (PDF) which is the best [...]

As any movement for change develops and grows, it will face challenges to its original intentions. When a movement grows to the point that it begins to move from the fringes into the mainstream, as the Fair Trade movement has, it will face a host of difficult challenges. Most dramatically, the Fair Trade movement faces a trial of integrity as some of the largest corporations in the world are trying to [...]

Social entrepreneurs try to make an economic profit while simultaneously generating a social profit, too. Do well by doing good is the social entrepreneur's mantra. An innovative new website, Greendeavor.com, is attempting to do just that. While Greendeavor is indeed very green (it's in early beta), the inspirations and ideas behind the site make it chock full of potential. Greendeavor is primarily a shopping site with a green twist. [...]

Brattleboro, VT becomes second Fair Trade Town in the U.S.The small town of Brattleboro, Vermont recently announced that it has met the criteria to declare itself a Fair Trade Town. Brattleboro is the second Fair Trade Town in the United States and the third in North America after Woflville, Nova Scotia became the second in April and Media, Pensylvania led the way [...]

Starbucks announced yesterday that it has reached a licensing agreement with the Ethiopian government regarding the marketing use of Ethiopia's well-known coffee producing regions, most notably Sidamo, Yirgacheffe and Harar. This is the resolution to a row that Starbucks began last year when the Ethiopian government filed applications to trademark its most famous coffee names. Securing the rights to these names would enable Ethiopia to capture more value from trade, by controlling [...]

U.S. trade policy can have huge impacts on the environment and on the general sustainability of the global and local economies. This congressional session has seen a lot of behind-the-scenes debate about trade policy. In early May some Democratic leaders including Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee Charlie Rangel, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Finance Committee Chariman Max Baucus announced they had reached a tentative deal in secret negotiations [...]

In 1988, in an effort to expand the distribution of fair trade products to mainstream retailers, a Dutch Alternative Trade Organization, Solidaridad, established a creative solution to increase sales while maintaining consumer trust. The organization created a label, called Max Havelaar, which guaranteed that the goods met certain labor and environmental standards. The label, first only applied to coffee, was named after a best-selling 19th century book about the exploitation [...]

Blood Diamond exposed to the movie-going masses the horrors of the diamond industry's operation in the West African country of Sierra Leone. Four West African countries, Angola, The Congo, Guinea and Sierra Leone, where the diamond trade is bloodiest, produce about 20% (PDF) of the world's rough diamonds. The growing global market for diamonds reached nearly $70 billion dollars in 2005 fueled largely by the insatiable appetite of US consumers who [...]

Fair Trade is certainly not perfect, and I think in the honest interest of bettering the global economy, we are obligated to highlight its failures when they become apparent, and offer suggestions for improvement. We've discussed some other failures in previous posts and comments but a recent allegation in the UK highlights one of the major shortcomings of the movement in accomplishing its goal of a fairer trade system for the global economy's most [...]

EBay UK is getting on board the Fair Trade bus. The company just launched a portal that allows shoppers to easily find Fair Trade certified goods on the site. The interface is Flash-based, rather nifty and easy to use. Browsing around, you can find information in the dozen or so Fair Trade sellers listed on the portal now (many of the UK's pioneering Fair Trade brands are there) as well as [...]