Divine, a delicious Fair Trade chocolate company, has a tasty deal for all the top chefs out there. They’re looking for recipes that have "heaps of creativity, Divine appeal, and powerful statements about why contestants are hungry to change the world through Fair Trade." The sweetest entry wins a trip to Washington D.C. and some chocolate. The entries are due December 15th, and with the holidays coming, there’s a perfect opportunity to test out your creation on family and friends while introducing them to Fair Trade. If you need a snack to get your creative juices flowing, try out some of Divine’s or Equal Exchange’s recipes.

TransFair is sponsoring a Connect with Fair Trade video contest and the winner gets a trip to Peru. Simply create a short movie (less than 5 minutes) that shows how you connect with Fair Trade, and you could see first-hand the effect your Fair Trade purchases have on farmers. If you are a bit camera shy, you can enter the sweepstakes to win $100 gift certificate for Fair Trade products. No Oscar-winning performances required; simply tell how you connect with Fair Trade.

In conjunction with the launch of their new Fair Trade coffee line, Sam’s Club is offering a week long study grant in Brazil for teachers. "Study grants will be awarded to teachers who express exceptional ideas to educate students on the economic, social and business lessons surrounding fair trade." Eligibility is for teachers of grades 7 - 12 "who can reasonably expect to teach at least fifteen (15) hours a week during the 2008-2009 school year and dedicate at least five (5) lessons to topics related to Fair Trade." A 1,000 word essay must be received by December 15th and must detail how Fair Trade will be incorporated into five lesson plans.

Lessons could cover corporate social responsibility, international trade and economics, environmental issues, human rights and labor, consumer marketing, etc. Essays will be judged on (a) Professionalism in application (25%), (b)Coherent approach to examining relevant issues (25%), (c) Creative engagement with students (25%), and (d) Plans for documenting the trip to farming cooperatives and sharing the experience with students (25%).

This campaign makes it even easier for your town to become a Fair Trade town, following in the footsteps of Media, PA and Brattleboro, VT. This campaign has developed guidelines on how to achieve the five goals required to become one:

1. The formation of a steering committee that
meets regularly.
2. Availability in local stores, cafes, and other venues
of a range of Fair Trade products that are either certified by
TransFair USA or sold by retailers that are members of Fair Trade
Federation.
3. The use of Fair Trade products by a number of local
organizations, such as places of worship, schools, hospitals and
offices.
4. Attraction of media attention and visible public support of
the local campaign.
5. Passage of a resolution supporting Fair Trade by
the town or city council/governing body and a commitment to serve Fair
Trade products at meetings.

A Fair Trade Toolkit(pdf) is available that covers in depth, each of these five goals.

Forming a steering committee is the first step towards your towns new designation. Check out Co-op America’s list or search your community groups and find out if a Fair Trade coalition already exists in your area. If not, start one up! The toolkit offers advice on how to structure your group and ideas for hosting various events in your community.

The second item states that Fair Trade must be available; there should be “at least one business selling Fair Trade products for every 2,500 residents in a town of 10,000 or less. There should be at least one store selling Fair Trade products for every 5,000 residents in a town that has over 10,000 residents.” To increase the number of Fair Trade products offered, consider sending aletter or hitting your grocery store with Co-op America & Oxfam’s Super Market Campaign Kit. To get a gauge on your town’s knowledge and interest in Fair Trade send out the Merchant Survey and use this as a baseline to measure your progress. This survey can also be useful in getting Fair Trade products into local organizations such as churches, schools, hospitals and offices.

To assist in media attraction, begin building relationships with the press. Send out press releases each time there is an event (including your very first event, the coalition formation!) Offer to be a speaker or an interview candidate.

Finally getting the local governing body to pass a resolution use all your previous accomplishments. Present a collection of merchants that sell Fair Trade, and show the growth using your Merchant Survey. Compile signatures and proclamations of support from local community members and business leaders along the way. Bring in all media coverage as well as your own coverage of all meetings and events, including future plans.

The ultimate goal of the Fair Trade Towns movement is to grow Fair Trade through grassroots efforts including access and education. Beyond the normal benefits of Fair Trade to both the producers and consumers, Fair Trade Towns bring together diverse people within the community united towards a single goal, receive recognition from the community on up, and lead the way in making positive changes within our world.

For more information, contact Fair Trade Towns coordinator Sara Stender by phone: 802.356.0551, or email: sara@fairtradetownsusa.org .

Entries are due September 15th, 2007 so move fast and get the creative juices flowing! From TransFair, the objectives are:

• Projects should contribute to education and awareness of Fair Trade and aim to increase the availability, demand for, and sales of Fair Trade Certified™ products. We encourage you to gather names from event participants to add to TransFair USA’s email list.
• Projects should aim to engage members of your community to become active in the Fair Trade movement. We rely on grassroots supporters just like you to spread the Fair Trade message — and any get involved after attending a Fair Trade event.
• Build the Fair Trade movement by financially supporting TransFair USA. We recognize that you may not have thought about using your event as a fundraiser, but we would like you to consider it. We can provide materials to help you think through this component and we are happy to speak with you if you would like additional support.

With requirements only 500 words or less, the grant-writing portion of this great opportunity isn’t as frightening as you might think. Along with typical contact information and budgeting expectations, TransFair wishes to know your experience and inspiration to become involved in Fair Trade. They also ask for a brief description of your project and possible challenges, with such topics as:

• How will your project increase the visibility, availability, and sales of Fair Trade Certified products?
• How many people do you expect to reach at your event?
• How will you publicize your event?
• What educational materials do you plan to use?
• What other groups or organizations are you collaborating with?
• Do you plan to collect donations to support TransFair’s work? If so, what is your fundraising goal?

Proceeds in 2006 were used to fund everything from "Fair Trade fairs and product tastings, to radio shows and farmer tours, to conferences and panel discussions." Highlights of some of the larger projects included bringing Tadesse Meskela, Ethiopian Fair Trade coffee cooperative manager to speak at screenings of Black Gold and supporting tours with Fair Trade rice and banana farmers. Be creative and find ways to engage your community in an exploration of Fair Trade!

The Fairtrade Labelling Organization (FLO) was established with the mission to go beyond the basic minimum requirements of both producers and traders by expecting them "to continuously improve working conditions, to increase the environmental sustainability of their activities and to invest in organizational development for workers and small farmers" through progress requirements.

In November 2006, FLO’s Meeting of Members unanimously voted to adopt a new constitution allowing producers to become full and participating members. Barbara Fiorito, Chair of FLO Board says “This unanimous decision to expand FLO General Assembly membership to include Producer Networks is an important step for FLO to become a truly multi-stakeholder organization“ On May 25, 2007 FLO made further progress towards this end as Coordinadora Latinoamericana y del Caribe de Comercia Justo (CLAC), African Fairtrade Network (AFN) and the Network of Asian Producers (NAP) all officially became full members of FLO. Raymond Kimaro, Chairman of the African Fairtrade Network (AFN), says

… we are optimistic that the new FLO Constitution shall ensure that right arrangements are in place to sufficiently accommodate member producer aspirations and expectations. The new arrangement should facilitate more understanding of the difficult living conditions in the south and possibly trigger urgent transfer of wealth to the south where the poor are badly in need.

From the developed world point of view, Peter Gaynor, head of Fair Trade Ireland points out

… we think it is important that producers are now co-owners of FLO – we are working to improve their situation and need to know what their priorities are. Whilst what we do is very simple, it’s important that we listen to each other and then do what will make the most difference to people in developing countries.

This is a positive step toward keeping the Fair Trade movement honest to it’s ideals. Similarly IFAT has producer groups represented by a majority membership, and Transfair has a council to include producer input into objectives, strategies and polices. It is important that as Fair Trade gains more mainstream notoriety companies hold true to the fairness in their trade and make sure treatment of producers is just and their voices are always heard.

There are many groups which are harnessing this visual power. Having already reached many through the visually powerful mountain-top removal through the Appalachian Voices and mapping the destruction that has raged across Sudan, Google realized the unique opportunity to connect people across the world. "At Google, we believe technology can be a catalyst for education and action," Elliot Schrage, Google’s vice president, said in a statement.

The United Nations Environment Programme are using the satellite pictures as a "wake-up all to of us to look at the sometimes devastating changes we are wreaking on our planet." Using images focused on hot spots, their goal is to help people identify and understand the damage humans are causing upon the planet, and then to help them make an effort to change. Many issues ranging from water shortages, forest and biodiversity loss to climate change occur over a period of time which makes it difficult to appreciate the degree of damage that has occurred. Through approximately 30 years of images condensed to a time-sequence series, the viewer is able to visually connect the statics with powerful images.

Fair Trade Certified products was the newest layer announced, along with the Global Heritage Fund and Earthwatch Expeditions. This new layer allows consumers to view information on TransFair USA certified products. Over 70 co-ops are marked, including coffee, tea, chocolate, mangoes, and bananas. Each co-ops pop-up includes a picture as well as information about the Co-op, it’s location and community betterment programs which result from the sale of their Fair Trade goods. Creating this connection between consumers and producers is essential for honest and fair trade for when there is a person behind the product people are more likely to respect the humanity that went into production.

As Dr. Jane Goodall said, "Only if we understand can we care. Only if we care will we help. With Google Earth Outreach, more people have the chance to see, to care, and then to act."

To access these new layers simply download Google Earth and expand the Global Awareness layer to see those available and check out the many Fair Trade products and the people who grow them.