Why Buy Fair Trade?

When you go out to buy coffee, bananas, tea or gifts for your friends or family, do you ever think about the human being that grew and harvested that coffee (It wasn’t Juan Valdez) or the person who made that beautiful pair of earrings? Do you think about their living conditions? If their children are getting enough to eat or are able to pay the fees to go to school? Do you ever wonder about their dreams and aspirations? What they want to do with their lives?

The reality is that a lot of the people who provide you with the food and crafts you take for granted live in squalid conditions, with not enough to eat and unable to send their children to school.And this affects mostly women and children. But, with fair trade, they get a fair deal. They are paid a living wage in the context of their country and are able to do the things that we take for granted here in the Western world, like feed and educate their children

And here’s another factoid: the US consumes 25% of all the world’s resources and only has 5% of the world’s population. Don’t you think it’s time to step back and get a clue? Buy fair trade as much as you can…because it really DOES matter.