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Retail Relationships... Making Things Fair
by Ruth
Ann Smalley Reflecting
on a time when objects were “signs of processes, human and natural,
pieces of a
story,” Rebecca Solnit asserts that “the story as well as the stuff
sustained
life.” But, she observes, “…somewhere
in the Industrial Age, objects shut up because their creation had
become so
remote and intricate a process that it was no longer readily knowable.
Or they
were silenced, because the pleasures of abundance that all cheap goods
offered
were only available if those goods were mute about the scarcity and
loss that
lay behind their creation.” Local
crafts and farmers’ markets still tell
life-sustaining stories, which Solnit credits with their rising
popularity. I
would also add that food coops and fair trade organizations help such
objects
and their stories to circulate. The objects range from coffee beans, to
bananas, to baskets. Their stories come from all over the world: Their
stories are tales of hope, even in the midst of political turmoil,
poverty and
ecological threat. In them, we can see the web of connection between
seller and
buyer, maker and market, without feeling the urge to avert our eyes. In
fact,
because we are all embedded in this web of connection — which in the
larger
economy has gone so terribly awry — fair trade and cooperative ideals
are at
the heart of shopping economically. So,
in the months to come, this column will be examining Honest Weight Food
Co-op’s
role in the fair trade movement, and how that translates into
opportunities for
you to make significant choices about the products you buy. I’ll be
sharing
some of the lifesustaining stories told by the fair trade items in the
store,
as well as the stories behind the organizations that work to bring them
to us. Honest
Weight carries a variety of Fair Trade-certified products, including
coffee,
tea, snack bars, chocolate, bottled drinks, honey and sugar. In
addition, the
Co-op has cultivated relationships with dozens of local farms, in
accordance
with fair trade principles. Through the work of education and outreach,
the
store also engages in an ongoing effort to inform the public about
these
values. This
is important because, while fair trade practices are gaining ground,
they
cannot be sustained without a consistent market. The competition is
stiff:
“Over 50% of the revenue generated globally by food retailing is
accounted for
by just 10 corporations” (Equal Exchange). As of 1998, fair trade
production
provided the livelihood for about five million people. Total sales in
2006 were
$2.6 billion, with a 93% growth in cocoa, 53% in coffee, 41% in tea and
31% in
bananas (Fair Trade Federation). Fair
trade represents an essential challenge to corporate business-as-usual,
and is
a necessary component in any larger effort to prevent the plundering of
the
planet. Supporting fair trade makes a commitment to what matters most —
not the
“invisible hand” of the so-called free market, but the actual hands
that make
our food possible. Writing
in the early 1970s, E.F. Schumacher asserted: “The economics of
giantism and automation
is a leftover of nineteenth century conditions and nineteenth century
thinking
and is totally incapable of solving any of the real problems of today.
An
entirely new system of thought is needed, a system based on attention
to
people, and not primarily attention to goods — (the goods will look
after
themselves!).” Schumacher’s
solution reads like a fair trade mission statement. He explains that we
urgently
need “the conscious utilization of our enormous technological and
scientific
potential for the fight against misery and human degradation — a fight
in
intimate contact with actual people, with individuals, families, small
groups,
rather than states and other anonymous abstractions.” (pp. 55–56) This
intimate contact is key to repairing the web of connections. With
intimate
contact, we can know — and feel good about — where our sweaters and
sugar come
from. Sources Equal
Exchange website, www.equalexchange.com. Fair
Trade Federation website, www.fairtradefederation.org. Schumacher,
E.F. Small is Beautiful: Economics as if people mattered (Hartley
&
Marks, 1999). Solnit,
Rebecca. “The Silence of the Lambswool Cardigans,” www.OrionOnline.org Posted July 21, 2003. www.alternet.org/story/16440. |
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