We’re teaming up with Films for Action to bring the award-winning documentary film Black Gold to Liberty Hall in downtown Lawrence at 7:00 pm tonight, May 19th.  The documentary takes a critical look at the current state of the global coffee trade and asks how Fair Trade ideas are affecting cooperatives in Ethiopia.  The cost is $3 and we will be providing free coffee from the Oromia cooperative in Ethiopia featured in the film along with some yummy Fair Trade snacks. Hope to see you there! (Also check out the post I wrote last year after we saw Black Gold for the first time and met star, and hero to the coffee farmers of Ethiopia, Tedesse Meskela at the Green Fest in Chicago.)

On Saturday May 10th Lawrencians joined with communities across the nation for the first ever joint coffee break. Each year people across the world mark the second Sunday in May as World Fair Trade Day and take a moment to celebrate and educate about the wonderful benefits of Fair Trade. This year the Fair Trade Resource Network and the Fair Trade Towns Initiative joined with many sponsors and community groups to set the world record for the World’s Largest Fair Trade Coffee Break. This act of solidarity across the country provided an opportunity to share ideas and thoughts about Fair Trade over a steaming cup of joe.

Two Hands Worldshop joined with fellow Lawrencian’s at the Watson Park gazebo to sip on some delicious New Mission coffee (thanks to Tom Wheat!). We held a raffle and gave away various prizes such as coffee and mugs to share with loved ones back home, all in our handy dandy Two Hands reusable shopping bag. The event drew approximately 40 people to do their part to set this world record! The Lawrence Journal World stopped by and ran a story about the gathering of Fair Traders. A huge thanks to everyone that came out!!

To continue with the celebration of Fair Trade and spreading the word, Two Hands Worldshop will be joining with Films for Action to screen Black Gold at Liberty Hall in Lawrence. We will begin at 7 pm and the cost for the movie is $3 which helps fund Films for Action. We will also have free coffee from the Oromia co-op featured in the film (there will also be some decaf available). Lawrence.com did a great interview with Brady about the film. If you are around be sure to come check it out and tell your friends! The movie is well done and very moving.

Two Hands will also be at the upcoming Wakarusa Music & Camping Festival June 5-8th sharing Fair Trade with music lovers. If you’re catching the show be sure to stop by the booth and say hi!

(Originally published at Green Options)

Google Earth recently launched their Outreach program to raise awareness about various issues. Outreach is intended to give non-profits "the resources, tools, and inspiration that they need to leverage the power of Google Earth for their cause."

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.

This post was originally published on Green Options.

The Fair Trade coffee documentary Black Gold has been screening for over a year now but becasue it wasn't released widely I had not had a chance to see it until it was shown at the Chicago Green Festival a couple weeks ago - and I was impressed. The Village Voice called it "a model of patient storytelling," which is just what you should want from a good documentary. The movie opens with starkly contrasting images of rural Ethipoian coffee farmers and urban swarms of coffee drinkers, the effect of which lingers for the duration of the movie. Black Gold then goes into patient storytelling mode and methodically describes the international coffee industry and how it effects producers of coffee.

The economic scope of in the international coffee industry is jarring. It is dominated by four multinational corporations: Nestle, Proctor & Gamble, Kraft and Starbucks. Coffee is the second most actively traded commodity in the world and two billions cups of coffee are consumed every day on planet Earth. In Europe and the US a cup of brewed coffee sells for an average of $2.90. Using the standard 7 grams of ground coffee per cup companies like Starbucks are making about $188.50 per pound of cofee. Depending on the volatile price of coffee on the international market farmers rerceive between $0.60 and $1.40 per pound.

The movie's main storyline follows the inspiring Tedesse Meskela, General Manager of the Oromia Coffee Farmers Co-operative Union in Ethiopia. The union represents 101 Co-operatives and over 74,000 coffee farmers. I was fortunate enough to meet Tedesse in Chicago and I asked him about the union's progress since the movie was filmed. Oromia now sells about 2%, or 2,500 pounds, per year of its organic shade grown coffee to the Fair Trade market. Making use the $0.10 per pound social premium of Fair Trade coffee (to be used for community development) Oromia has built 4 schools and 26 water sanitation stations and 10 more schools are planned for construction. He noted that the guranteed price and long-term trading relationships he has developed with importers like Peace Coffee and Higher Grounds has helped to stabilize life for farmers.

Asked about African development in general Tedesse echoed the sentiments of the Malawian trade minister in the movie, "Trade is more important to Africa than aid." While aid to Africa has increased recently Africa's share of global trade continues to decline. The continent's share in global exports in 2005 was only 2.8%, roughly equivalent to its 1991 share and less than half its peak value in 1980 (6.0%). A mere one percent increase in trade would generate 70 billion dollars annually or five tmies the aid Africa receives now. Black Gold argues that trading fairly with disadvantaged African producers could be one step toward increasing Africa's inclusion in the global marketplace and spurring meaningful and sustainable development.

Black Gold is still gaining steam. It's being screened more and more aorund the world and has been picked up for cinema distribution in Ireland and the UK. Look for upcoming screenings in your area.

I wrote a while back about the USDA’s impending decision to require annual certification for every small organic coffee farm outside the US. I explain in the previous post how the current certification system works for small family farms:

The USDA’s National Organic Program includes farming cooperatives, made up of hundreds and sometimes thousands of small family farms, in its organic certification process by randomly inspecting 20% of each cooperative’s farms every year. By the end of a five year cycle every farm would be inspected and a liaison appointed to monitor the 80% of farms that would not be inspected every year. This provision for “grower groups” allows small farms in the poorer rural areas of poor nations to take part in the booming organics industry by making time consuming and costly inspections feasible for the cooperatives.

Annual certification for every small farm would have been impossible for cooperatives. First they simply would not have enough time to reliably inspect thousands of farms every year and second they could not afford the cost. The USDA’s National Organic Program has released a statement that will maintain its current certification program for grower groups and revisit the issue in the fall after further consideration. Good news for the small farmer.

Write a letter or call the National Organic Program to let them know what you think:

Mark Bradley
Associate Deputy Administrator
USDA-AMS-TMP-NOP
Room 4008-South Building
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20250-0020
Telephone: (202) 720-3252
Fax: (202) 205-7808

Hat tip to Sam Fromartz at Chews Wise (check out his original article on the issue at Salon.com) and the Coffee and Conservation blog.

Siel at greenLAgirl says:

Fair trade co-ops will now receive AT LEAST $1.36 per lb for conventional coffee, and AT LEAST $1.56 for organic, when they sell to Equal Exchange.

Equal Exchange says “these are our new FLOOR prices, not an average price, and definitely not a ceiling. Over the years we have often paid prices above the FLO minimums on a case by case basis, and even with these new EE floor prices we will continue to sometimes pay even higher prices per pound.”

Siel goes on to talk about the technicalities of the fair trade minimum commodity prices. And if you’d like to read more about what a wonderful job Equal Exchange does check out our friend Summer’s account of her trip to fair trade coffee co-ops in Nicaragua. Summer works for Equal Exchange as the inter-faith liaison.

The USDA’s National Organic Program includes farming cooperatives, made up of hundreds and sometimes thousands of small family farms, in its organic certification process by randomly inspecting 20% of each cooperative’s farms every year. By the end of a five year cycle every farm would be inspected and a liaison appointed to monitor the 80% of farms that would not be inspected every year. This provision for “grower groups” allowed small farms in the poorer rural areas of poor nations to take part in the booming organics industry by making time consuming and costly inspections feasible for the cooperatives.

A recent ruling by the NOP that requires all farms to be inspected every year will likely make inspections impossible for these small farm cooperatives. Inspections range from $150 to $270 per day for the co-ops and the time required to inspect every farm will rise by about 80%. The only farms likely to be able to afford to pay for inspections under the new ruling are large corporate farms.

This will affect coffee more than any other popular organic product. Coffee grows on shady mountain slopes and requires time consuming labor to maintain and harvest. The intensive process is most efficiently carried out by small family farms and very few large organic coffee operations exist, probably not enough to fill the rapidly growing demand in the US.

The ruling was made in reaction to an unnamed Mexican cooperative whose liaison failed to enforce the organic standards and let the use of insecticides and crop storage in fertilizer bags occur on one of its partner farms. While tightening enforcement of the organic standard is not inherently a bad idea its consequences could be grave for the small farmer.