(Originaly published at Green Options)

Sam’s Club, a division of Wal-Mart, annouced that they have converted their “private label Member’s Mark premium ground coffee” to Fair Trade Certified. The process from bean begins with 3678 small scale, independent farmers who then sell their beans to “democratically-run cooperatives for a set, guaranteed minimum price.” This pool of beans from thousands of independent farmers is what composes the Member’s Mark brand. In conjunction with this announcement, Sam’s Club is offering a grant for teachers and students to spend one week studying the Fair Trade process of their coffee in Brazil. While this is not the first Fair Trade brand offered in either Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club, it is significant as it is a bulk ground coffee targeted towards mainstream shoppers.This new move is a mixed blessing and hits upon one of the main points of contention within the Fair Trade movement. Fair Trade has moved into mainstream and is appearing everywhere from McDonalds to Dunkin’ Donuts to Wal-Mart. Any and all exposure of Fair Trade and it’s ideals to consumers is beneficial. And a larger market translates to more sales for producers and their communities.

However, as Fair Trade is embraced by large corporations with questionable ethics, so too is the potential to for exploitation and weakening of Fair Trade. Similar to companies that “greenwash,” to bolster their environmental credit, there are companies which seek to cash in on the feel-good PR Fair Trade offers, without making a true commitment to the ideals and meaning of the movement. One such gap between company marketing and ethical behavior occurred when Nestle released its Fair Trade coffee in 2005. Nestle has been at the center of ethical controversy for over twenty years, with boycotts for their “aggressive and irresponsible promotion of infant formula,” and for contributing to child abuse and torture within the cocoa industry, including large distribution from the Cote d’Ivoire. There was much critism of Nestle’s Fair Trade coffee and following it’s release, they were reported to the UK Advertising Standards Authority for a misleading and dishonest advertisement.

“Nestlé’s advertisement and website for its Fairtrade product imply it will have a significant impact on farmers in El Salvador and that the company’s activities in the coffee industry are ethical. The truth is only about 200 farmers in El Salvador supply coffee for Partners’ Blend and over 3 million farmers globally who are dependent on Nestlé remain outside the Fairtrade system. Nestlé is held partly responsible for forcing down prices paid to suppliers, driving many into poverty, while its own profits have soared. Recently I interviewed a researcher from Colombia who told me 150,000 coffee farming families have lost their livelihoods due to Nestlé policies.”

There is also confusion relating to the different Fair Trade labels and what they mean, and, unfortunately, companies are happy to prey upon this confusion. The Fair Trade Certified Mark means that particular product was certified. In most food products, this means it is certified at the beginning point such as farming and harvesting, but not always beyond this point. This creates opportunity for corruption at subsequent points along the way, such as with the problems with Fair Trade bananas and the exploitation of banana ripeners. Such inconsistencies occur when a company wishes to use Fair Trade, rather than commit to it.

Then what is the solution? Should Fair Trade be confined to its current size and guarded from the large corporate giants? I don’t believe this is the solution. I believe the growth of Fair Trade, when true and committed, should be an important goal. Fair Trade is not a premium brand label, but a different approach to our entire concept of trade. The Fair Trade movement is based upon a fair and just interaction between the consumer and the producer. If the vessel for this interaction is corrupted or dishonest, then it is upon our shoulders as consumers to correct or discard the vessel for one that is more trustworthy. The fact that Fair Trade is entering large corporate retailers is not necessarily a reflection of their goodwill, and it is important to remember this. The mainstreaming of Fair Trade is, however, a reflection of our growing desire to consume ethically and responsibly and it is upon this foundation that we should build the movement and hold all participants accountable. So it is with skeptical optimism that I welcome this Fair Trade expansion, and a hope that the company will commit to the true Fair Trade and an acceptance of responsibility to ensure they do.

Ok, I promise that our writing for Green Options will not keep us from publishing original content here on the Two Hands blog. It’s just that this week has been relatively crazy as we are beginning to meet with accountants, lawyers and bankers about financing the opening of the storefront in downtown Lawrence. In fact, if you’re interested in investing in a venture that will provide a reasonable financial return along with a significant social return, please, by all means contact us and we will send you a copy of the business plan and make arrangements to talk. In any case with all this going on we’ve only had time to fulfill our Green Options writing obligations this week.

Today Alicia has a great post up on Green Options that serves well as an introduction to the intersection of international trade, human rights and sustainable development. Please go give it a read.

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.

Paper or Plastic? No thank you!

Here are even more inexpensive options to kick the plastic habit.

Easy and free, just grab a bag laying around your house.

For those craftily inclined, simply make your own bag!

Find some fabric from old cloths or linens and sew a couple squares together. Add an old belt for the handle and viola! you’ve got the one of a kind shopping bag that will turn everyone green.

Put on your knitting/crocheting cap and recycle your old bags. Simply collect the old plastic bags, cut into strips, and go crazy. Your new plastic bag will be sturdy, reusable, compact and easily rinsed out. Here’s just one easy pattern, there a many others out there, or make your own and share.

Shopping list for the shopping bag:

1. Reusable Bags have a huge array in all price ranges. They’ve got a recycled cotton tote at $7.95 which holds a full load and is fair trade!

2. Don’t forget to grab some small guys for produce.

3. Grab a workhorse for $9.95, that folds into it’s own attached bag and fits in your palm, perfect to carry in your purse or throw in the dashboard.

4. Or make your statement with this BYOB (bring your own bag).

5. If you’d rather reuse your current bags, check out this guy at $9.95, which allows you to wash easily in the dishwasher.

6. As Peggy pointed out the key to success is keeping “reusable containers handy” and Ecoezi has a great solutions. For $21.95 “compact, convenient, stylish wallet, with 10 sturdy, easy to use machine washable bags.”

7. Envirosax has beautiful prints with a set of in a carry pouch for $31.

8. For some fun prints check out b. happybags. The bags are organic and made in the US and are each $24.

If you want the nano of the bag, check out Onya, which is stuffed into a bag on your key chain.

San Fransisco isn’t the only place to grasp the severity of our waste, IKEA “Ikea has begun charging U.S. customers for plastic shopping bags in an effort to improve environmental responsibility, the home-furnishings chain says,” we’ll all be carrying our own bags soon enough, why not lead the pack with some cheap style!

What’s all the hullaballo?

~500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year.
The average American family of four throws away about 1,500 single-use plastic bags per year
Less than 1% are recycled. Most are used for trash bags which take ~1,000 years to degrade in the landfill. Wow, isn’t that scary

An interesting new approach has been to biodegradable plastics which can be tossed into the sea. While biodegradable is certainly better, where in the world are they planning on dumping all of these?!?

As I swim deeper into the emerald waters of eco-friendlyhood, I realize there are many simple changes we can make to our home & lives. We are renters, and thus unable to perform structural surgery on our home. Also, since we’ve undertaken the new business, we’re lacking some green to go major green. I have a feeling we are not alone on either front, and so I’ll document our plunge. Please add options you know of, or success stories of your own!

Our first choice is, of course, Fair Trade! One of the criteria for meeting fair trade standards is production must be environmentally sustainable. This is especially important in products such as coffee. The fair trade movement has increased shade grown coffee, which in turn is reversing the massive deforestation done in the 70’s and 80’s to quench our caffine cravings.

Next up is recycling! We picked up 3 large plastic storage bins for about $6 each. They have lids, so we can store them outside on the porch, and can now appropriately recycle our beer bottles, post world-saving. Lawrence has several options, from drop-off locations to curbside services to free spring compost distribution.

For my fellow Jayhawks, check out all the options at www.lawrencerecycles.org. Or simply conduct an internet search to see what your town offers.

SustainAbility, started in 1987 to advise companies on sustainable business practices, has launched an online database of corporate sustainability reports called ‘Learn from the Leaders.’ The database’s interface is easy to use, if expensive. An annual subscription to the service is $7,500 with a discount for companies based in emerging economies. A one week free trial is available, though, so you can go check it out.

The information is well worth the price of admission, however, especially for companies looking to join the leading organizations in the invigorated corporate sustainability movement. The database contains strategies and best practices in well-defined aspects of sustainability ranging from governance and strategy to assurance and reporting standards. This is a well-designed and robust tool that will surely prove indispensable to many corporations and organizations.