It's World Fair Trade Day!

The semester is ending and therefore posting has been severely lacking...so sorry. BUT I had to make time since it is a holiday...World Fair Trade Day! I can't believe it's been over four months since the challenge started. I'm happily running in my fair trade tennis shoes. I have to buy one of those science fair boards...where to buy fair trade? I'll at least try to get it from a local store. With summer less than a week away, I am wondering how I will have to approach this season differently. I have a swimsuit. I don't need flip flops. I am wondering what the first obstacle will be. With our garden in full bloom and our chickens growing, we are the closest we've ever been to eating completely local. I hope you are enjoying the weather and are thinking about what fair trade means to you this summer.

In honor of my friend getting her own place and looking for things like this:

http://www.shopequita.com/hbh4729.htm

Fair Trade is Sweet

I can't believe I've been doing this for three and a half months and I've yet to mention chocolate! This probably should have been a valentine's day topic but it's never too late to talk sweets. Chocolate is one of the biggest things that should be bought fair trade. Its conventional counterpart is known for slavery, child labor, chemicals and unsustainable forest care. There are plenty of other options out there so you don't have to give it up! Whole foods has "M & Ms" that are not only made with fair trade chocolate, but also natural dye coloring. Newman's Own has "Reeses" and "Peppermint Patties". There's many a chocolate bar out there with dozens of different flavor accents to choose from. Endangered Species is my favorite. It's the most economical that I can find and some of the profits go to the rain forests. You get to support two causes with one purchases. Larabars are also good because they have a candy bar like texture.

Happy Eating!

Here's a candy site to peruse: http://sweetearthchocolates.com/

Digging my grass, which is unfortunately greener on my side

Last week was so gorgeous out that I decided to plant my garden. It took a lot of hard work, blisters and sunburns to get it done, but I'm so anticipating the end result ( I hope there is one!). I have the utmost respect for farmers. This was just a 10 ft X 10 ft corner of my yard. Those farmers have one heck of a job. It made me realize how important it really is for those who farm to get fair wages. I couldn't imagine doing that one day of digging, day in and day out for 15 hours, everyday, and for nothing, or hardly anything at all. Hopefully by contributing to my own food supply and freeing up some good organic food for others, I can help sustain myself and my community.
For Easter my brother and I bought two baby hens and a duckling from Soulard market. They are absolutely adorable! They are to stay inside for six weeks and then we will build a little coupe for them outside. We are feeding them non-GMO corn and organic soybeans. It's amazing how much of a different perspective we have on food now. It was already a sustainable one, but now that we've been taking care of little Thelma, Louise and Hubert, we realize that if they were treated unfairly how horrible that would be. Even for the meat eaters, it's important to know that the animal was given the best life possible before it met it's doom :(

Keep on Keepin' On!

After MONTHS of looking for fair trade running shoes I finally found a company! Brooks Shoes! Here is the pair I'm ordering. Hopefully they fit!

http://www.brooksrunning.com/product/1200641B/123212

Also, here's a guide to help you find products that are "Sweat-free"

http://www.greenamericatoday.org/programs/sweatshops/sweatfreeproducts.cfm

Religion as it Applies to Fair Trade

Inspired by the warm weather I decided to clean out my closet and also bring out the summer clothes. I was able to give away about twenty articles with the rule "haven't worn in a year, make it disappear". It feels good to know I'm donating to the same store I buy my clothes from second hand. Even though I pay for the clothes, I feel like I should help stock it. I've learned that hoarding things and clothes you don't use even if you think you will (you won't), just makes you carry the burden of consumerism even more. We're all here to share after all.
A friend of mine and I decided that we would start going back to our catholic roots and go to church during lent. We've been hitting up different churches around St. Louis and then finding local breakfast eateries for afterwards. I'm going to make a hybrid religion between the spirituality, meditation and nature of Buddhism and the traditions I accept from Catholicism. Going without religion/spirituality was causing me to lose my way a little bit. That's a long post I don't have time for though. I am coming to like the Old Cathedral the best; the pastor is good at making homilies relate. This week he talked about not seeing the whole holy week thing as guilt, but as a journey in our own lives to look at what sustains us. It caused me to think about how Americans think they desperately need stuff to sustain them. The priest also mentioned all the ads that have been on TV during the March Madness tourney that say, this product will change your life, this one will make you so happy. I thought it was interesting how his topic of the homily was a post I had written earlier. I've been reflecting on what sustains me, maybe you will try too?
I was watching this movie about the Amish people. Here's a group that are completely different than your typical Americans. They reject all things modern and live simply. Sometimes this lifestyle looks super appealing to me because honestly, living fair and realizing what is really important in life can be hard with so many distractions. I don't know if I could completely give up everything though. So the question is, how do you find balance? How do you become a simple American? I think in the past year I have been well on my way, but that doesn't discount the frustrations of living in the middle of Mega Marts and Super Malls and Super Duper Restaurants. I love the business of the city, the occasional bad movie on T.V. and browsing the internet. I wish it could be black and white so that I could turn off all the stimuli that isn't good for my simple lifestyle, but alas, it's not an easy feat.

Product of the day: Super comfy pants. These pants are only available in a XXl. But still, they look delicious to crawl up in after a long day.
http://worldofgood.ebay.com/Deep-Red-Heavy-Cotton-XXL-Super-Large-Fisherman-Pants/200423298143/item

Restaurants/Farm Animals/Shoes

Hi folks!

It's been awhile, so sorry. School is really picking up and unfortunately that means my blog is not. I have some cool stuff to chat about with you though.

So I've been trying to incorporate another facet into this whole fair trade thing. Restaurants. I've been trying not to eat at chains and only local restaurants. So far everything I've tried is delicious. I think we gather at chains because it's a label that usually guarantees the same quality all the time. I dare you to venture out though. I've eaten at an Afghanistan, Thai and Indian place so far and they are all ethnic cuisines I can get behind. At all places I was with the only group there. I thought about how many chains were probably booming with business and it saddened me. Make local your cause and I promise you'll feel good about a new taste and supporting someone's livelihood!

The family and I are trying to acquire a goat, two chickens, and a duck, and yes, we live in the city. We have a good sized yard and my brother really wants to have a connection with what we eat. This fifteen-year-old is so wise behind his years. We're working out the logistics and hopefully will have a mini farm soon! It doesn't get any fairer trade than that.

My mom has decided to treat me to some new running shoes. Even though I'm not buying them, I feel bad about supporting this particular shoe industry because I know what's behind the veil. I have looked and looked and I can't find fair trade tennis shoes. I really hope this is my last pair and that I will be able to find something before the next running season.

The product of the day is an idea. One father decided it was time to promote fair trade and sustainability at school fundraisers instead of the unhealthy and monotonous candy idea.http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/blogs/fresh-fit/2010/03/17/school-fundraising-for-the-greater-good/

Apologies

So sorry for the lack of posts! I was waiting for a few days to come up with something good to post about but it turned into a couple of weeks. However I do have substantial topics today.

First of all, I'm realizing there's some things that I may have to break the bond for. Pens and Pencils. I'm trying to rummage through my house to find what I need but at some point I will run out. I may have to go conventional there but I'm going to try and find some sustainable alternatives. I know there's recycled pencils. Research needed.

I have my lover's birthday and a wedding coming up in the spring and I'm thinking about gifts. I know there are usually registers and what not but I don't think any of them will be fair trade. I need to find something useful to make them or try and find a fair trade gift applicable to a new couple. For my boy, I don't know what will be suffice. It's hard enough to think of a conventional gift, let alone a fair trade one that he'll enjoy.

I need to buy new insoles for my shoes. I ran a marathon this past year and insoles were my savior. I also will need to buy new shoes altogether, but those absolutely need to be fair trade. Nike. 'nuff said.

Today's link is to a fair trade store having a 15% off sale celebrating their first year of business.

http://www.thefairtradestore.co.uk/emarketing/

No Generation Gap Here..

Hey Everyone! My computer networking has lacked with my lack of time. I am doing my practicum at the Sisters of St. Joseph Motherhouse, where retired sisters live. It's a beautiful establishment and the sisters are all so great. They buy fair trade coffee and tea. They are very green. Everyone has to bring their own cloth napkin if they want one. They are working on getting a compost too. I think we tend to right off advocating for change to the younger generation. I'm very impressed with their desire to be fair. It's been over a month in the challenge and I really am starting to appreciate the people I am supporting. Not being able to buy whatever I want is "hard", but so is living a life in almost slavery. It will be tough to live out the rest of the year, but I feel it will be worth it.

Shoes! http://www.poptheshop.com/servlet/the-677/The-Peoples-Shoe-Brand/Detail

It's the Little Things

The small objects like bobby pins are hard to order online, they're available as fair trade, but after I would just stop at the drugstore and drop a few dollars for bobby pins, this is not as convenient. That was a run-on sentence, sorry. The ones that I plan on buying (which is my featured product) look way more sturdy and they are made from recycled materials. It's like the coat analogy from a little while ago, you pay more, but the right people get the money and the stuff lasts longer. Buying them also sends 25 cups of food to the hungry. I probably won't be able to post this weekend - lots going on: Happy Birthday Robin and Happy Anniversary Nathaniel! Have a great weekend!

The pins : http://shop.thehungersite.com/store/item.do?itemId=34869&siteId=220

I'm an Island in Corporate America

Apologies for not updating timely, I don't have a computer anymore :( I was going to try and not buy any books from chains or big websites, but I couldn't find Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet or Food Inc. at a local store. They are both about sustainable eating though and I don't think there is too much mistreatment in the book industry. Still, I'm going to try and buy as much from local bookstores as possible.
I was doing really well with my sustainable eating. I would love to eat 100% organic all the time, but it's hard when you're at someone's house or you're out to eat. It's frustrating to realize the limitations that I'll often face with eating and consuming fair. Technically the principles of the challenge include me not purchasing items not fairly traded, but it's hard not to eat leftover chocolate that's just sitting there. All of the stuff that I am trying to avoid is so mass produced that it works its way into most places of my life. I think my purchase "vote" is the main point of concern. It's like my second hand clothing concession, only it would be second hand food, well you know what I mean.

Pick of the day: A lovely little LBD
http://www.aventuraclothing.com/product/dresses+%26amp-+skirts/dresses/weston+sweaterknit+dress.do

A Mug Above the Rest

So I have this coffee mug collection that I love adding to when I see a great new mug. There's something about a cup of tea or coffee (both fair trade of course!) in a mug that has meaning to me. I realize that most the mugs I find are from China...which means one thing of course. I will have to put my mug collecting on hold I guess. I also collect shot glasses just to document where I've been and some look really cool. I'll have to put that on hold too I guess :( Unless a travel mate wants to buy one for me...is that too sneaky? Well to suffice my mug craving there is a really cool fair trade travel cup, which is my pick of the day:

http://shop.thehungersite.com/store/item.do?itemId=38245&siteId=220&sourceId=220&sourceClass=MatchingItem&index=1

Attack on Ads

Earlier I talked about how ad campaigns can really make us feel bad for not buying. We don't necessarily try to look hard at slogans and decode, but if we do, it's amazing how much of a slap in the face they can be. Remember the old slogan of Folger's Coffee (which is not fair trade by the way)? "The best part of waking up, is Folgers in your cup!" Really? That's the best part of waking up? If that's the case then after my coffee I should go right back to bed. So what if our subconcious decoded that and told us "Hey, you didn't buy Folgers so you are worthless. Why even wake up?" I buy an off brand fair trade coffee. I'd say that a cup of coffee for me is pretty much needed to wake up but it's not why I wake up. I wake up for my family, friends, special causes, happiness from outdoors, adventure and learning.
What about "Got Milk?" and how that's turned into Got Everything? Everyone has tried to use that to sell their product thinking they are so clever and funny, but that's really what it translates into: Got Everything? Don't stop buying and going into debt until you do.
Hershey's has a new commercial out about smiling and candy bars. "There's a smile in every Hershey's bar." Really? I doubt the unfair working conditions of the unfairly traded chocolate doesn't put a smile behind it. Do you mean there's a smile of an executive of Hershey's in every bar?

The sad thing is we're conditioned to believe them and it's not entirely our fault. We do need to be educated though. We need to look at commercials with eyes of steel and not let it penetrate through us. If more people held this ground, there would be a lot less advertising. Stick to your guns!

Pick of the day: http://www.lovethatstuff.co.uk/graphics/neck03.jpg

Really neat necklace! I notice a lot of these products are from the UK. I guess because good ol' America isn't as concerned with fair trade? Though how can they be when they're busy coming up with new ad campaigns :)

Eco = Fair?

I tagged along for a quick shopping experience at Target yesterday. I'm wondering if eco-friendly qualifies as fair trade. I would hope those sustainable promoting companies wouldn't be that two-faced to treat their workers unfairly. I guess I'll do as much investigating as possible. I think I'm starting to go through the grievance period of not being able to buy things that the lay world can. It's not that I necessarily want or need anything, but feeling like an outcast isn't that fun, turns out that never gets better after the pubescent years. It's hard being a good person all the time haha, joke. It hasn't even been a month yet though so I'm hoping I'll be able to get over the grieving part.

Pick of the day: http://www.bynature.co.uk/ciel-organic-cotton-boy-shorts-42520-0.html

To answer my question before, they DO make ethical undergarments. Cheaper than Victoria's!

Is it Fair Under There?

Hey there - sorry it's been a few days. School has started and I'm trying to get my act together. You know how New Year's Resolutions are supposed to start January 1st? They should really start like Jan. 20th. It takes a while to get all the kinks worked out. The budget for my organic/sustainable groceries has just been refreshed finally after being wiped out from the holidays. I tried my best but sometimes I had to just eat.
I'm realizing that there is going to have to be more exceptions to my resolution. For example, I'm grocery shopping for my grandma and I didn't buy everything sustainably, most, but not all. She's technically paying for it though, so it's not so bad. Her budget is limited because she is single and doesn't have a job obviously.
I haven't faced any material objects obstacles yet, meaning something that I NEED but can't find fairly traded. I'm thinking about undergarments though, they are going to be needed soon and I haven't found those anywhere yet. Conundrum.

Product of the day: A really cute cardigan regularly 90 dollars now only 30! This website is having a huge sale right now FYI!

http://www.fairindigo.com/cproduct_info.php/fair_trade/Women_Sale-Tops/product_name/Chunky_Blend_Zip_Cardigan/products_id/29

The Old School Should School Us

I watched this short video from the Just One campaign ( and I suggest you watch it too, two mins long: http://tradeasone.com/justone) and I see the continued theme of how stuff is ruining the world. It's a great campaign and its tag line is "If every church goer in America made one fair trade purchase, a million families would rise above the poverty line for a year". I myself don't go to church, but I would hope that the amount of people they are talking about needed to make this difference will in fact do so, church goers or not.
There's a billboard in the background of this video that says "Buy More". I think that's so sad, it's funny. That's literally what every commercial, ad, billboard, pop up, side of a bus, poster, mannequin and media is telling us, but we have a hard time decoding it because we see ourselves in the ads. We are subconsciously cued with every advertisement to tell ourselves "With that product, I shall finally be ahead." Problem is, theres many more products than this one that will 'get us ahead'. I feel bad for myself; I was not wise to this until recently, and still fall prey to the temptation to buy so that I can "improve myself". This past holiday season, when I was really starting to wake up to all of this, I worked in a mall. The holidays mean that every store makes millions of new bags with this year's holiday slogan that they've chosen. I really don't want to think of the leftover bags sitting in a landfill somewhere. Anyways, so one bag in particular said "The Limited is Happiness." Are you kidding me? If a clothing store is my happiness, I am screwed. That bag though really sums up the advertising world and props to the Limited for being so honest about how they're trying to sell you happiness so that you come back and buy some more when your sweater, I mean happiness, shrinks or goes out of style.
That's our world though. I'd like to say we big tough Americans know better than that but we don't. I include myself in that, obviously. If we knew better there would be a huge pendulum swing back to making products here in our own country. They would actually last a long time because someone had the skills it took to make it instead of plopping down a set of instructions in front of a little Asian girl to make a sweatshirt. My boyfriend has this great coat that belonged to his grandfather. It is a pea coat that looks brand new. My pea coat is from a chain and is about ten years old, and it looks like it. The coats are a symbol of how our industrial revolution has failed us. The coat companies would have gone out of business I guess if we all only needed one coat per lifetime, or so they say. I think the coat makers would have found plenty of business in growing kids if you ask me. So now we have crap coats that hardly last so that we'll need to buy a new one. The rich get richer.
I was watching a show today that was interviewing a celebrity. She was talking about how in the seventies you had one maybe two barbies. Now she is trying to teach her kids that that life is still okay even though the advertisers want her kids to believe that they need teacher barbie, swimmer barbie, stripper barbie, kidding. It's crazy how in one generation we have successfully switched to a more is better philosophy for this country. We let stores open on Sundays so they could make more money and be home less with their families so they can buy them more stuff to make up for them being home less because they are making more money.
Well I'll put this topic on pause for now because given this challenge, it will come up again. Not being a part of corporate America is another reward I'm glad to rack up this year.

My product of the day comes from the Just One campaign's website. It's a cute soccer ball. http://tradeasone.com/shop/sports-toys/sports/soccer-ball-size-3-dots.html

Gotta Have It....No More

Today I came across this great half price calendar at a chain bookstore. It was perfect for my workout log. Temptation was really biting at me. "Well it's not clothing, or coffee, or tea, or chocolate...the things that are really centered around poor trading practices." Still. I didn't know who made it or how and if they were treated fairly. It wasn't something I needed. No deal. I really wanted it. The fact is though I'm still alive. I can probably make my own calendar and I'm not out eight bucks. I'm kind of glad I finally faced something I really wanted. I was beginning to think this would be too easy.

http://www.second-world.com/sw/item.php?id=27

Today's pick is a stylish silver bracelet that is only $10!

Day Four and Not So Bad

So I've officially delved into the challenge! I've been to the mall, and I've got to say, it's a load off my mind knowing that I can't buy anything there. The challenge has been a scapegoat so now I can enjoy other things in life. I can say, "Oh sorry, I won't be trying to keep up with the trends because of this challenge I'm doing." It's kind of nice. That sentiment might change later in the year, or next week, but I'm rolling with it for now.
I checked out this cool local store called Plowsharing. It's nothing but Fair Trade stuff and it was nice to be able to hold things that I can buy rather than just see them online. I've decided that since there won't neccesarily be something to comment about each day, I will at least post a favorite Fair Trade product.

http://www.amazon.com/Lidded-Camellia-Tea-Coffee-Mug/dp/B001GQE2BA

This is a great coffee mug with a lid to keep the brew warm! Only $15!