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Ethical and Fair Trading

by Tricia Anderson, Reader at St. Andrew's

 

Do you consider 'Fairtrade' when shopping? I'm not thinking about the monthly Fairtrade stall at church, nor looking for Fairtrade apples, bananas and roses when you're in the supermarket. What about your clothes? How and where are they made? What conditions do the workers suffer or enjoy? It's good to be a savvy shopper and get the same goods at half the price your neighbour paid, but who pays? The 7-year-old child spinning cotton (that was stopped in the UK over 100 years ago!), her mother who is paid only a pittance for a very long day bent over a sewing machine, or the grandmother who has gone blind working in gloom for years and years?

If you have access to the internet, you can find out more about Fairtade products at www.fairtrade.org.uk, mainly the kind sold on the Fairtrade stall, but also Fairtrade cotton products. One of my favourite sites is www.greenfibres. com. I have bought household linen and clothes from them. Other sites include www.bishopstontrading.co.uk,  www.gossypium.co.uk, www.hug.co.uk, www.naturalcollection.com, and my recent find, www.ethicalsuperstore.com. You can buy all manner of items from here, and they provide them from a variety of other websites. A recent order contained goods from at least 2 websites, one of which was www.traidcraftshop.co.uk. (That's particularly useful on reducing your postage and packing costs.) Most of these stores also do mail order by post or telephone if you do not have internet access.

We can also ask the local stores about where they source their goods and what conditions the workers endure. Also, several High Street shops, including Marks and Spencer, are now selling clothes made from organic cotton. Look at labels and ask questions to help yourself, other people and the environment.

And what about your household cleaning products? When I first tried Ecover products several decades ago, they were not very efficient. However, they are vastly improved, these days, and I mostly use their products around the home. There are other ecological products, though, which may be even better. I can't tell, as I haven't tried them, but both 'greenfibres' and 'ethicalsuperstore' offer a range of cleaning products and toiletries.

And last but not least, if you like chocolate, have you tried chocolates from 'Hotel Chocolat'? The chocolates are to die for, but the firm also supports the farmers who grow the chocolate beans in Ghana, the world's second largest cocoa producing country in the world. They help them with saplings to replace old cocoa trees which don't produce a good crop; they provide books, stationery and uniforms to the poorest schools in the Osuben cocoa farming region; and they have instigated a scheme of healthcare insurance for the farmers to help prevent illness giving them a devastating blow which could send them into a poverty cycle. Just think. Your enjoyment of a delicious organic chocolate could actually help poor people in Africa. And don't worry too much about the calories. An individual chocolate from the Chocolate Tasting Club contains 60 calories, compared with a single chocolate digestive biscuit's 87 calories, a Hobnob biscuit's 81 calories or a blueberry muffin's 382 calories. Visit www.hotelchocolat.co.uk, or phone 0870 443 1616.

Tricia Anderson

 

PS Please read Janet's article in which she thinks about the way our shopping impacts on the environment, and widens the aspect of 'ethical'.

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