What is Fair Trade?
Fair Trade is an ethical alternative to popular trading methods used by most multi-national corporations where the workers at the lowest level are squeezed in order for the purchasing company to make larger profit margins.
Instead, Fair Trade employs a method of commerce that insures that the people producing the goods are paid a fair wage and are not subject to sweatshop conditions.
The Fair Trade mission is to create a sustainable income and lifestyle for the world’s typically poor and disadvantaged producer groups, usually located in developing world countries, in order to alleviate global poverty and empower communities.
Fair Trade is not charity or a hand out; it is a vital way of doing sustainable business on an equal platform with a fair exchange
There are a number of Fair Trade certification entities around the world that work to ensure that products with a Fair Trade label are truly upholding the social, economic and environmental standards typically associated with Fair Trade practices.
- All workers are paid a living wage
- No child labor
- All workers have access to health care
- Piece rate workers receive comparable benefits and pay to full-time workers
- The work environment is safe and healthy
- No forced overtime
- No harassment or discrimination
- There is development and educational potential
- Workers have the right to associate and collectively bargain
FSC is short for Forest Stewardship Council. The FSC is an international non-profit organization that maintains and manages the world’s forests that are used for paper, wood and other pulp production. An FSC-certified forest ensures that the harvest of products is environmentally responsible and respects the natural eco-system of the forest. An added bonus is that no indigenous wildlife or people to the forest are displaced or harmed as is usually the case with traditional forestry practices. So rather than clear-cutting and polluting, FSC products have helped the long-term life of the forest and in the process have created more energy to offset the current carbon crisis.
The FSC has made great strides over the past couple of years and the certification can be seen in many mainstream applications. Home Depot now carries FSC-certified wood; the US Postal Service uses FSC-certified paper for its mailings, as do other large companies.