Archive for 2008

One of the things that keeps getting better and better about my job as a Fair Trade educator is that more and more consumers are aware of Fair Trade. TransFair USA, for example, reports at least 20% of all U.S. coffee drinkers are aware of the Fair Trade label. As a part of the [...]

Read the entry: Fair Trade and more in Spanish ~ Comercio Justo y mas en espanol →

Back in the 1960s the international development community coined the phrase “Trade not Aid” as an approach to poverty alleviation. The notion being that, in addition to humanitarian assistance and emergency response, countries facing financial hardship are best served by economic opportunities with other countries. In Ghana, Trade Aid Integrated is a non-profit [...]

Read the entry: Trade AND Aid in Ghana →

As Jackie described in Three Coffee Countries in Eight Days, Simone Blanchard of the CRS Southeast office in Atlanta hit the coffee trail last week. While she wasn’t able to blog during her trip she’s come back ready to share her reflections.

Baruch 4:22-23
Deliver us, O Lord, from our bondage as streams in dry [...]

Read the entry: Fair Trade Reflections From El Salvador →

It’s true that most college and university students are out for the summer and taking a break from their studies, but for many, it’s time to look back over the year and realize what’s been accomplished. Last week we were talking about parishes on fire, this week we have some outstanding Fair Trade progress [...]

Read the entry: School’s out! Time to learn a lesson from students. →

This weekend I went to the movies with my family and learned about a new film, “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.” The wonders of animation aside, for me the country of Madagascar doesn’t conjure images of lemurs or other cute cartoon characters. Instead when I think of the huge island nation, I remember [...]

Read the entry: Madagascar 2: New Release →

The summer season means travel time for many people, and Fair Traders are no different. Our own Simone Blanchard, Program Officer and Fair Trade Enthusiast in the CRS Atlanta office, is joining our friends from Cooperative Coffees to visit Central America. Simone and her traveling buddies aren’t taking a summer vacation though. They [...]

Read the entry: Three Coffee Countries in Eight Days: CRS Hits the Trail →

As a follow up to the Business Week article Jackie blogged about earlier this week, I wanted to share a couple examples of some parishes that are on fire about Fair Trade. These just happened to land in my inbox this week, but they’re great examples of how numerous parishes out there are rallying [...]

Read the entry: Parishes On Fire About Fair Trade →

I confess I am behind on my blog postings. But Business Week did my job for me today by posting a story about faith-based commitment to Fair Trade. Check out this news about our friends at Lutheran World Relief and Presbyterian Church USA, as well as how the Adrian Dominican Sisters helped get our [...]

Read the entry: Business Week Reports on Faith-based Fair Trade →

The Economic Justice team just wrapped up another successful CRS Fair Trade Ambassador training near Seattle, WA. Eighteen individuals, alongside CRS-West staff and our program partners, received intensive training and were offered space and time for spiritual reflection, before committing themselves to be word-of-mouth marketing Ambassadors. Our first such training was this time [...]

Read the entry: What is a Word-of-Mouth Ambassador Anyway? →

 The Fair Trade Labeling Organization International (FLO) has increased the price for Fair Trade Coffee! FLO sets the minimum price for Fair Trade coffee and, effective this June, increased the price to $1.25/lb. The price increase is the result of extensive field research into the real costs of sustainable coffee production, which indicated that an adjustment [...]

Read the entry: A Better Price for Coffee Farmers →