Archive for the 'Beyond Fair Trade' Category

Part of my Sunday morning routine is listening to the Speaking of Faith public radio program. Yesterday I was especially pleased that the guest was Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize winner who started the Green Belt Movement. The movement began by organizing women who were living the impacts of deforestation through the […]

Read the entry: Planting the Future →

As Katy and I hurry to clear off our desks before heading to the Fair Trade Federation conference, I almost forgot this week is National Farmworker Awareness week. Luckily a new report, Children in the Fields: An American Problem, from my colleagues at the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, jogged my memory and motivated […]

Read the entry: Justice for Farmworkers, in the United States too →

Although as a member of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, I don’t celebrate Palm Sunday as a holy day, I am definitely paying tribute to the ecumenical cooperation manifested through support of Eco-palms, an initiative of Lutheran World Relief. Media outlets, too, are reporting that congregations of several Christian faiths are utilizing these […]

Read the entry: Putting our Heads Together →

Katy and I just finished up with the annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering, a time each February when about 500 folks from a variety of Catholic organizations arrive in Washington, D.C. to learn about each other’s work and strategize for policies and programs that “Put the Poor and Vulnerable First” and “Pursue Peace in a […]

Read the entry: A Tsunami a Week →

That question was the title of a sermon I heard at The United Church in Washington, DC this past weekend. The church, a combined ministry of the Methodist Church and United Church of Christ, hosted a United Students for Fair Trade regional convergence that Katy and I were honored to attend. I gave […]

Read the entry: Students and Fair Trade: “Organizing for What?” →

Like many kids, I knew Easter was coming when Palm Sunday rolled around. It wasn’t just the desire for a basket full of bunnies and fluorescent colored chicks that built the anticipation. The story of Jesus entering Jerusalem in all his glory, with the crowds waving palm branches and shouting greetings, filled me […]

Read the entry: Order Soon to Add Justice and Joy to Palm Sunday →

Many times when Katy or I are contacted about participating in the CRS Fair Trade program, we learn that the inquirer is a Just Faith graduate, someone who has participated in a 30 week justice formation program designed to help fill the world with humble, faith-filled people who act with courageous justice and love with […]

Read the entry: A Just Faith Reflection on Christmas →

That’s a question that many at CRS have been asking this fall and into the season of Advent. A recent story in Philadelphia’s Catholic Standard and Times featured reflections from travelers who toured Jerusalem and the West bank visiting with Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders and CRS partners who are working to alleviate the […]

Read the entry: Is Peace in the Middle East Possible? →

Greetings again from Central America. I just posted a note about four coffee cooperatives in Guatemala that are taking coffee roasting into their own hands, and mentioned that the primary market for their roasted coffee will be domestic, with exports as a possibility in the future. I thought a bit more context — […]

Read the entry: Fair Trade Field Notes: Green v. Roasted? →

If you like this website and blog, you have some behind the scenes folks at Catholic Relief Services to thank. Peter Kaizer, Dylan Kinnett and Michelle Harrington, along with other talented folks in the web services department of CRS, have been helping CRS Fair Trade over the past couple of years to improve our […]

Read the entry: Check out the new crs.org website and resources →