Living Green: The Missing Manual

Giving Fair Trade a Fair Shake

Big, wealthy companies exploit small producers in poorer countries—isn't that how global trade works? Not according to the international fair trade movement. Instead of being exploitive, they believe, trade between highly developed and less developed countries can benefit both: high-quality products for consumers and a sustainable living for producers. This section examines fair trade in depth so you can make smart buying decisions—another example of how voting with your wallet can make a real difference.

What Is Fair Trade?

Fair trade helps support workers and sustainable practices in developing countries. Instead of buying massive quantities of cheaply produced items at rock-bottom prices, fair-trade importers pay attention to the lives and working conditions of the people who produce the goods they buy, process, and resell, and they typically buy relatively small quantities. For example, such an importer will do business with a farm or cooperative that uses sustainable practices and pays employees a living wage.

Note

A living wage is a pay rate that lets workers meet their families' basic needs—housing, food, clothing, health care, and so on—in the local community. Because these things cost different amounts in different places, the rate varies, too.

The movement focuses on social, economic, and environmental development. Here are some of its governing principles:

• Reasonable working conditions. Fair-trade farms and cooperatives don't exploit workers. ...