Berkeley bikers on Fair Trade tour

Here’s your roundup of Fair Trade news and updates:

BERKELEY, CA SHARES ITS WORLD FAIR TRADE DAY CELEBRATION

Thanks to Lauren, Fair Trade Berkeley’s steering committee Chair, for sharing news about Berkeley’s World Fair Trade Day happenings. Berkeley hosted/co-hosted 3 events to celebrate World Fair Trade Day on May 14, 2011. Here’s her report:

The event of our own making was Tour de FAIR. Tour de FAIR was co-sponsored by the East Bay Bike Coalition and was an 11 mile ride, touring 6 of Berkeley’s 7 commerce districts, stopping at select stores (including the Global Exchange store on College Ave!) and restaurants where Fair Trade products are served/sold. About 20 cyclists spent three hours seeing Berkeley by bike, learning about Fair Trade and sampling Fair Trade coffee, chocolate, skin care products, tea, ice cream, quinoa, and visiting with Sonia, a Fair Trade jeweler, on tour from Peru. It was a great, great day!

You can see pictures of Tour de FAIR here.

Here’s more on the other two World Fair Trade Day events they held in Berkeley:

Berkeley kids hear about Fair Trade

The Fair Trade tour visited The Berkeley School, grades K-8th. Sonia, a visiting Fair Trade artist from Peru, demonstrated jewelry-making and spoke with the bi-lingual students about her life and work in Peru.

Fair Trade artisan demonstrates her craft at Berkeley HUB

Fair Trade Wine Down: The group celebrated, along with Sonia, at the Berkeley HUB’s weekly “wine down.”

 

SIGN PETITION: “FAIR CHOCOLATE AT PENN STATE”

There’s a new petition launched called Fair Chocolate at Penn State that is aimed at getting Pennsylvania State University to offer Fair Trade chocolate.
You can read and sign the petition here or here.

Even if you don’t go to Penn State, you can sign the petition to show your solidarity.

Here’s an excerpt from the Fair Chocolate at Penn State petition:

Penn State is a major purchaser of chocolate. If Penn State were to switch to buying fairly made chocolate, more farmers in the developing world will be free from modern day slavery and be guaranteed a fair price for their labor. The undersigned agree to purchase fairly made chocolate as it is available on campus.

We request that Penn State:

  • Commit to buying slavery-free chocolate
  • Prioritize companies that are doing more toward tracking the welfare of cocoa farmers
  • Making slavery-free practices a priority when picking new candy vendors

The signature goal is 10,000 and they’ve got a long way to go, so take 1 minute to sign your name. (I did and it literally took me 58 seconds, I timed it.)

Sign the Fair Chocolate at Penn State petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/fair-chocolate-at-penn-state/

FREE POWERPOINT ABOUT FAIR TRADE JUST UPDATED

Fair Trade Resource Network (FTRN) has updated its free PowerPoint show, Overview of Fair Trade in North America. Thousands of people download and use the show each year.

This PowerPoint presentation provides an introduction to Fair Trade in North America. The file is free to download and view. 39 slides are shown in an 8-minute show. Get your copy by visiting FTRN’s website.

REMINDER: HERSHEY RALLY IN NEW YORK CITY IS HAPPENING JUNE 8th

Spread the word about Raise the Bar Hershey Campaign’s upcoming rally in NYC’s Times Square, Wednesday June 8th at 10:30 AM.  Join folks in front of the Hershey Store and ask Hershey to make the switch to Fair Trade.

Who will be there: Local NYC social justice groups, students, schools and faith groups that care about this issue. Raise the Bar Hershey Campaign groups (Green America, Global Exchange, International Labor Rights Forum) and other allies will be there as well.

For more information about the rally visit: www.raisethebarhershey.org/rally.

LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT
Article: Fairtrade sales in South Africa reach over R18 million
Statement: Novel Joint Statement Issued by FLO, Rainforest Alliance and UTZ
Blog Post: Does Fair Trade have a future?

Check back here on our Fair Trade blog for more Fair Trade News Round-Ups…your one-stop shop for current Fair Trade news and events. And if you’ve got big Fair Trade news to share, email me!