Monday, February 27, 2006

fair trade in the news

an article from the Post about fair trade... it gives some ideas on fair trade alternative suppliers we can look into for the project. at the end of the article it has links to sites that are fair-trade oriented.
and this link is to a fair trade organization that the article mentions.

and CLICK HERE to learn about fair trade chocolate... from NPR...
and i think i am done for the night...

Starbucks and Fair Trade

CLICK HERE for the link to a site that has information about Starbucks and organic/Fair Trade coffee. In addition, it has information about other health issues related to organic vs non-organic foods and genetically modified foods. The site has links to organic products... lots of different categories.
CLICK HERE a little blurb about how Starbucks is trying to be more eco-friendly, according to the EPA, but we know how great the EPA is at its own job...

This is about how Nestle has decided to run a line of fair-trade coffee in the UK... why not in the US? However Oxfam "called on Nestle to "alter its business practices, lobbying strategies, and radically overhaul its business to ensure that all coffee farmers get a fair return for their efforts". " hmm... cautiously welcoming the move, according to the article. CLICK HERE to read the article

And also from the BBC, here's a bit about Fair Trade and WHY it is important.


Fair Trade links:
Fair Trade
Christian Aid
(this is a UK-based site that has lots of ideas of things to do on campus CLICK HERE
to raise awareness about fair trade and social justice issues. It also has a list of vocabulary related to issues of fair trade that is worth looking at in case anyone is confused. it can also be used as a good resource to make what we print and hand out understandable for people who don't know the issues surrounding fair trade. their pressureworks campaign is pretty neat, though geared toaward UK consumers it has a quiz thing about your buying habits/lifestyle and what atrocities you contribute to everyday by simply brushing your teeth and driving to work.)

Coke Media References

This is an article I found from Business Week about recent College Campuses campaigns against Coke. We are not the only ones against Coke. It also paints a picture of the controversy over Coke, the corporate enthusiasts against the college activists.
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=dde05d46ee4049e9acacd9f868ce5f2c&_docnum=4&wchp=dGLbVtb-zSkVA&_md5=fd3391dde489065d4b48b61af8b23e05
(if it doesn't work, sorry, and please email me... from blackboard)

This is another article from Business Week where reporters from Business Week went to Colombia to research what really happened.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_04/b3968079.htm
This is another article, from Uconn, about getting Coke off their campus. It also has information about human rights violations Coke has committed in Turkey and Indonesia, as well as environmental abuses in India.
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=dde05d46ee4049e9acacd9f868ce5f2c&_docnum=17&wchp=dGLbVtb-zSkVA&_md5=d933117397a39fbeabb4052de6c00fe0
This is an arcticle from BBC about how a Mexican shopkeeper won an appeal against Coke when Coke was going to stop selling Coke products to her store unless she stopped selling a rival soft-drink product from Peru. Yay for the Mexican lady who stood up for herself and not allowing Coke to have full monopoly in her store, though Coke has 70% of the soft-drink market in Mexico.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4445086.stm
Here is a more in-depth article about Coke's environmental abuses in India, also from BBC. It is also a victory story, Coke closed a factory that had been depleting the landwater resources for the rest of the surrounding area. So even people in India are protesting Coke.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4167606.stm
And this from an Atlanta paper about Emory's student newspaper running an anti-coke editorial, even though the univesity was founded by money from Coke stock.
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=dde05d46ee4049e9acacd9f868ce5f2c&_docnum=25&wchp=dGLbVtb-zSkVA&_md5=f8f0cf9b6cc2612850a8ea96313370f7

Eagle Ad

hey, i don't know if you all saw the ad for coke in the Eagle today. Since when does the Eagle run such huge ads blatantly supporting the company that has a monopoly on beverages on our campus? It is a lengthy ad on page 7, Feb 27 edition that basically is the company trying to get people like us who are speaking out against coke on our campus to shut up.
http://www.cokewatch.org/
this is a link to a group in DC that might be able to help us in finding an alternative to Coke on campus. though i don't know how reliable their information is because it looks like a campaign to market Pepsi instead, and we already know that Pepsi is not any more socially responsible than Coke is.
This site sort of addresses an issue that we may have to deal with on our campus, that was brought up in class. Coke, in addition to being Kosher, apparently supports Israel, politically. I think that is good, and many people on our campus, since it has a large Jewish population, would agree. I think we need to find a really good alternative to Coke, if possible, one that is Kosher, socially responsible, and environmentally friendly. (wait, we are dealing with soda, chemicals, and such... eco-friendly soda? i don't know... anyhow...) Anyhow, this is a link to another site of people boycotting Coke for purely political reasons. http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-coca-cola.html