Support Fair Trade
When Hermione Granger discovers that the food at Hogwarts is being made by house elves – essentially unpaid, indentured servants, she immediately starts a campaign to replace exploitation with fairness. Though Dumbledore is not as outspoken on this issue as Hermione is, he certainly shares her passion. For one, he agrees to hire Dobby, the first “free elf” in modern Wizarding history and pay him fair wages for his work.
But he later elaborates on how Wizards have treated the enslaved workers who are doing their cooking and cleaning – saying that we have come to regard them as servants “…unworthy of much interest or notice. Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike…” (Half-Blood Prince 834).
In the United States, we are often indifferent to the fact that much of our food and clothing comes from sweat shop labor. Sometimes the very chocolate that we eat is grown by enslaved children on the Ivory Coast who are forced to live in small shacks, beaten and sexually abused. In less intense cases, farmers are still exploited and left to stay in poverty as they toil in the hot sun growing cocoa plants.
I believe that both Hermione and Dumbledore would support the Fair Trade label.
Fair Trade is a set of social and environmental standards that ensure that producers are paid a fair wage for their products and that no excessively harmful chemicals are being used. Importers and manufacturers are certified by an independent third party organization called Transfair, while producers are certified by a group called FLO (Fairtrade Labelling Organization). To be certified Fair Trade the following principles must be met:
· Fair prices: Democratically organized farmer groups receive a guaranteed minimum floor price and an additional premium for certified organic products. Farmer organizations are also eligible for pre-harvest credit.
· Fair labor conditions: Workers on Fair Trade farms enjoy freedom of association, safe working conditions, and living wages. Forced child labor is strictly prohibited.
· Direct trade: With Fair Trade, importers purchase from Fair Trade producer groups as directly as possible, eliminating unnecessary middlemen and empowering farmers to develop the business capacity necessary to compete in the global marketplace.
· Democratic and transparent organizations: Fair Trade farmers and farm workers decide democratically how to invest Fair Trade revenues.
· Community development: Fair Trade farmers and farm workers invest Fair Trade premiums in social and business development projects like scholarship programs, quality improvement trainings, and organic certification.
· Environmental sustainability: Harmful agrochemicals and GMOs are strictly prohibited in favor of environmentally sustainable farming methods that protect farmers’ health and preserve valuable ecosystems for future generations.
Yes! One of the best things we can do as “consumers” is decide where our money goes. When we support groups or businesses that promote healthy living for everyone, their workers, the environment, and ourselves, we all win.
Amanda you make a really good point. We decide where out money goes. It gives us the right to vote against unfair employment practices every time we choose to buy goods.
I agree whole-heartedly with both of you. I’ve been doing my best to watch wear my food and clothes come from. American Apparel, for example, makes their clothes in the USA, so I can trust that child labour has not been used. I also buy clothes at http://www.metowestyle.com when I can, which makes sweat-shop free, sometimes organic clothes. We as the consumers have the power. This issue, more than any other, is all up to us.
It is so important to pay attention to what you are buying and where it is made because that is what makes a difference and helps promote good companies and does not give support to countries who are hurting their employees and possibly the world.
I love shopping for gifts at my local fair-trade markets. They have amazing creations that I may not be able to justify buying for myself, but love to buy for others for special occasions. At large box stores it’s more complicated to look at each product’s label to see where they come from and who produced them, but at stores that specialize in fair-trade products, the hardest part is not letting yourself buy all the cool things you see!
If you support fair trade, I so recommend Ten Thousand Villages (http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/) for wonderful items that really benefit the local cultures.