Five reasons why Fair Trade is good for the environment

From the Fair Trade Resource Network:

• One of Fair Trade’s six principles is environmental sustainability. Companies that fail to uphold this principle in their supply chain will not be admitted into the Fair Trade Federation and are refused certification by TransFair USA
• During the production process of Fair Trade products harmful agrochemicals and fertilizers are often now allowed to be used, sold, handled or distributed by producer organizations. When they are used, they are done so in minimal quantities with strict regulations and guidelines on their usage.
• Many Fair Trade products are made by hand, often in producers’ homes or villages. Choosing hand production over mechanized production significantly reduces CO² emissions that are often omitted from big factories. Since Fair Trade producers are often based in remote rural areas, where resources and infrastructure are scarce, they are provided with income earning opportunities that they otherwise would not have had. What little energy is needed in the production process is often produced through alternative energy sources.
• Fair Trade products are often made from materials that are locally and abundantly available.
• The majority of Fair Trade products are transported to consumer countries by boat. This significantly reduces CO² omissions created by air travel.

World Water Day

Today, March 22, is World Water Day. In an ideal world, I would have had the time to research and then write an inspiring and informative post about why this is important. [Okay, in an ideal world, there would be no need for World Water Day because everyone on the planet would have access to a safe, secure water supply.]

Instead of freshly-scribed inspiring prose from me, I give you some key excerpts from a World Water Day website:

World Water Day is an international day of observance and action to draw attention to the plight of the more than 1 billion people world wide that lack access to clean, safe drinking water. Celebrated since 1993, World Water Day was designated in 1992 when the United Nations (UN) General Assembly passed a resolution. With each passing year, the observance has grown larger and stronger.

....

The world water crisis is one of the largest public health issues of our time. Nearly 1.1 billion people (roughly 20% of the world’s population) lack access to safe drinking water. The lack of clean, safe drinking water is estimated to kill almost 4,500 children per day. In fact, out of the 2.2 million unsafe drinking water deaths in 2004, 90% were children under the age of five.

....

Many women and young girls in rural areas in Sub-Saharan African and other parts of the world must trek as much as six miles everyday to retrieve water for their families. Due to this manual labor, such women and children are prevented from pursuing an education, maintaining their households or earning additional income.

Evidently, each year there is a theme for World Water Day. This year's theme is "Sanitation" which means exactly what you fear. Not the sexiest of topics for a blog post, I know. But the reality is the lack of adequate sanitation facilities is a huge contributor to death and disease in impoverished countries. And contributes to environmental degradation.



If helping ensure access to safe, clean water to families around the world is something you'd like to be part of, the non-profit, Water for People seems to a highly-regarded and reputable organization. On their home page, they also have several short videos clearly illustrating the problem and the solutions.

Finally, this opinion piece in the Denver Post is a good summary of the issues.

ETA: I liked this article from The Christian Science Monitor as well.