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     When most people hear the phrase “fair trade,” they often conjure up obscure ideas of NAFTA. Not to be confused with “free trade," fair trade is something entirely different. When a product has a fair trade certified label on it, it means that the Non-Profit Organization TransFair USA, the single, third party certifier of Fair Trade in the U.S., has rigorously audited raw goods like coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar, rice, fruit, and herbs from the farm to the buyer. Fair Trade certification not only guarantees farmers a fair price and decent labor conditions, but it also ensures that goods were produced “slavery-free”, that no individual was forced into labor through fraud, deception, or exploitation.
     Supporting the Fair Trade movement does not mean you have to give up shaving your legs or abandon your home to live in a tree, although Trans Fair USA does monitor farming environments to ensure they are above standard. This is about people--loving our neighbors in the beautiful regions of the world that grow our beloved coffee, tea, and other raw goods. Why don’t we think about them when we pay four dollars for a latte at Starbucks? Coffee farmers, specifically, are unable to feed and educate their children on their earnings, despite their hard work. Why are our farmers here in the Central Valley more valuable to us than the farmers in Africa, who are manipulated and kept out of the global market by the WTO? Giving our money to organizations whose primary interest is obtaining profit at any cost, often perpetuates slavery. And purchasing Fair Trade certified products brings change in the most visible way: through the dollar. Our money is our voice. And with that dollar I hope that you will choose to no longer invest in products whose slavery footprint is large, and instead spend it on products that serve the preservation of our neighbors on this planet.

-For more information on Fair Trade and the Coffee Industry, please come see a free viewing of Black Gold, an international award winning documentary, for free at CSUB, Friday, May 2nd, 7 p.m., at the Dore Theater