"To support the artisans and instead of exploiting them." This is what a woman said to us who volunteers at a Ten Thousand Villages retail store. She was talking about the Fair Trade of artisans all over the world.
It amazes me, that almost every item I pick up is made somewhere other than Canada. I actually can't believe it. I want to buy goods that are locally made, but as a consumer, I'm stuck in a corner with no choice but to exploit people working for nothing in other countries who continue to live in poverty. And for what? To benefit the aesthetic look of my home, my own personal vanity, my personal wants, not my personal needs. As a young consumer trying to pay the bills and working hard to do so, the affordable way to get by, is to buy cheap. But cheap doesn't equal good. Well, it's good on the bank account. Shopping at locally owned businesses who offer fair deals on imported goods to us Canadians, doesn't mean that the goods are fair traded.
So what does this mean for people who want to make a difference, both socially and for the environment? We need to ask questions. It seems as though we don't, but we need to ask more questions about the items we purchase. If we can't purchase items made in our home country, we should be supporting people who make items in other countries, knowing that they are in fact being treated fairly.
Check out Ten Thousand Villages link below for more information on fair trade and what they do as a non-profit program of Mennonite Central Committee. Also check out the link for International Fair Trade Association.
Let's try not to live like one life is worth more than another.
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This really strikes a nerve, especially with this more involved idea of buying and choosing in a way that supports the value of EVERY life.
I think that the challenge to buy locally has evolved into BUY SUPPORTIVELY AND ETHICALLY, which includes the ideas of supporting our communities and their businesses but also means being supportive in our choices between imported products that may still support our local economy when bought at a local business. It has been quite difficult to do this but eye opening.
The challenge to buy locally has not only brought up issues of the environment for me, but issues of fair trade and what truly makes a product non-exploitive, local, sustainable, and natural all at once; a well rounded product?
So my way of thinking has been this for the month; if a product is locally made, then we can assume that there is no exploitation involved. If a product is made abroad this is when we HAVE TO ASK QUESTIONS, and fair trade is not something a company would hide from its customer, so if it is not advertised or readily discussed, chances are that the products are NOT fairly traded, and therefore exploitive.
And further, I think it has to be said that local business does not necessarily mean that its goods are all local or fair trade, so to find a combination of both local business AND fairly traded goods, and not one or the other, is the best way to go.
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