What have you bought lately?

Today on the Sam Seder show they had one of the owners of Just Coffee Coop, Matt Earle, on to discuss fair trade. Here is a link to the interview, if you have 15 minutes to spare:

Matt went into the topic of fair trade, and how it has changed over the years. He mentioned that it is changing, due to large corporations (my former employer, Starbucks, being one) taking it over. They have turned it into a system that farmers have to buy into, and pass rigorous tests for certification. It leaves many farmers on the "side of the road" with product they can't sell at a fair price. Ultimately, it has led fair trade into being a logo to slap on a product so that consumers will feel like they are making an "informed" purchase, without having to think about it. (Kind of a hypocrisy.... right?)

We can even apply this to organic. Organic doesn't necessarily mean better - it just means that it passed some test to get the label. Recently some products (including formula) that contain organic brown rice, and have the organic label, have been found to have ARSENIC in them! How is that good for you, and your family??

The best part of the interview??? Sam asked Matt a really interesting question: Why do we only hear about fair trade when it comes to coffee, tea, and chocolate types of products? Why don't we hear more about it when it comes to electronics and other consumer products? The simple answer is: Those products have a more complicated supply chain, with subcontractors and other factors complicating the matter. Who knows if we will ever see "fair trade" electronics...

And all of these points lead to..... Buying LOCALLY.

Although I think fair trade and organic are important... I think they cloud what we should really be looking at. LOCAL products. We can always do a better job of trying to find products that are made locally. It's not always easy.... the computer I'm writing this blog post on is OF COURSE made in China. It is possible to do, though, with a little bit of homework.... A recent example of this is that my husband and I bought a MATTRESS made locally, and it was MUCH cheaper than the name brands.

I try to make informed purchasing decisions whenever I can. I really make an effort to know where my products come from, who makes them, and keep my local community supported.

I hope you are inspired to do the same....