October is Fair Trade Month

This month we celebrate Fair Trade Month. Although it's wonderful to have a month dedicated to fair trade, fair trade shouldn't be something that we only think about during one month - just like breast cancer, which also celebrates its "month" during October.

Fair trade is a real way to make a difference - something very tangible. Although the model isn't quite that simple, we often make it more complicated than it needs to be. At its very basic, artisans in a developing country (heck, even in our own "rich" country), artisans make products that help feed their families. We purchase their products and continue to support them by continuing to purchase more of their products so their work doesn't "dry up" and they are left where they started. We then make their beautiful products available to you. At its most basic form, that's how fair trade works. It's really a poverty reduction method since the basis of the marketplace exists to reduce poverty in developing countries.

But here is where is gets more complicated - do we really "need" another basket? Some argue that we're just creating more "stuff" when we don't really need it.

Okay, back to our question...do we need another basket? Maybe not...but if we were going to buy a basket, why not make it one that you know someone was paid a fair wage for, a child didn't make it in a factory, and the way it was made didn't affect the earth? Most of us do give gifts for birthdays, weddings, graduations, you get the picture. Why not buy a gift that is fairly traded?

So this month, why not consider a gift for someone (or for yourself) that is fairly traded? And while you're at it, encourage someone to schedule that mammogram, too.

-Megy Karydes, Founder
www.World-Shoppe.com