The Big Swap: Shopping
February 26, 2010 @ 12:20 PM
This entry continues our Big Swap series with shopping. The Big Swap is a simple idea: for the next two weeks, swap out something you buy regularly for the Fair Trade alternative. Coffee, chocolate, cutting boards, bananas, and more. Learn more.
The Broken System
Ellis James, author of The Better World Shopping Guide, frames the problem that drove him to write his book by saying “Money is power”. This is a very familiar phrase and we use it often But, what does it really mean? When you hear that phrase, do you instantly begin thinking of other people – people in your view who actually have money or have power? You may not be famous and you may not feel powerful but the truth is, if you have any money at all to spend, you wield power with each dollar you spend. As consumers, we have the power to vote with each purchase we make.
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the average American spends around $10,000 on goods and services so that means we have 10,000 opportunities to vote. If you’re purchasing for your family, that you can take that $10,000 and multiply it by each member of your family! You can determine, by the companies you choose to do business with, if your dollars will destroy or build the environment, communities and most importantly the lives of people around the globe.
At Trade as One, we often get calls and emails from individuals whose eyes have been open to the realities of modern-day slavery, extreme poverty, and environmental abuse and now want to shop purposefully and wisely. It can be difficult to do all the research individually to know which food, cleaning supplies or even cars are made in the most ethical way. We are excited to be able to refer you to The Better World Shopping Guide, small enough to fit in a purse or keep in the car!
The Better World Shopping Guide: a handy pocket shopping guide. A comprehensive, up to date, user-friendly guide for socially and environmentally responsible consumers. This book gives a vast range of products an A-F ranking so you can quickly tell the ‘good guys’ from the ‘bad guys’- turning your grocery list into a powerful tool to change the world. This guide is organized into the most common product categories including coffee, energy bars, cell phones, gasoline, clothing, fast food, cars, water and more. Whether you are concerned about environmental sustainability, human rights, social justice, community involvement or animal protection, you will find this guide to be an essential companion. To be clear, not every company rated highly in this book is Fair Trade. This guide is meant to show which companies are better than others, and to help guide purchasing decisions in categories where Fair Trade isn’t always an option.
At the very end of the guide, there are two pages of resources that can help you do your own research and learn more. Due to the nature of Fair Trade, you can assume any fair trade company will be automatically rated an A. But, it is fun for us to see many of our producers specifically called out on the pages of this book rated as an A or A+: AlterEco (chocolate and rice), Divine (chocolate), Thanksgiving Coffee (coffee), Choice (tea), and Canaan Fair Trade (olive oil).
Want all of this on your iPhone or iPod Touch? Click here to view the App.
Now What?
We want to hear what you’re Swapping, why you’re Swapping, where you’re Swapping, we want to know! So share your swapping story in the comments section of this post.
