The Face of Fair Trade

Ever since I finished reading Bill McKibben's Deep Economy, I haven't been able to stop thinking about this scene:

[British journalist Felicity Lawrence] describes a recent trip to an impoverished corner of Uganda, where she sat with a coffee-growing family that could no longer afford school fees for their children. Her translator tried to explain to the farmer how much a cup of coffee sold for in a Starbucks: one cup cost the equivalent of 5,000 Ugandan shillings. "A confused smile flickered across his face," Lawrence reports, "registering disbelief, but then his eyes filled with tears." 'No, you mean one kilo, no, no, this is painful to hear. I only got two hundred shillings a kilo for my coffee this year.'"

I don't know what to do with that, but I know that it has really been bothering me. And, by the way, Starbucks provides several of my friends with good income and great health benefits, so I'm not trying to hate on Starbucks. I'm just thinking that fair trade issues are something worth investigating and supporting. With that in mind...

Now that the holiday season is upon us (okay, I know it's not quite yet UPON us, but as soon as the weather dips below 70 degrees I'm ready to deck the halls, so let's go with it), I'd like to take this opportunity to direct your attention to the Ten Thousand Villages site. If you live in Oklahoma, you'll notice that there are several festivals coming our way soon. If you live in other states, you might be lucky enough to visit an actual store for all of your fair-trade shopping needs--well, assuming those needs include baskets, "musical instruments" and funky scarves :) It's a start, right?