Browsing: Fair trade

The hot weather has been beating down all week, and I don’t know about everyone else, but my thoughts have been turning to picnics, barbeques and enjoying myself in the open air.

There’s the perfect opportunity to get involved in this summery vibe coming up – put the 19th of July into your diary - the nationwide ‘Big Lunch’ is coming right to your doorstep! Well, only if you choose to get involved, but we think that this countrywide picnic sounds like a great plan.

The idea is that two weeks tomorrow, millions of us throughout the UK will choose to sit down and have lunch together, wherever we fancy. It’s a great excuse for a street party, and a wonderful way to have a fun day with family, friends and neighbours. Just register on the Big Lunch website - www.thebiglunch.com -  to plot your event on the Big Lunch map, sort the food and get the invites out, and you’ll be good to go.

We’ve teamed up with the lovely folks at Divine Chocolate to devise a The Big Lunch Fair Trade Hamper to make sure your party goes with a swing.  It’s designed to take away the hard work by creating your picnic for you - complete with delicious sweet treats as well as something healthier to munch on, not to forget drinks for adults as well as the kids. In fact all you really need to add is the sandwiches!

We’d love to know if you’re planning to get involved in the Big Lunch – where are you, who are you inviting, and how are you bribing the weatherman…?

Image via: foodforlife.org.uk

It’s that time of year again - judging for the fourth annual Triodos Women in Ethical Business Awards is under way, and here at Ethical Superstore we are delighted that three of the finalists are business-women we have been supporting for years.

Anne MacCaig, chief executive of Cafedirect, has been nominated in the Ethical Business Awards category. Cafedirect’s Fairtrade labelled coffees and tea were among the first products seen on the virtual Ethical Superstore shelves, and since then the brand has grown into a nationally recognised name. Anne’s commitment to generating social and environmental benefits for grower communities deserve the recognition given in this finalist position, a worthy winner of the title.

Sarah Brooks and Susi Lennox and their company Yes Pure Intimacy, the only range of organic intimate lubricants and moisturisers, have been nominated in the Ethical Small Business Award Category. Sold through EthicalSuperstore since 2008, Yes products may not be the first line that springs to mind when thinking of ethical trading, but these intimate products have become one of our increasingly popular lines. Sarah and Susi are pioneers for ethical trading in this field, making them excellent contenders for the award.

Zaytoun, also nominated in the Ethical Small Business category, is an olive oil producing company run by Heather Gardener-Masoud, dedicated to improving the lives of olive farmers in Palestine. Showing real dedication to her cause Heather started as a volunteer, before identifying the market gap and transforming her fledgling idea into a multi-million pound business. Her development of the world’s first Fairtrade olive oil and obvious commitment to the cause makes Heather a forerunner in this category.

Despite the current economic climate, people are still choosing to shop ethically to ensure that their hard earned cash benefits the people who deserve it most. Indeed perhaps you could even say that shopping ethically will help to foster the green shoots of hope of economic recovery in places that really need it.

Here at Ethical Superstore we are proud to support women who pioneer in ethical business. The three women nominated for the 2009 awards have vitally contributed to improving the lives of others through viable and profitable businesses, and we wish them all possible success in the final.

Click here to place your vote. The deadline is Friday June 19 at 5pm.

India is a remarkable country. After only a three week visit I’m hardly qualified to say that I know it well, but during my trip I certainly got a wonderful impression of the place, the people and the varied and colourful histories of the different areas.

It’s a country of extreme contrasts: from dry and arid deserts to humid jungles and back waters, but I think the starkest contrast is that of the way that people have, and still do live. With World Fair Trade Day around the corner, it’s a good time to recognise and reflect upon these contrasts, and give extra recognition and a round of applause to the people who are working towards making a difference.

Upon my arrival in Delhi, I was lucky enough to be introduced to the people behind Tara Projects, a long established Fair Trade organisation which is helping to make a difference for the people involved in their programmes. Having never visited a workshop of this kind before I was really excited to be able to visit and discover more of what goes on behind the scenes, and meet the driving forces behind the widespread good work that this organisation achieves.

Read the rest of Fair Trade in Action - My Visit to Tara Projects »

Peaches Geldof lives her life in the limelight. As the daughter of Bob Geldof and Paula Yates, Peaches has had a high profile right from day one, and as one of the UK’s most prolific socialites she’s rarely out of the glossy mags.

Some people might be tempted to criticise her for having life handed to her on a plate, but today we’re applauding Miss Geldof for going the extra mile. Proving that she’s listened to some of the lessons that her dad’s work has taught her, Peaches has been working alongside one of our favourite fair trade jewellery manufacturers, Made, to design and produce a fabulous new range of handmade fairly traded jewellery which we think really hits the spot.

In Peaches’ own words:

“I like Made because it’s ethical yet this doesn’t compromise the fashionable status of their collections…the handmade attention to detail adds something special to each piece created.”

This bold, bright and stylish range was inspired by warm summer days and daisy chains. It’s the perfect way to jazz up your summer wardrobe as the days (slowly!) start to get a little warmer.

Photo via: peachesgeldof.net

I was thinking of enrolling my two youngest children on a Drama course in the Easter holidays until I checked the dates on the calendar - the course took place on Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday. There must be some mistake. I checked again. No, definitely those days. Would people really send their kids on a course on those days? Don’t they have better things to do as a family on Easter Sunday? Has it really become just like any other day?
It reminded me of last football season when I wrongly assumed there would be no game for my son’s team on Easter Sunday morning. I was made to feel a fool, but was I really the fool? Do we really believe that just buying all that is on offer will make for a proper celebration?

Easter, like all our annual festivals, has become a great marketing opportunity - Easter bonnets, bunnies, gifts and of course, chocolate eggs. Not that any of this is in itself  wrong, but it focuses our attention on what we buy and away from the actual significance of the event.

Whether as individuals we share in the Christian celebration of the Easter weekend or not, we can all participate in celebrating new life -

Read the rest of Celebrating Life At Easter »

Twenty years ago, my husband and I got married at Castle Methodist Church, Colchester. I wore gypsophila in my hair a la Charlene from Neighbours; he should have gone to Specsavers. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were happy smiley people.

Twenty years ago, we were local Traidcraft reps in a fair trade wilderness. We held stalls in church halls and did talks at women’s groups in church halls. We tried to persuade people to give the coffee a go. Muesli and honey were seen as the safe options to try (although I did once find a small lump of coal in my muesli which was reduced to dust by the time I sent it to Customer Complaints). You could not buy a single fair trade item in a supermarket; you could not even envisage a day when that would become a reality.

Sixteen years ago,

Read the rest of Twenty Years On…. »

Comparing ourselves to other parents is a risky business. I waver between criticism of them eg. “Other parents let their kids stay up too late” - or inferred criticism of myself eg. “Other parents spend more time reading with their kids than we do.” Either way, it sucks.

Still, with Mother’s Day on the horizon, I will be affirmed in my role as Mum for one day, at least. The one day where having five children really pays off! Although to share the day with my daughter’s eleventh birthday is rather unfortunate, in my opinion.

Anyway, what is possibly even worse than comparing myself to other parents (and being compared to them by my kids is up there, too), is assuming that all parents think as we do. When I was called into school last Friday with a group of parents to discuss an incident of fighting, I was amazed when one man assertively informed the teacher that he was sure that all parents would join him in saying that they teach their children to

Read the rest of Other Parents »

Whilst enjoying my tea and toast this morning, I was pleased to hear the news announcer declaring that America anticipates pulling itself out of the recession by the end of the year. This headline was music to my ears, as surely global recovery will eventually follow. I’m sure everyone is as sick of hearing about ‘the current economic climate’ as I am, so an end to this Credit Crunch will be a huge relief.

With so much doom and gloom in the media, one would be forgiven for thinking that everything in our economy has ground entirely to a halt. However here at Ethical Superstore we’re absolutely delighted that even in this current economic climate (sorry – I couldn’t resist using the phrase!), people are still staying true to their beliefs and their ethics and continuing to buy what they believe.

Beliefs and principles are important to all of us, but the good news for consumers is that often products that are easy on the environment don’t need to cost you a fortune - We’ve got plenty of energy saving gadgets which will help you to reduce your fuel bills, and many of our household and cleaning selection are great money savers too. But beyond these items, we are so pleased that so many of you are staying faithful to your loyalty to fair trade and organic products amongst other beliefs, despite their (often unfounded) reputations for being slightly more expensive.

Read the rest of Credit Crunch Defying Ethics »

Having messed around with my family’s food and drink options during Fairtrade Fortnight, I’ve decided to sneakily introduce Meat Free Mondays at a time when their defences are low.

Before I move on to that, my fair trade education went down a storm. As expected, there was outrage when one member of the family got a bar of chocolate and the rest got none. Not sure how much the message got through their own seething sense of injustice at that stage. Then the emotional pressure exerted on the most fortunate one worked and we experienced a family bonding moment as he broke the chocolate into pieces into the fondue pot and let us all dip fair trade fruit into it. Touching. Memorable. An insight into fair trade? Time will tell…

Back to Meat Free Mondays. This idea has been brewing for a while, having read about it in a magazine. My husband is back to being a full-time vegetarian; my ten year old daughter is toying with the idea; and we are definitely eating more vegetables since joining the organic veg box scheme. Even my oldest son is being pressured by his girlfriend to eat

Read the rest of Meat Free Mondays »

my only concessions were recycled toilet paper and free range eggs

This fortnight, I will only be buying fair trade and organic…

Monday saw the start of Fairtrade Fortnight and I decided to set myself the challenge of only buying fairtrade and organic products for two weeks. And I mean only - where there is no fairtrade or organic option, we will do without. (I survived half term with no heating and no hot water - how hard can this be?)

Therefore, at the checkout of my local ASDA store on Monday, I had a trolley full of ethical food and boy, was I proud of it! My only concessions (and I hope you will allow me these) were recycled toilet paper and free range eggs. Going without toilet paper was a step too far and although I believe you can buy organic eggs, I lack the stamina to trail round other stores looking for them.

The checkout assistant couldn’t fail to notice this was a family shop with a difference and a conversation ensued (which was part of the purpose of the challenge). She informed me that

Read the rest of My Personal Fairtrade Fortnight Challenge »