I’m sure you all have heard of Fairtrade products and know what this approach is about. I feel quite proud in a way of people that want to make difference in the world. We all enjoy having nights out with friends – drinking and eating. Not everyone, probably thinks even for a moment, how some products are made. But not in a literal, technological way, but what workers sometimes go through while producing the product. For example, farmers of Third World countries, live in terrible conditions that a lot of wealthy people cannot even imagine. It annoys me so much that some of the products I consume hide upsetting life stories. This is the reason why I support Fairtrade entirely. I admit that I’ve always drunk coke, but have recently decided to try my best to support Fairtrade approach. Fairtrade products are more expensive, but at the end of the day – aren’t they worth the price? By buying the products we can help these farmers with conditions of their day-to-day lives (their whole family’s)…. On the subject of coke, I attended an “Echo-Logik” party the other day (held at my university) organised by Conscious Consumers (love this name!) which had a beautiful aim – promoting Fairtrade! There I had a chance of trying the Ubuntu Coke, an alternative to the regular coke! And what is my impression? – no difference in taste at all, and on top of that it feels so good drinking it, because gives you an awareness of helping others, being fair. One can costs around £1, but again is totally worth the money. And I don’t really drink that much coke anyway, so once a week is not going to hurt anyone so I encourage you all to look for Fairtrade marks on shelves, and get at least 1 product, because it will make the difference. Fairtrade products are more expensive because:
- “the aim of Fairtrade is to pay a fair price to the producer and this usually means paying more;
- the aim of Fairtrade products has to include the cost of providing an international inspection system that can guarantee the Fairtrade standards are being met;
- the volume of Fairtrade sales is still relatively low compared to conventional products so there are not sufficient economies of scale to bring prices down substantially” (Canterbury City Council “Fairtrade Guide 2008”)

Are you a conscious consumer? Try to make the difference!

xxx