Fair Trade

*This post was written by Christina DesVaux, a friend of Conscious Lifestyle. You can learn more about her year in Montevideo, at "cdesvaux.wordpress.com.""

I was recently invited to be a guest lecturer at the University of Montevideo, in a seminar entitled Communication and Fashion. I am living in Montevideo, Uruguay for the year as aRotary Ambassadorial Research Scholar. I am taking courses at the University of Montevideo, in their School of Business and Entrepreneurial Studies. My research project will focus on female Uruguayan artisans and the North American based fair-trade organizations that buy from them.

Using Conscious Lifestyle (and its President, Michael Del Ponte) as a resource, the class and I engaged in a cross-cultural discussion of Fashion and Culture, looking at its macro contexts of Politics and Ecology. I was encouraged by the high level of participation and the insight into Uruguayan culture. There were some differences of note, especially in regards to the use of fashion to affect political change. The women in the class did not think that in Uruguay messaging on T-shirts was as effective as actual participation. That is to say, buying a shirt with a socio-political message did not hold the weight that perhaps it does in the States. More different still was the current U.S obsession with limiting our "clothing footprint." It was decided that usually ideas like organic vs. synthetic, green vs. traditional lifestyles don´t hold the cultural clout here like the seem to do elsewhere. Buying from up-and-coming designers, neighborhood markets, and other non-corporate brands seemed to be a better expression of "purchasing power."

What we did share was the idea that fashion speaks to cultural values and is a way in which we can express our self and our context. In the upcoming weeks we will discuss how fashion can act as an effective and thoughtful tool of personal expression. A summary of future classes will be posted on the course's blog.

Photo from GOOD Magazine's article "(Not) Ironic T-Shirts."

Although I don’t think the Girl Scouts are going to be selling boxes of CFL lightbulbs instead of cookies any time soon—why change a good and delicious thing?--groups of other stripes are always looking for creative ways to raise money for their organizations. Now your group can choose to sell recycled paper goods, green home cleaners, energy-efficient showerheads, and yes, low-energy lightbulbs through several Web-based green fundraising organizations. You register your group on the Web site, tell your prospective buyers to visit it and make their purchases, and your group gets a check in the mail.

LetsGoGreen.biz and Greenraising.comoffer groups the opportunity to earn between 25% and 40% of the price on each eco-conscious product their friends and relatives buy. This percentage is not as high as on traditional fundraising items—typically 50% to 75%--because traditional items are mass-produced, often overseas, thus cheaper to produce, making it easier to pass on a greater percentage of the profit. But green fundraising contains an educational and pro-environmental aspect—for both buyers and sellers--that can make up for the lower profit.

And if consumers like the products, they can keep on buying through the fundraising websites, generating additional income for the group after the initial drive is over. So if your group can operate with a steady stream of income instead of a one-time payment as in the traditional model, green fundraising may be something to think about.

Now if only there were a way to keep on buying Girl Scout cookies…

Come participate in the ?Gender and Fair Trade: Women in Developing Nations? summit to be held at the Hobart and William Smith Colleges on November 3. The topic for the conference is the impact of fair trade on women workers in developing nations, and will focus on the following questions:

* How are fair trade and gender interconnected?
* What is the best way to empower women in developing nations, what are some of the ways students can have an impact?
* How can students become involved in fair trade, both in their personal lives and at their colleges or universities?

Furthermore, there will be workshops lead by fellow students that will empower students to strategically discuss these issues with their peers, coordinate an event around fair trade, or organize a campaign to get fair trade products at your campus.

The tentative schedule is provided below. The summit will take place at Albright Auditorium on the HWS campus in Geneva, NY.

9:00- 9:45 Registration and Breakfast
9:45- 10:15 Welcome and Introduction
10:15- 11:15 Keynote Speaker--Marceline White, Executive Director of Americans for Informed Democracy
11:15- 12:00 Workshops
12:00- 1:15 Lunch and Breakout Discussions
1:15- 2:15 Panel Presentation & Q&A
2:15- 3:00 Closing Remarks

The summit will feature a provocative keynote address by Marceline White, AID President and former Deputy Director of the Greater Access to Trade Expansion (GATE) Project funded by USAID's Office of Women and Development. Also on the agenda is a panel discussion with high-profile experts who can inspire interesting discussion about gender and fair trade. Among the confirmed panelists are Edward Kowalewski, professor of International Business at the University at Buffalo and head of international trade and investment for Empire State Development; and Debbie Naybor, organizer of the non-profit group With Both Your Hands, which raises money to start businesses and build schools in Africa.

Finally, sustainable and fair trade breakfast and lunch will be offered to give participants an opportunity to immediately interact with fair trade products. This conference is free for students to attend!

You can register to participate in the summit here or contact sam@aidemocracy.org for more information.

As always, at Conscious Lifestyle we like to think about making change on the individual and institutional levels. How can we get students and schools involved with this initiative?

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To read more, sign the petition, and get involved, visit the Organic Consumers Association's website.

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