Playing fair: Students educate about trade

Some local student groups will spend the week working to educate the public about the global fair trade of goods.

Beginning today and running through Thursday, WSU and University of Idaho groups will collaborate and host Fair Trade Awareness Week, an event which focuses on the coffee industry and educating the local community about fairness in trade, lobbying for local business to support fair trade, and developing responsible consumers.

“Fair Trade Awareness Week is about educating our campus on the issues surrounding trade justice, coffee and the power of the consumer,” said Molly Boers, coordinator of the events. “Americans consume over a quarter of the world’s coffee. Our purchase power has the ability to change the global market and radically impact the people that produce the stuff we buy.” Though the U.S. economically benefits from purchasing cheap coffee, doing so places it in an unfavorable light and dampers the success of the nations that produce the goods, said Jason Puz, vice president of the WSU Young Democrats.

“It affects Americans in the sense that attitudes toward Americans have grown poor,” Puz said.

Puz said coffee industry injustices can lead to regional instability and poverty when the poor countries who supply goods to America are no longer able to support themselves.

Young Democrats President Chelsea Tremblay said injustice anywhere affects Americans because it is important to promote human rights in the U.S. By promoting fair trade in Pullman, she said the effort will inform the public and contribute to creating better living standards for the nations providing the goods.

The evidence that the U.S. contributes immensely to injustice and others’ poverty is clear, Boers said.

“Americans affect the injustice in the coffee industry far more than any coffee industry injustices affect Americans,” Boers said. “As the main consumers of coffee, American consumers control the practices and conditions for coffee farmers, producers, and communities in over 50 countries.” Boers said supporting fair trade products and companies is significant because it ensures a fair wage for workers, fair labor conditions, direct trade, community development and environmentally sustainable farming practices.

Puz encouraged applying consumer pressure to the issue by contacting local congressional leaders to push for the city’s investments going to businesses that support fair trade. He said if enough public pressure builds, legislators will take a stance on the issue.

Boers said students also can use everyday opportunities to take a stance.

“Start asking coffee shops to only purchase fairly traded products,” Boers said. “Make the choice to buy coffee only when you see the fair trade-certified sticker.” Boers urged students to buy coffee from more fair trade-conscious locations such as Café Moro, which supports fair trade and small-scale cooperatives by brewing Doma Coffee..

The four-day lineup of events will include a “tables and coffee” exhibit along with petitions and fair trade coffee booths from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today on the Glenn Terrell Mall, as well as a brewing demonstration by Equal Exchange today and Tuesday.

Also today, “Black Gold,” a documentary depicting the injustice in the coffee industry, will be showed at 8 p.m. in the CUB Auditorium.

Tuesday and Wednesday’s events will be highlighted by speakers. Jorge Alberto Tapia Ortiz will discuss fair trade communities in Santa Anita and Chiapas at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Fine Arts Auditorium. Daniel Jaffee, assistant professor of sociology at WSU-Vancouver, will deliver a broader lecture on fair trade coffee based on his book, “Brewing Justice: Fair Trade Coffee, Sustainability and Survival” at 8 p.m. Wednesday in CUE 202.

“We hope that people will begin to understand that what we buy is more than just ‘stuff’ because ‘stuff’ is always connected to people,” Boers said. “The espresso we drink represents 50 coffee beans handpicked by a worker who was paid around three American cents. We want to see ‘stuff’ in a new light.”

Source: www.dailyevergreen.com