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Ignite Locally: Young
Adult/Campus Ministry Justice Workshop Young Adult Caucus |
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Ignite Locally: Young
Adult/Campus Ministry Justice Workshop Young Adult Caucus |
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Does the source of that fresh coffee brew ever cross your mind? Imagine this… another sultry day of gathering coffee beans with your family. Since you can get only 60 cents a pound of beans, you collect them in large baskets, and then bags between 50 and 100 pounds. Those of your family who can carry them start the arduous journey out of the hills to sell the beans to the local 'coyotes' the name for middlemen in the coffee bean industry. The last couple of years have seen lower prices in the world coffee bean market. After selling your land to a large corporation, your family now works for them. The company has a genetically altered bean that can grow in direct sun rather than in the shade of the indigenous trees, increasing yield. They clear-cut the forests all around your home to make way for the new fields. Unfortunately this new coffee bean requires artificial protection from local insects. You fear these chemicals may be affecting the health of your family, but what can you do?
I'm sorry if I just ruined your cup of coffee, but this is the normal situation for most of the world's coffee producing families. So you have never give much thought to your coffee? Consider this, coffee beans are the worlds second largest commodity industry, second to petroleum. It is the most important product for most of Latin America. The United States consumes 1/5th of this market. Mexico is the 4th largest producer of coffee in the world. The state of Chiapas produces 46% of Mexico's coffee, but their people lag far behind in standards of living. People are forced to sell to middlemen, and they have no way of knowing the market price the middlemen are getting.
The good news is, consumers do have a level of control in these matters. We affect peoples lives by how we spend our money. Enter, Equal Exchange and Global Exchange.
Equal Exchange
Using internationally recognized fair trade standards, Equal Exchange seeks to balance the inequities found in the conventional coffee trade. Equal Exchange is a worker-owned cooperative organization, very different than a typical corporation. Their highest paid employee is only allowed to make three times more than the lowest paid employee. The first principle of fair trade is guaranteed minimum price, currently around $1.25 per pound in the coffee bean market. An interesting side affect of coffee bean price fluctuation is a related rise or fall in the narcotics industry. Families will make a living how they can. Most large coffee producing corporations push the price down year after year.
The program targets communities that are willing to form cooperatives. The cooperatives receive part of their money from a ten-month contract up front. This allows them to purchase supplies and arrange transportation of their beans. The program gives farmers hope. It gives communities hope. Each cooperative owns its own business, and it can be operated with a civil democratic process, or their traditional tribal leadership model. By working together, these new cooperatives can then provide their own community services such as better education, health care, and other social services. In Uciri, Mexico, the cooperative funds a bus line. Other cooperative businesses are spawned on same enterprising concepts, such as clothing. Coops provide better aid to refugees and displaced peoples after natural disasters. Shade grown coffee survives floods and land slides. Also, no pesticides are required for shade-grown coffee.
Consumers in North America have the power to change lives in Latin America. This is not through charity either. By purchasing Equal Exchange brands of coffee, consumers make profound impacts on issues such as rainforest environmental management, quality of life, education, economic justice, and a new kind of corporate culture.
Erbin Crowell, Equal Exchange's Coordinator of Interfaith Programs, is currently working with the UUSC to develop the UUSC Coffee Program. Other faith-based organizations that Equal Exchange works with are Lutheran World Relief and the American Friends Service Committee. Erbin's motto is 'joining faith and fair trade'. Equal Exchange is sharing some of their profit with UUSC to support our missions in coffee growing regions.
Equal Exchange is set up at Booth 527. To learn more visit http://www.equalexchange.com/ or email them at info@equalexchange.com.
Global Exchange
Global Exchange is a nonprofit human rights organization dedicated to promoting environmental, political, and social justice around the world. Co-founder Dr. Kevin Danaher poses the question, 'Do we subordinate society and nature to the economy, or do we subordinate the economy to society and nature?'
TransFair USA is the only non-profit certification organization for Fair Trade products in the US. This type of program existed in Europe for nearly ten years before coming to North America.
The Certified Fair Trade label ensures consumers of practices, such as coffee at $1.26 per pound. In 2001 the prices fluctuate around $0.60 per pound. According to Danahar, canned coffee is some of the most exploited coffee in the market. This due in part to the World Bank loans to companies to increase their output.
The cities of San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley have passed resolutions to purchase Fair Trade certified coffee and tea. As the kickoff, the city of San Francisco brought a farmer from Nicaragua to pour first cup. When the press asked what Equal Exchange meant to him he replied “Now I can buy a donkey to carry my bags to market.” Every Sunday around 300,000 churches serve coffee as part of their fellowship. Why not share some of that good will with the communities that struggle to supply it? Every dollar spent allows Fair Trade to organize further grass roots initiatives.
Global Exchange is working to get people beyond charity and into solidarity (unity of goals and purpose). Charity is a break-fix approach that does not go for the root cause. In many cases those in need would like to solve their own problems, but they require support. Change your actions to support them by purchasing Fair Trade products instead of always choosing the easiest or cheapest product. We have inherited 500 years of violent development of our society, at the cost of others. Most coffee farmers didn't dream of growing deserts for us, but rather give their families shelter and food. We can give them a better life with very little change in price on our end. The same concept applies for more products than just coffee.
In closing, it is important for us to balance the economic paradigm and the ecological paradigm. We must make sure economics reflect the true will of the people. In the United States we have separation of church and state. Danahar asks, 'Why not separation of corporations and state, to better reflect a true democracy?'
Things about it
So you want to think globally and act locally? Go to your church congregation, employer, city administrators, explain the background on Fair Trade and why products like coffee are important. Ask them to pass a resolution that coffee and other products should be Fair Trade certified. We all will rest easier knowing that the families growing and harvesting it are getting a living wage.
Reported for the Web by Aaron Myers
General Assembly 2001 · Program Grid
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