On Ethical Consumerism: a Look at Fair Trade
November 28th, 2009
Browse through your nearby Tescos, and you’re looking at the miracle of globalization. One can purchase almost any item at super-low costs. Whether it’s from Indonesia or rum from Argentina - it’s available throughout the year. There’s never been a better period of time in the history of humanity to be a consumer in the west. This has come about by just in time stock control, large scale production, powerful market competition, and possibly most influentially, the fact that most goods are sourced, and frequently manufactured, in second and third world nations.
That last reason is rather substantive, and very controversial. While shoppers are buying food, drink, clothing and other items manufactured from second and third world nations at cheap cost, workers and businesses in these producing nations are often short-changed in the process, and have no true sustainability since they are the last stop of a very lengthy chain of middle-men who control what they make, how much, and how often. This lengthy string of middle men all receive their cut too - in the end there’s not a great deal of money left for the end-of-line manufacturer.
Nevertheless, there’s assistance for these exploited labourers and companies. Fairtrade is a cause which looks to empower such end-manufacturing business organizations in the poorest countries of the planet. It attempts to banish these middle-men, and pay the end-producer a fair price for an item in a far more primary way. You might have encountered Fairtrade items in your nearest super market. Sometimes they’re a bit more expensive, but by buying such ethical products - for instance ethical jewellery - you will know the producer is operating in a sustainable business environment that not only pays them fairly via much more direct revenue streams, but it also provides them to reinvest in their business through higher profits, which genuinely makes a difference to these poorer areas of the planet.
Entry Filed under: Consumer Planet