Fair Trade Month: October

Happy Fair Trade Month!  Dining celebrated last Wednesday with a Fair Trade coffee and chocolate sampling event right outside of Crossroads, and we had a great time sharing these little bites with passersby along with a bit of education about Fair Trade certification and what it means in regards to sustainability.

Info tabling for Fair Trade Month

A few Fair Trade facts:

• Economics -- Fair Trade certified businesses work cooperatively together in order to cut out the middleman and receive a living wage for their products.  This ensures a sustainable business model.
• Envionment -- The Fair Trade certification requires agricultural items to be grown according to specific environmental standards that prevent deforestation and erosion, and use of toxins that can harm the water supply, among other criteria.  This ensures a sustainable growing environment.
• Equity -- Some revenues earned through Fair Trade certification are put towards improving infrastructure, like building schools, health clinics, or libraries.  Children and women in particular are empowered through these resulting opportunities.  This ensures a sustainable community.

Dining is proud to carry a number of Fair Trade certified products in our retail locations - and not just during the month of October! 

Fair Trade label

These are the Fair Trade certified products that Crossroads carries on any given day:

• Green & Black's organic chocolate bars (Almond, Dark, White, Maya Gold, Hazelnut & Currant)
• Ben & Jerry's ice cream (Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, and Half-Baked)
• Choice organic tea (Chamomile, Classic Black, and Classic Green)
• Honest Tea (Black Forest Berry, Green Dragon Tea, Just Green Tea, Peach Oo-La-Long, Pearfect White Tea, Pomegranate Red Tea with Goji Berry)
• Coffee 

Handing out samples

Sydney and Sedia spread the word about Fair Trade Month

Fair Trade USA has also just introduced a new "Fair Trade Finder" App that allows you to easily find Fair Trade items wherever you are -- and needs people like you to help populate the database.  Check out the Fair Trade website for more information.

Thanks for stopping by last week, and check out the Fair Trade products throughout the rest of the month and beyond!  Remember: every purchase matters.