It’s been a hard day’s night…

Posted by Sally

March 10, 2010

…. while I’ve been working on these blogs!

Phew! I can’t quite believe that Fairtrade Fortnight is over; it’s been a mad frenzy of swaps and blogs, not to mention vlogs! That being said I have thoroughly enjoyed myself, I hope you have enjoyed following me and making comments.

When I began this challenge I thought I was quite fair trade savvy, but I have to admit that this experience has really opened my eyes and shown me how easy it is to directly impact fair trade producers in the developing world.

Looking back, I think that defining the list of swaps was the hardest aspect of my challenge. As I already use a number of Fairtrade products, it was initially difficult to come up with 14 items that were suitable for the swap. This didn’t last long though and before I knew it I had far too many products to choose from!

I really wanted to use the blog to highlight the range of Fairtrade products that are readily available in the UK, especially those that cannot be certified themselves but are made up of materials such as Fairtrade cotton or fair trade rubber. I think the rubber washing up gloves and the mint crumbles are the best example of this as I certainly hadn’t heard of them!

I have to admit that, perhaps for obvious reasons, my favourite swap was the Fairtrade Vodka. Apart from being a lot of fun, it gave me the opportunity to show my friends that fair trade is not just about coffee and hippies, which (although I hate to say it) was their opinion before trying my Vodka Capriowskas. If nothing else, FAIR Vodka really showed me how far the movement has come since the days of ‘Campaign Coffee’.

The other swap I felt had the greatest impact was the Emma Watson for People Tree badge. It looks great and I’ve had tons of compliments. I think the collaboration with Emma Watson was a great move by People Tree; great for raising awareness of ethical fashion but also ethical issues, especially amongst young people. As with the rubber gloves and the mints, the badge shows just how easy it is to make a small change to your lifestyle and a big impact in another part of the world.

There are over 4,000 Fairtrade products available for you to try, so why not start by swapping one or two items during your weekly shop? Ok, so you may not reach the 4,000 mark but even the smallest of changes counts. And remember, if you want to do something a little different to support fair trade, you could always open an account with Shared Interest and help farmers and handicraft makers in the developing world without even opening your front door.