Where I'm At Now (Part 2)

The next post in the series of some of the transitions we've made.

Anyone that knows me, knows I'm a big coffee drinker.

Coffee is actually one of my exception items on my 100-Mile Diet (Details in future post)

A lot of coffee is produced in countries that are politically unstable. What this means in very brief terms, is that the coffee is controlled by large coffee cartels. The cartels market the coffee and make the profit passing very little along to the farmers.

The farmers are then forced to enlist their families, since they have no money to pay workers, and are denied proper meals, education and medical treatment. 

Fair Trade Coffee is usually grown in farmer owned cartels or co-ops where the farmers make more of the profits allowing them to live better lives. Most Fair Trade Coffee growers also grow the coffee organically and are excellent stewards of the earth.

 

One of the companies I've found is Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-operative Limited , http://www.justuscoffee.com/Default.aspx

I'm not trying to promote this company, I'm just using it as an example. Their site has a lot of info about Fair Trade.

 

Just Us! also has tea, chocolate and sugar, all from the Fair Trade variety.

For me, it's only Fair Trade Organic coffee at home and I look for it in coffee shops too.