FAIR TRADE - Celebrate World Fair Trade Day

May 11, 2006

WHY BUY *FAIR TRADE* PRODUCTS:

MORE INFO:

http://www.maketradefair.com - http://www.fairtrade.net - http://www.fairtradefederation.org/mft.html

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Dear Supporter,Saturday, May 13th is World Fair Trade Day, which provides an opportunity for people around the globe to support, promote and celebrate a socially responsible system of trade that prioritizes the needs of human beings and the environment over the drive for profits.

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TAKE ACTION NOW!

Read Global Exchange’s Six Things You Can Do to Celebrate World Fair Trade Day

Make Your Next Purchase Fair Trade! Check out the offerings at Global Exchange’s Fair Trade Online Store

Fair Trade is important because conventional “free trade” often leaves farmers and artisans living in extreme poverty, sometimes even facing malnutrition and starvation when world market prices swing dramatically. These are the conditions that have led in some cases to the use of illegal child labor, including child slave labor, and to the use of unsustainable environmental practices such as cutting down trees in the rainforest. Fair Trade, by contrast, ensures that farmers and artisans are paid a living wage, and that the products they produce aren’t made in sweatshops or by exploited child laborers. Fair Trade also promotes production techniques that will not harm the environment. Global Exchange is proud to be a long-time promoter of Fair Trade. In honor of World Fair Trade Day, we hope you’ll join us in taking one or more of the actions below. As GX co-founder Kevin Danaher always says, we can’t just limit ourselves to protesting against corporate-driven globalization; we also need to create and support an alternative system that is based on our values of peace, justice and environmental sustainability.Thanks for all your hard work on behalf of peace and justice,Global Exchange

Six Things You Can Do to Celebrate World Fair Trade DayOrganize Or Attend a Fair Trade Event on May 13thBring in a speaker who can talk about Fair Trade, serve Fair Trade coffee and chocolate, hand out flyers, and encourage people in your community to start a local Fair Trade campaign. Or join an event that’s already planned. See events listings on these websites:http://www.transfairusa.org/content/support/events.phphttp://www.wftday.org/english/events/index.htm Purchase Fair Trade ProductsMother’s Day is coming up. Why not buy your mother a Fair Trade handbag or scarf or mug for Mother’s Day? Global Exchange’s Online Store has many wonderful Fair Trade gift items and two promotions for World Fair Trade Day: free chocolate until May 13th with purchases of $50 or more and a 10% discount (enter Coupon Code wftd2006). Visit Fair Trade/TransFair USA or The Fair Trade Federation for a list of Fair Trade stores in your local community.Encourage Local Cafes and Stores to Carry Fair Trade ProductsAs a consumer, you have influence. Ask to speak with the manager at a store where you regularly shop, and encourage the manager to carry Fair Trade coffee, chocolate or other Fair Trade products. Tell him/her you care about producers’ rights and the environment. Click Here for a sample script. If there’s a suggestion box, drop in a note about Fair Trade. At your neighborhood Starbucks, ask them to brew Fair Trade coffee as the coffee of the day.Fax Nestle and World’s Finest Chocolate to Demand Fair TradeThe problem of forced child labor, including child slave labor, is rampant on the West African cocoa farms from which many major chocolate companies buy their cocoa beans. The chocolate companies have acknowledged the problem but haven’t acted to stop it. Send a fax to Nestlé and World’s Finest Chocolate today, and tell them you want your chocolate slave-free!Travel with GX Reality Tours and Meet Fair Trade ProducersIt’s one thing to believe in and support Fair Trade; it’s quite another to see first-hand how Fair Trade improves the daily lives of farmers and artisans. Two upcoming Global Exchange Reality Tours feature visits to Fair Trade cooperatives and much more: our July delegations to Nicaragua and Oaxaca, Mexico.Spread the Word About Fair TradeMany of your friends, co-workers and family members probably haven’t heard of Fair Trade. Why not take the opportunity provided by World Fair Trade Day to send them an email about Fair Trade or start a conversation about it around the dinner table? You can find lots of Fair Trade educational material on the following websites:

Global Exchange - Fair Trade

TransFair USA

World Fair Trade Day 2006

Global Exchange is an international human rights group that relies on its members - tens of thousands of people like you - to work with us to create social, political and environmental justice.Please become a Global Exchange member today. Your tax-deductible donation helps keep our programs running.

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