The first part of this post was taken from Rediscovering Social Justice: A Year of Awareness, a blog written by two students, one studying law and the other interior design. They wanted to do something good, so they are spending 2012 blogging about important stuff. Check out their daily posts, which help us to be advocates as we try to change the world!
What is Fair Trade?
If you don’t know what fair trade is, mosey on over to this post by Rediscovering Social Justice, which explains this simply. Technically, you can have a fair trade product that is not certified yet is still fair trade. Fair trade actually is a principle that international businesses can (should) embrace. It is a choice to value your workers, and not cheat them, giving them a fair wage within the context of their life.
Fair Trade Certified Beverages:
Without further ado, here is a quick guide to Fair Trade Certified drinks you can find at your local grocery store or gas station:
Steaz produces several types of beverages that are all Fair Trade Certified: Iced teas, sparkling teas, and energy shots.
A delicious yerba mate beverage that “has the strength of coffee, the health benefits of tea, and the euphoria of chocolate”. They come in large cans, bottles, or organic energy shots.
Holistics beverages are natural and have a wonderful fruity taste! They are one of the newest beverages to become completely Fair Trade Certified.
Fantastic and delicious organic high antioxidant low sugar tea! By 2011, they had planned to be completely Fair Trade Certified.
Have you ever tried one of these drinks? Let me know in the comments what tastes good and what doesn’t! And always keep an eye out for a fair trade symbol, like these ones below!
Support REBBL: A New Beverage Fighting Modern Slavery!
Notably, this summer, Not For Sale, a very cool org which works to end Human Trafficking and other injustices, is launching a new herbal drink called REBBL. Not only does this drink have a super cool name, but it will help provide jobs in South America, where people are at risk for being trafficked. Sustainable development work like launching REBBL, funding microloans, and creating fair trade businesses is what actually stops modern slavery before it stops!
In addition, Not For Sale will also be using the proceeds of REBBL to fund good stuff:
“The company will also reinvest a portion of proceeds to provide aftercare and rehabilitation to survivors of slavery.”
This is cool, because by doing this Not For Sale isn’t just depending us donors to indefinitely support their charity work.
They are also being pretty brave, asking us to help them launch this new social-good business. Today and tomorrow they are hoping to raise the remaining $55K needed to do this! That is a lot! But they already have raised 100K, which is pretty amazing. And, we get to try out this yummy drink if we donate over $35 to help the Peruvian Amazon area move out of poverty and escape human trafficking.
Please donate today by going to their CAUSES page! You might never meet the people you helped, but you can know you made history!
More Fair Trade Good Stuff:
To learn about Fair Trade beauty products, click here.
To learn more about Fair Trade chocolates, click here.
Great post! You hit the point right on the head in saying that sustainable development is going to stop trafficking before it starts. Thank you for being a part of the movement to end slavery!