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Fair trade is a progressive effort taking place worldwide. Fair traders' goals include heightening consumer awareness on the origins of their purchases so consumers can support businesses that fairly compensate their workers and operate with a high ethical standard.
The city of Chico has recently been declared a fair trade town, with approximately 17 businesses selling fair trade products. Some vendors on the Chico State campus also offer fair trade choices.
"Chico becoming a fair trade town reflects well on students because it shows we're conscious of where the things we buy are coming from," said senior Ali Werner.
She works at Union Graphics and frequents the Common Grounds cafe, where she regularly buys the fair trade coffee offered there.
Werner would like to see fair trade products advertised more on campus, she said. If students were more aware of what fair trade is, they would make the effort to buy those products.
"I think a lot of students here are interested in helping others," Werner said. "It's a way to give back."
Werner also works at Starbucks and tries to promote the fair trade products offered there, she said.
"I tell people where their money is going and how they're helping out when they buy fair trade," Werner said. "Not a lot of people know what it is."
Some students observe that buying fair trade products may not be as realistic as it is beneficial.
Sophomore Garrett Haffey hadn't heard about fair trade and isn't sure it would be first and foremost on the agenda of all college students, he said.
"I would like to buy fair trade, but in the college setting, it's not really top priority" Haffey said.
He thinks some students might not buy fair trade products for the same reason they might not buy organic food, he said. It's not mass-produced so it's a little bit more expensive.
"America, and the whole world to an extent, kind of has this importance of brand names ingrained on them," he said. "Plus, I think there is a large percentage of people that don't know about it."
As buying fair trade products starts to catch on among the younger generation, the Chico Peace and Justice Center has worked hard to make Chico an official fair trade town.
Fair trade means a business conducts safe, moral and fair practices in the production of their products, said Sue Hilderbrand, fair trade team director at the Chico Peace and Justice Center. When businesses demonstrate they are up to those standards they are awarded a stamp of approval as fair traders.
For Chico to be declared a fair trade town, 17 local businesses had to sign a pledge to action stating their support of fair trade principles and to carry at least two products from fair trade businesses around the world, she said.
"In a nutshell, a fair trade certified product means that an organization went to where the product is produced and made sure certain standards were met in the production," Hilderbrand said.
Products in the local stores can be identified as fair trade goods by a stamp, she said. The consumer is rewarding the producer for ethical business practices by choosing to buy their product from local distributors.
"Once a producer is certified as a fair trade business it really means a lot," she said.
Chico is the second city to be declared a fair trade town in California and the 10th in the nation, according to the Chico Peace and Justice Center's Web site.
Chico citizens have the option of choosing to buy products that were produced using ethical business standards, said Jim Henson, leader of the fair trade team at the Chico Peace and Justice Center.
"This is something we can all do in this community," Henson said. "We care in this country and in this city."
The Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International does the inspection and approves a producer to be marked as a fair trade business, Henson said. If a business follows those moral standards it can be certified.
Fair trade includes direct trade, no unnecessary corporate middlemen taking cuts and transparency that the organization is democratic, he said. Henson proposed the idea that Chico become a fair trade town more than a year ago.
His hope was realized after Mayor Ann Schwab cut the ribbon binding the "Art Hands" outside Chico Municipal Building on Feb. 14 to declare Chico a fair trade town.
"It gives people in Chico a chance to help their brothers and sisters in other parts of the world," Schwab said.
By paying fair prices, producers in developing countries are empowered to invest in their communities and protect their environment, Schwab said.
Locals at the event welcomed this title for Chico.
"In terms of fair trade, we're used to prices that don't reflect the true costs of things," said Chico newcomer Ruby Perry. "Fair trade addresses and recognizes what those true costs are."
Corporate ad companies work against the goals of fair trade by encouraging people to buy products from big corporate businesses that have arrangements to buy and import products for much cheaper than the actual labor is worth, Perry said.
Local business owners are proud to get on board with the fair trade cause.
African Connection store owner Cecilia Richardson was one of the first business owners to sign the fair trade pledge to action.
People are becoming aware of how they can help people developing countries, said Richardson, a native to Ghana, Africa.
"I know there are a lot of people around the world that need help," she said. "If we are supporting them and helping the market, we are doing good."
Joel Hersch can be reached at: jhersch@theorion.com
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