Permaculture Pros

The history of what has come to be known as Fair Trade dates back to the mid-'40s in the United States when associations began to sell the handicrafts of poverty-stricken people. Edna Ruth Byler appears to have been the first Fair Trader when, as a volunteer in her Mennonite community, she visited Puerto Rico. There, she met women who were producing linen needlework, but living in abject poverty. Byler and a colleague then took some items to a world conference in Switzerland, thus exposing these items to the outside world. The recognition of quality led to the first truly Fair Trade agreement.

In these humble beginnings is the lesson of all revolutionary movements: it must start within the heart of the individual. Not everyone who witnessed what Edna Ruth Byler did, would have taken it upon themselves to engage in a new way of trading in the face of what she perceived to be entirely unjust. As we can see today too many people have been willingly, or unwillingly through ignorance, supporting a system that is predatory in its corporate approach of exploitation in order to provide the lowest price to the greatest numbers of people (The Great American Consumer). This can change, one consumer at a time.

Current economic conditions have led to much self-reflection and questioning about what we (the majority) have decided to support. If the current system is so great, then why is it failing? Why has it been revealed for the giant Ponzi scheme that it obviously is? Is there a better system? What would that system look like? There has been a decided answer brewing, and it centers on localism. Contrary to the promises of Globalization and "Free Trade" agreements, which have demonstrably done nothing more than transfer the labor of the producer nations (The Third World), to the consumer nations (The First World); "Fair Trade" agreements enable our world's most productive to be properly rewarded for their efforts. And their efforts, time and again, show that they are superior to the mass-produced garbage that overflows our landfills. In fact, the flight to quality, as noted by trend researcher, Gerald Celente, will likely be a repeat trend of what came out of Depression-era America through the '40s and '50s. This will be a natural reversal of the trend toward QUANTITY since the gluttonous '80s and '90s which have enabled a vast number of people to have more and more, while appreciating those things less and less. The new QUALITY revival will see the re-emergency of a leaner and healthier populace, both physically and emotionally.

Although Fair Trade principles have been around for 40 years, the first Fair Trade product was not made widely available until 1988, then to be followed by the FAIRTRADE mark developed in 1994 that properly defines what it is today. Since that time, thousands of Fair Trade products have been offered, and the sector continues to grow. Among many of the benefits of this designation are the following, as noted by A Fair Trade Hub:

1. Community Development: This is the essence of localism, where cooperatives are naturally formed, as opposed to being implemented by agencies divorced from real necessity. This structure lends itself to transparency and democracy.

2. Environmental Health: Principally driven by organic farming, producers can give the world healthy products that are free of GMOs, reduce the need for agrochemicals, and enhance biodiversity, instead of homogenize it.

3. Consumer Awareness: By engaging with local producers and learning the story behind the products we buy, we are made more aware of the communities (the people) who have produced the items on which we rely, as opposed to being subservient to duplicitous advertising which often hides the negative elements of corporate- and mass-produced consumption.

The FAIRTRADE Foundation is now the most widely recognized hub for both activism and for products. We at PermaculturePros intend to connect to FAIRTRADE producers across the globe in our shop in order to promote the truly revolutionary concept of the modern world: voting with your wallet. If we want to ensure a truly sustainable future and permanent culture, we must exercise our freedom to define exactly what we will accept and what we will not.