Can Fair Trade Stop Global Warming?

[via: conservationvalue.blogspot.com]

I started thinking about this question after I saw Idea maker, Keith Rouda advocate for his Idea to Replace Free Trade with Fair Trade on the Stop Global Warming blog. Plus, global warming has been mentioned a lot lately because it is most likely contributing to the near 70 degree weather going on in San Francisco. 70 degrees. If you look at the calendar, it's January. Did I mention 70 degrees?

So, back to my question: Can Fair Trade stop global warming? One of the main tenets of Fair Trade is environmental sustainability, so while it is not the sole solution to the problem, it is offering one of many solutions to alleviate the problem of climate change. So, how is Fair Trade doing this? Let us count the ways.

In the so-called 'Green' Revolution of the 1970s, the US Agency for International Development and others gave millions of dollars to Central American farmers to replace traditional shade grown farming techniques with 'sun cultivation' to increase coffee yields. This meant an increased use of chemicals and pesticides, cutting down of trees and monocropping, which essentially led to the severe destruction of forests and the biodiversity of over 1.1 million hectares and also the extinction of songbirds [via: globalexchange.org].

To counter this destruction, the Fair Trade movement addresses the situation with the farmer's interests and their local ecosystem in mind. Small-farmers were seeing the destruction around them and knowing the value of the land, were determined to see their land survive for future generations.

Over 80% of Fair Trade Certified coffee is shade grown preserving crucial habitat for migratory birds, plants, insects and animals. In a study by Mario Bolanos Mendez, he found sixty identifiable plants, more than one hundred bird species, several reptile species and mammals in a few sample shade-grown coffee plots [via: Brewing Justice].

Over 60% of Fair Trade Certified coffee is also certified Organic requiring the farmers to use non-chemical methods of pest management. Fair Trade farmers also implement soil and conservation methods such as reforestation, terracing and composting. [via: TransFairUSA]

The work that Fair Trade does with small-scale producers is a step toward reducing out environmental footprint. As Equal Exchange points out:

[T]he sustainable farming practices of small-scale producers actually help cool the planet, protect the environment, and restore local eco-systems.  Organic farming, reforestation, soil and watershed protection, and the use of stoves that convert organic waste into methane gas are just some of the ways in which small-scale farmers are keeping our food, our bodies, and our eco-systems healthy.  By supporting small-scale farmers, we can bring justice to the food system and help reduce the effects of our changing climate.  It’s a win-win solution that benefits us all.

Sustainability is the name of the game. More reasons behind the benefits of Fair Trade on the environment? The Fair Trade Resource Network gives you five along with stories from those in the Fair Trade movement and their work to alleviate the problem of climate change.

The Fair Trade movement explores different solutions to various problems facing us today, such as global warming. While it may not be the sole solution, Fair Trade movement proves that business and trade can put the environment and people before profit.  As environmental activist Vandana Shiva once said about Fair Trade..

Fair Trade is ... the practice of what trade should really look like if it has to serve the earth, protect farmers, protect our biodiversity, and protect our cultural diversity.