Vote to Brew Up Some Change
All over the U.S. today, people are casting their ballots. I've never missed an opportunity to vote since the day I turned 18, and today I'm giving you an opportunity to cast your vote for a group of small-farmers in South Africa who are cultivating for change for themselves and the world around them.
Fair Trade pioneers, Equal Exchange, have been supporting the Heiveld and Wupperthal cooperatives for years by working directly with them to offer their delicious Rooibos Tea. The Heiveld and Wupperthal cooperatives also put their land and the environment first by mitigating the effects of the warming climate o
n their production. Thanks to their work for the environment, they have been selected as one of 12 finalist in the 2008 BBC World Challenge competition. This challenge is aimed at finding projects or small businesses from around the world that have shown enterprise and innovation at a grass roots level. The winner will receive $20,000 to invest in their project/business and two runner-ups will each receive $10,000.
Voting is now open on the BBC website (and goes through November 21st), and you can also view a short film clip from the movie on their site.
Show your support and vote for them now. These small farmers have had a long history of oppression during the years of apartheid and have fought through it and have survived through the production of the rooibos plant. With the rooibos plant, a plant of their ancestors, they have been able to see change. They went from sharecroppers during the Apartheid era to being part of a democratically run cooperative. In doing so, they also put the environment into mind by implementing soil and water conservation, enhancing biodiversity, and recapturing indigenous strategies of natural resource management used by their ancestors.
This vote isn't about politics, this vote is about enhancing opportunity for others across the world making a difference and changing the world around them.
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