A few months ago Green Girls Global wrote a post on Fair Trade Sports and their thoughts on fair play.  It was quite a compliment to be endorsed by a team such as theirs.

Green Girls Global started in 2006 when the blog City Hippy ended.  The editors of City Hippy, who all happened to be women from various parts of the world, joined together to start a new blog and Green Girls Global was born. 

Green Girls Global is a fun, hip, eclectic blog written by women acting on their eco-beliefs.  They blog about topics ranging from eco-fashion to raising chickens to vegetable seasons to our own Fair Trade Sports balls. While you're there, be sure to check out their brother site, Green Guys Global, and the guest post I wrote about them a few months back.

I'd first like to apologize for using the blog to so blatantly promote one of our own products, but our new Unisex Performance Shorts are really cool. 

I just played soccer in these for the first time this past weekend and they did terrific. They come just in time for the summer heat, with their moisture-wicking, anti-microbial and anti-static fabric.  You can go out and play your favorite sports all summer long and these shorts will wick moisture away from your body and allow your sweat to evaporate more quickly, keeping you cool and dry.

Also be sure to check out our matching Unisex Performance Tee and Unisex Performance Tank.  All three items sport the RESPECT logo and are made in the USA by a union crew. Say NO to sweatshop apparel!

Jacob Levitt is a student with a mission-to prevent child labor, and to ensure fair labor practices for everyone, young and old. 

Jacob is now thirteen and first learned about child labor when he was in sixth grade and his class began a lesson on it.  He was horrified to learn that children around the world were sold into slavery and forced to work long hours, but he also wanted to find out more about the issue in the hopes that maybe he would be able to do something about it.

When Jacob began middle school, he joined a group called SANDBOCS, which stands for Saving All Neglected, Denied, and Blatantly Oppressed Children from Slavery.  In addition, as part of his Bar Mitzvah preparation, Jacob must take on a social justice project.   Like a lot of kids, Jacob loves sports, and so he decided to combine his love of sports with his growing interest and sense of injustice over child labor issues.

Jacob has since become one of the youngest and most dynamic supporters of our Fair Trade Sports soccer balls.  He organized a meeting with the Northampton Soccer Club, where he explained unfair labor practices and convinced the group to begin using our Fair Trade balls.  He's now trying to encourage the Northampton High School to team up with the Northampton Soccer Club to make the bulk amount of balls they will need to order feasible and more affordable.  He's also hoping to get the city of Northampton Recreation Department to consider using Fair Trade Sports soccer balls in their leagues as well.

Kudos, Jacob!

Our local Seattle Times newspaper recently launched a new quarterly magazine called Footprint: Tread Lightly.

I appreciate the point-of-view from one of the writers - Mary Rothschild - about the increasing demand for everything green, or what she calls "Green Gone Wild":

Yes, it's a jungle out there when it comes to the proliferation of green products, green stores, green catalogs, green Web sites. With such a dizzying array of choices, you might feel greenish all right, that is, overwhelmed and somewhat queasy.

Of course, buying less, not more, is the best way to go green. Ask yourself, do you actually need this? Where is it made, what is it made from, how is it made, who makes it, how far is it shipped? Is it less energy-wasting or less polluting than something you would buy anyway? For help sorting the green from the greenwashed, as well as an evaluation of shopping Web sites, go to seattletimes.com/pacificnw.

~ Mary Rothschild

In addition to some very hip green products such as recycled messenger bags and Fair Trade apparel, one of our eco-certified soccer balls is featured in the article.

What does a Fair Trade premium mean to a family in Sialkot?

Chandrika is 30 year old and works as a tapper on Frocester Estate, the first supplier of FSC-certified fairly traded rubber that is used in Fair Trade Sports products. She is pictured here holding a pair of sneakers from our sister company Autonomie Project which are made with the same eco-certified materials we use in our sports balls. Chandrika's husband is a mason and they have three sons (13, 10, 6), all of whom attend government school.

The joint body of Frocester decided to spend the Fair Trade premium from 2007 to provide clean water for a total of 64 families. This represents 227 people, 115 of whom work on the estate. All three water plans are in the one far away section of the estate, which until the arrival of the new manager had been totally neglected in all respects. While the water provided by the new plan is not enough for all needs (laundry still is done with water from the river or open wells), it is the first time in the history of these "labor lines" that clean water is available from taps.

What is particularly noteworthy is the fact that the Fair Trade money would barely have sufficed for two of the three plans, which include two wells with pumps, storage tanks, piping and taps. The new manager arranged for some unused material (e.g. a pump) to be utilized, the estate paid some of the cash costs, and the workers themselves contributed work and cash to complete the project. The remainder came from the Fair Trade premiums (reminder: we do not pass these premiums on to you, our consumers).

For one of the water plans the workers for the storage tank, the estate paid for the well, and the Fair Trade premium money paid for the piping. In another scheme the workers added more taps, and in two cases they even installed shower facilities. Two of the three plans require pumping; the estate provides the first 11 liters/fuel per month free, a water committee/plan charges families a small monthly fee to pay for the rest.

All of this has contributed to much better labor relations in the area. During an island wide plantation strike for higher wages in December 2006, Frocester was the only estate which produced throughout the strike.

Co-op America stands for many of the things that I believe in. 

They help the world become a better place by providing the National Green Pages (a directory of green businesses from coast to coast), by offering education for US consumers about Fair Trade, and by collating reports of abusive labor practices around the world.  They provide information to help us all make more socially and environmentally responsible purchasing decisions.

Co-op America also co-sponsors Green Festivals, or "parties with a purpose," with Global Exchange in several cities across America each year.  Green Festivals bring leading thinkers of the sustainability movement together in one place to share ideas and attend workshops. 

Co-op America does a monthly interview with a business owner; they chose Fair Trade Sports for their July interview.  You can read it here to learn more about what makes Fair Trade Sports green, what "respect" really means to me, and what green product (aside from my eco-friendly Fair Trade soccer ball) I would not want to live without.

Pack an eco-friendly picnic for this holiday weekend. Raina Gardner of Green Living Northwest shares tips on packing an eco-friendly picnic in this informative video.

And how to put the fun into your green picnic? Raina thinks it is our green sports balls. Thanks, Raina!

Enjoy the weekend!

I spent some time talking with the hosts of the Champion Soccer Radio Network show The Two G's recently.  The Two G's airs Monday through Friday on Sirius Satellite Radio.  The show has only been around since Fall 2007 but it's built up quite a fan base in that time. 

We have producer and host Diana Germano (pictured here in the studio) to thank for finding us through our mutual friends Patrick and Diane from the Gear Guru.  Germano plays soccer for HUGS, Hollywood United Girls Soccer, along with producing The Two G's and World Soccer Daily. You can also hear her on-air on several shows including, The Two G's, The Treble, Divers and Cheats, and Around the League in 90 Minutes.

The show aired on June 4 but don't worry if you missed it.  You can check it out online in the show's archive.  Once you get to the website, click on the "Launch Player" button and scroll down and select the June 4 show.  The interview is from minutes 95-104.  There's a location handle at the top of the player that you can slide to find the segment after it loads in your web browser. 

Side note: one of the comments made by the hosts after I got off the line was funny. I'm not often called a "diplomat" for avoiding a controversial question about Bill Bradley and the US soccer team.

Someone in Boulder loves us. Maybe even two people. And at least one of them gave us an award.

The often-hilarious, always-poignant elephant journal recently told us we won their 2008 Mindful Life Award which, quite frankly, left me speechless for a few minutes (which is tough to do, that's why I get to write the blog).

If you are new to elephant, you can order their Summer issue here. And for a sneak peek of the award article, check out this PDF file.

Being told by a group of focused Buddhists that you are receiving their annual award for being mindful is a pretty heavy thing to tell our ad hoc group of Fair Trade activists and eco-warriors. I'm pleased to be a part of any group who's tagline is The Mindful Life and whose mission is to help "create an enlightened society". I'm honored to walk beside these folks in our journey together.

So from our crew to Waylon, Heather, and the rest of the eleCrew...thank you.

Bijad is 24 years old and single. He was born in Gidpur, Pakistan and went to school in nearby Sialkot. He started stitching soccer balls to help his family when he was 18. He used to stitch four or five soccer balls in a day.

Bijad likes Pakistani music and playing pool, so when he was 20 years old, he took out a micro-credit loan through our group's Fair Trade fund at or manufacturer's Sialkot location and purchased a small building with a pool table. Bijad spent the rest of the loan money on equipment to set up a barbershop.

While he can earn quite a bit of money every day for offering shaves to supplement his income from the pool table business, it is from pool that Bijad earns a good income...twice what he earned from stitching soccer balls. He completely paid off the loan in 25 installments over two years.

The pool table also offers a welcome form of entertainment in a poor village where there is very little in the way of entertainment options for young people. His friend, Mohamed, is keen to point out that "This is the best thing to do here; before we got bored."