The Green Festival is coming to Seattle (where Fair Trade Sports is
based) this Spring!

Green Festival is a joint venture between Global Exchange and Coop America. I’m serving on the Host Committee to welcome this show to our city. We met last week at the Seattle Aquarium for a work session that was 50-people strong. Seattle-area leaders representing
groups ranging from electric vehicles to green media to social justice nonprofits. Exciting!

My favorite part was Global Exchange Co-Founder Kevin Danaher’s short talk about the two cycles currently at odds in our world…the Money Cycle and the Life Cycle. His question/challenge to our team was, “Which cycle will dominate?”

I know which cycle my crew will work towards…LIFE!

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alt="Equal Exchange's Fair Trade soccer ball"
src="http://www.fairtradesports.com/wp-content/images/EqualExchange.SoccerBall.gif"/>The
good folks at Equal Exchange have just updated their fundraising
program to include a new incentive…an EE-branded Fair Trade
soccer ball!

The largest worker-owned coffee roaster in the country, Equal Exchange
offers tours to fundraising groups for coffee and chocolate tasting. In
some areas (such as Portland, OR), they will also send a crew out to
your school assembly to help launch the new program.

Contact
them if you are interested, and be sure to tell Kelsie we
said hello!

And if you need a Fair Trade soccer ball (or any of our other sports)
branded with your organization’s colors and logos (minimum order 250 balls), just let us know! If you need less than 250 sports balls, just head over to our Gear Shop to see our volume pricing on all orders of 10+ balls.

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alt="Sustainability School, by Larry's Beans"
src="http://www.fairtradesports.com/wp-content/images/LarryBeans.gif"/>Sustainability
is simple. It’s about living in a way that leaves the world better for
future generations. Who doesn’t want to do that?

My friend Sami at href="http://www.thechangestrategy.com/">The Change
helped Larry and his crew put together the enjoyable site href="http://www.larrysbeans.com/index.php?page=sustainability-school">Sustainability
School. Suggest you check it out when you have a few free
minutes.

Who’s Larry? Why, the infamous Larry from href="http://www.larrysbeans.com/">Larry’s Beans,
of course.

From our friends at Transfair…a cool Top 12 list of ways that each of us can support Fair Trade throughout our day.

Here’s the short version, you can read the full version on their site:

Vote. Ask. Host. Join. Celebrate. Learn. Donate. Introduce. Start. Fundraise. Give. Serve.

Just the short version is enough to start kicking off exciting ideas in
my head. Kudos to the Transfair staffer who created this list!

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alt="Sweat the film"
src="http://www.fairtradesports.com/wp-content/images/sweat_poster_home.jpg"/>The
folks at href="http://www.educatingforjustice.org/">Educating For
Justice are finishing their work on a new documentary titled
“SWEAT”.

Check out href="http://www.myspace.com/behindtheswoosh">their MySpace
page which includes video clips, news stories, and a blog.
They have a popular educational program called href="http://www.educatingforjustice.org/sweatshops.htm">Behind
the Swoosh which they bring to colleges, high
schools, churches and community groups across the country.

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School is just around the corner. Grab your free href="http://store.gxonlinestore.org/freegift.html"> href="http://store.gxonlinestore.org/freegift.html">College
Care Package from Global Exchange while supplies last!

alt="Global Exchange and Fair Trade Sports"
src="http://www.fairtradesports.com/wp-content/images/GXlogo.350px.jpg"/>

Well, it’s sort of free. You have to spend $20 in the Global Exchange
store first, which believe me, is easy and fun to do!

The
package is filled with Fair Trade goodies and educational
resources about Fair Trade and makes a great surprise for
your college student with as they head back to
campus (or a fun reward for yourself).

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alt="Fair Trade Sports on the UtneCast"
src="http://www.fairtradesports.com/wp-content/images/UtneReader.gif"/>In
the href="http://www.ogdenpubs.com/utnecast/?p=55">current episode
of the UtneCast, Host Leif Utne takes a look at the future of
Fair Trade.

It’s about
much more than just coffee and chocolate. But what is it really? And
where is it headed? Leif speaks with a student activist
promoting Fair Trade; a spokesperson from TransFair USA,
the group that certifies Fair Trade products in this country; and two
companies that are pushing the movement in new directions — Oké USA, my
favorite Fair Trade fruit company, and ourselves regarding our
certified Fair Trade sports
balls.

Take a listen.

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alt="Hand stitching a soccer ball"
src="http://www.fairtradesports.com/wp-content/images/StitcherCloseUp.jpg"/>While
we are fighting child labor in our industry of sports balls, several
other groups are fighting the good fight in their respective
industries. href="http://www.laborrights.org/">Learn more here.

I’m convinced that by marrying the Fair Trade movement to the No Child
Labor movement, we can create a lasting solution that truly does
eliminate child labor from this industry. How? By focusing on the root
problem: extreme poverty.

While this is a complex matter (start with reading Jeffrey Sachs’ href="http://www.betterworld.com/book-P3928922C0.aspx">The
End of Poverty), the simple one-sentence version is this: pay
the parents a fair, living wage and they will not be forced to ask
their children to work. As a family unit, they will be able to survive
and thrive.

While this is an enormous worldwide problem, you can help
today by supporting the Fair Trade movement and getting
involved.

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src="http://www.fairtradesports.com/wp-content/images/SierraClub.gif"/>The
Sierra Club celebrates href="http://www.wftday.org/english/index.htm">World Fair
Trade Day (WFTD) tomorrow with a href="http://sierra.convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=18041.0&dlv_id=19541">well-written
issue of the Green Trader.

The Sierra Club has an entire campaign focused on Trade.

They explain, “Trade is
integrally linked to
more traditional environmental issues
such our access to clean air, clean water and open spaces to enjoy. The
Sierra Club wants trade that is clean, green and fair, where peoples’
lives and livelihood’s are protected.”

For WFTD, Sierra Club is specifically encouraging its members to plug
into their local communities through the suggestions listed href="http://sierra.convio.net/site/MessageViewer?em_id=18041.0&dlv_id=19541">here.

Enjoy the day tomorrow!

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alt="Fair Trade Federation"
src="http://www.fairtradesports.com/wp-content/images/FTF.logo.100px.jpg"/>My
friend Carmen runs the Fair Trade Federation. Although I can’t
attend this year (new
team member on the way), she asked me to let you know their href="http://www.fairtradefederation.org/Conference.htm">annual
conference is sure to be a worthwhile event.

FTF is inviting interested retailers, wholesalers, and friends
to the 2007 conference - Changing
Hands: The Work of Fair Trade - in Washington, DC
from June 1-3. Please allow me to encourage you to go for the
discussions about the future of fair trade and the practical seminars.
 
 
On that Sunday, an exhibition of fair trade products will be open to
the public on American University’s campus. For more information, hit href="http://www.fairtradefederation.org/Conference.htm">their
site, call 202-636-3547, or drop them
an email.