Fair Trade Campaigns Updates: Fair Trade & Earth Month

Fair Trade Campaigns

Welcome to our April newsletter! As always, we hope this finds you doing well.

Before we dive into news from across our network and what we have in store, we wanted to take some time to recognize and condemn the increase in anti-Asian violence we have seen across the country recently. Like you all, we were appalled by the murder of 8 members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community in Atlanta, GA last month. We are also deeply saddened and alarmed by the continuing incidents of gun violence in our country in general, including the mass shooting in Colorado the following week. Fair Trade Campaigns remains committed to embedding racial justice into our work. We will have more updates on how we are further adapting our programs to reflect this goal next month. For now, our hearts and thoughts are with both the Asian American and Pacific Islander community and with victims of gun violence in the places where we have campaigns, and across the U.S.

Onto program updates – Fair Spring is still in motion at Fair Trade Campaigns and we are excited to share our April theme: Earth Month Renewability. All month long, we’ll be sharing resources to recommit and renew our individual and collective efforts around sustainability and how Fair Trade connects to sustainability, environmental & climate justice.

Read on to learn how you can get involved in Fair Spring April and for some exciting campaign updates!

With gratitude,

Kylie Nealis

Senior Manager

Fair Trade Campaigns

Fair Spring April: Earth Month & Renewability

In honor of Earth Day in April, and Fashion Revolution Week at the end of the month, we are exploring how to re-new our sustainable initiatives and habits, and how Fair Trade connects to sustainability, environmental and climate justice. We encourage you to explore this collectively, through your Fair Trade campaign and members of your community, as well as individually. 

Resources:

Stay tuned for our May Fair Spring themes, or get a sneak preview on our blog post.

Fair Spring April Giveaway:

Share your (short) Sustainability Story & Win Tickets to Power Shift Network’s 2021 Convergence!

To kick off our April Fair Spring theme, Earth Month & Renewability, we’re launching a giveaway for the upcoming Power Shift Network Convergence #PS21 (April 16-25)! #PS21 will be a space for youth activists to get trained on critical skills and grow powerful campaigns for climate, environmental, social and racial justice for the coming decade!

Post YOUR (short) sustainability story on social with #FTCampaigns and tag us @ftcampaigns by April 10 to enter! Get creative & have fun with it!

Not sure how? Check out our quick tutorial and this awesome sample video from St. Joseph’s University for inspiration.

Recap: Fair Trade and Farmworker Awareness Call

Thanks to Jamie Padilla with the Producer Services Team at Fair Trade USA and Tony Serrano, Owner of a Fair Trade Certified farm in California, we wrapped up National Farmworker Awareness Week with an informative and engaging dialogue. The “Fair Trade and Farmworker Awareness” virtual discussion explored tangible impacts of Fair Trade for farmworkers, how Fair Trade works from a farm perspective and some of the challenges that farmworkers face on a daily basis.

Here’s just some of what we heard on the call:

“Fair Trade sets a tone in the workforce for people to interact more. There’s that camaraderie now” – Tony

“There’s a difference that you feel on a Fair Trade farm… The way that we’re able to engage and interact is really different from what you’d see in more adversarial contexts” – Jamie

Missed the call?

Watch the recording here!

Campaign Spotlight: University at Albany

Fair Trade University at Albany

Have you heard? University at Albany became the 68th Fair Trade University in the nation last month, and the FIRST SUNY Campus to achieve the designation. SUNY is the largest university system in the country, and we hope that UAlbany’s campaign inspires other SUNY campuses to launch their own!

Here’s what lead student organizer and President of Students Stopping Trafficking Of People (SSTOP) Joseph La Barbera, and campaign staff advisor and Director of Sustainability, Mary Ellen Mallia, had to say about their designation:

“UAlbany’s Fair Trade Campaign shows our commitment to human rights, ending human trafficking, and becoming a more sustainable university. This could not have been accomplished without many different departments and people within the university coming together for the benefit of others across the globe.” – Joseph

“As a large, public university, UAlbany has both an obligation and an opportunity to be a leader in sustainability, global equity and environmental stewardship.   Achieving Fair Trade University status reflects the commitment our campus and our students have to social justice.  I am grateful for the work of our Fair Trade Steering Committee, especially Professor Dennis McCarty, Joseph La Barbera, President of SSTOP (Students Stopping the Trafficking of People) and our partners at Sodexo, in achieving this prestigious designation.” – Mary Ellen

Join Simple Truth’s Best Recipe on Earth Contest

In celebration of #EarthMonth, bigtime supporter of #FairTrade,  @simpletruth is launching “The Best Recipe on Earth” contest. Don’t miss this cooking contest and a chance to win some awesome prizes!

Here are the details:

  • Recipes must contain at least ONE Simple Truth Fair Trade Certified
    or Simple Truth Plant-Based product…
  • OR – use both for a chance to win the “Best of Both Worlds” award! In honor of their partnership with the Cincinnati Zoo, they have a special prize pack for the best recipe with an animal theme!
  • Need inspiration? Check out their launch video! (and please share!)

ENTER HERE!

Fair Trade Federation Virtual Conference

The Fair Trade Federation (FTF) is inviting all campaigns to share the upcoming FTF Conference and Expo with local businesses & entrepreneurs interested in supporting fair trade! Registration is $15 for the event, and all US-based retailers who attend can sign up to receive the FTF Conference Box, a beautiful assortment of sample fair trade products from FTF brands, at no added cost. The FTF Conference and Expo will take place on April 26 and 27 and will provide a unique platform to highlight and support verified fair trade enterprises and businesses that sell fair trade products. The event is attended by employees, buyers, entrepreneurs, and owners from fair trade, ethical, and conventional businesses. Learn more on the FTF website.

Catch the Fair Trade Campaigns conference session on April 26! See the program for details. 

Stay Involved!

We love to hear from you and there are more ways to be involved than just this monthly newsletter!

Join the conversation on Slack, where advocates across the country share ideas, problem solve, and promote national events. This is also where you’ll find the quickest and most up to date information on Fair Spring resources and events! Respond to this email to let us know you’re interested.

You can also find us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Feel free to comment, like, and share our resources across your networks!  

Fair Trade Campaigns
http://action.fairtradecertified.org/

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