Better living through synergy

Organic and Fair Trade equals Sustainable

The following is the outline to a talk I will be giving on "Fair Trade and Organics" (18th November 2006, Newtondee Village, Aberdeen). Over the next two weeks I will flesh out the bare bones below into a four part article.

The main focus of my talk will be centred around the proposal that Organics and Fair Trade can not and should not be separated, but rather should be viewed as two sides of the same coin. That is, if we accept that a just society is in preference to an unjust society, we must also accept ecological sustainability as being a fundamental component of a just society.

Fair Trade and Organic two sides of the same coin:

  • Organic agriculture has been described as moral agriculture. The implication being that ecological sustainability has a moral impetus.
  • Fairtrade and Fair Trade are terms most commonly used to imply social sustainability or a moral justness in trade, with little reference to ecological justness/sustainability.
  • International standards demand Organic certification be dependent on ecological and social justness.
  • Terramar Organics believe that in reality social and ecological sustainability are co-dependent. That is, long term ecological and social sustainability are only possible when considered and acted on together.

Organic should mean organic:

  • Increasing numbers of manufactures/retailers are catching the organic bug and offering organic (cotton) products. These are products manufactured from organic cotton but using conventional manufacturing processes.
  • Conventional manufacturing of cotton uses a cocktail of some two hundred plus chemicals as well as vast quantities of water.
  • Organic cotton should be manufactured to sustainable textile (organic) standards. (As with Terramar products.)

Fair Trade does not mean "no factories":

  • Fair trade does not mean that products should only be manufactured by a small women's only co-operative in South East Asia, and not in a factory.
  • Nor does it mean the imposition of western standards.
  • Fair Trade means a fair/living wage, access to primary healthcare, education, affordable housing, and clean water. This applies as much in the Western hemisphere as else where.
  • Fair Trade means using local resources when and where possible, so helping to reduce transport miles while supporting the local economy.

Conclusion:

Social, Economic and Environmental justice, a sustainable economic model for the future.


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