Product Description

This is a popular book about a key subject for liberally minded people every where. FT is a rapidly developing area of commerce and this book is intended to spur it on. It is presented with a highly accessible format, with short informative chapters. Fair Trade is a growing global movement. A huge range of Fair Trade good are now available in the shops. Why is Fair Trade so important? This book provides 50 reasons why everyone should buy fair trade. It's an inspiring account of how every consumer can play a part in saving lives and improving the way global trade operates. Did you know that buying Fair Trade: helps erradicate sweatshops; helps end child labour; helps end the debt burden on developing countries; ensures small-scale farmers can earn a living wage; and, supports and protects the environment. This book provides a critical guide to international trade and shows that Fair Trade presents a realistic and positive alternative for farmers and producers in developing countries. By improving schools, healthcare and working conditions, the Fair Trade movement has already saved lives and empowered whole communities. This book shows how every consumer can help make a difference in the fight to end poverty and inequality.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #114853 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
"A lively, accessible and inspiring survey of how fair trade is bringing new hope to poor producers around the world." Paul Chandler, Chief Executive, Traidcraft"

Caroline Lucas, Green Party MEP for South East England Caroline Lucas, Green Party MEP for South East England
"A wonderfully inspiring and uplifting book."

Joanna Blythman, food writer and campaigner
"The best and most comprehensive guide around to the principles
and practice of fair trade."

Customer Reviews

Highly informative and effective
I'll make my credentials clear from the start. I'm not a fair trade zealot, and hadn't really given much thought on the whole subject of who makes the things I buy. I was given this book as a present. I assumed before reading it that its intended audience would be people already passionate about fair-trade; and so the arguments would be pitched at a level not requiring too much thought, but might be interesting just because of their tone.

But the tone isn't zealous or fanatical. Nor is it ponderous, forcing you to work towards a set of conclusions via an argument stretched across hundreds of pages.
The structure of 50 reasons allows the reader to either start at the beginning, or just dip in where they want, and focus on specific topics or areas of interest. But as you move from one reason to another, the effect is cumulative and the arguments presented compelling.

The tone is informative and intelligent; and the mix of argument and anecdote makes it the subject easy to follow. Some of the anecdotes, some genuinely moving, make the subject a hard one though, as you would expect. We learn that in many respects the world is less a set of different countries and cultures, rather a number of inter-related supply chains. Our place in it is determined by the supply chains that affect us. And these are of course much more complex than they at first seem, and often implacably unfair and distorted. There is much that is wrong. Again and again we read about people in far off places working for virtually no return, so we can drink coffee, play football, eat bananas. There is disproportionate reward for some, and, from time to time, workers are abandoned by the chains they work in, with tragic consequences for themselves and their families.

Fair trade isn't the whole answer. But it's at least a step in the right direction. So as a result of reading this book, my family now buys fair-trade, hence the five stars.