I was asked in response to my post yesterday to provide some suggestions as to what some of the best/worst companies to support are with regard to fair trade or to provide a resource.  Co-op America’s Repsonsible Shopper is probably the best resource that I can point you to.  It allows you to search for companies and get information about their environmental and social track record.  It is not a comprehensive list, but they are always adding new companies to their directory. Gap (this includes Old Navy and Banana Republic), Wal-Mart are some of the most notoriously bad companies as far as fair trade practices go.  Gap has repeated accounts of terrible working conditions overseas, including employing children as young as 10 years old in their sweatshops.  Some of the biggest complaints against Wal-Mart involve its treatment of workers in America.  According to reports, thousands of their employees are underpayed and rely on government assistance to meet their basic needs.  Nike is another traditionally bad company to support, however, they have been making a concerted effort to change their overseas labor practices. They recently have been more transparent about the locations of their factories and are being independently monitored.

Co-op America also has a great article on sweat shop free clothing.

Here is a list of some basic tips:

1. Buy local.  Not only does this support your local economy, but you get to know the person creating the product and you can ask them as many questions as you like about their practices.  This goes for anything from food to clothing.  The clothing will more than likely be more expensive because it is handmade, but it guarantees that the product that wasn’t made in a sweatshop.  Etsy is a fun site to check out for handmade goods.
2. Buy used products.  Go to a thrift store or local consignment shop and look around.  You will find some great deals.
3. Research the companies you are buying from.
4. Look for a UNITE label.

It is important to note that none of these can guarantee that the entire product was made in a fair trade facility.  Most products are assembled from pieces made all over the world and a Made in America label could mean that only the finishing touches were put on in America (like buttons).  However, following these guidelines is still important.  It is just not a perfect solution to the social justice issues of labor practices.

Here are a few more helpful resources in your search for responsible shopping:

No Sweat Apparel

Co-op America’s National Green Pages

Green Home’s Products Page

Fair Green Trade

The Green Earth Directory

Finally, I would like to leave you with an interesting article on Portland, OR, a city that is attempting to go sweatshop free.

Image courtesy of cgfan’s photostream

This is a somewhat philosophical post that I have been wanting to write for awhile. We have moral obligations to not take advantage of injustice when at all possible. I began thinking about this in detail when I first started being aware of fair trade coffee and the rights of workers.

Coffee gave me something that was really easy for me to get my head around because there is no situation in which this would ever fall under the category of a need. Never, in any sort of seriousness, could I say that I needed coffee. It is a luxurious want. Because I view it as such, there would never be any circumstance in which I could justify supporting any company treating their workers badly and paying them an unlivable wage.

This is where people begin to object to this argument. Two common objections are:

1. I am not supporting anyone. I am just buying coffee.
2. It is better that “they” have this job that pays “them” very little than no job at all.

To the first objection I say this, we do not live in a world where we are just individual islands that have no positive or negative effect on each other. We are individuals who are connected–we affect and are affected by each other. We live, operate, and spend money in a market economy.  If there is a demand for a good (coffee) by the consumer (us) then the seller will continue to sell the good that is being demanded so long as it is profitable.

The second objection presents a false dilemma.  The options available to us are not support slave labor OR abandon those who are slaves to their current situation.  Those are two options, but in addition to these there is at least one more: help change the harmful structures to which people are bound.

I promised more posts spawned from my summer reading of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and I’m sorry it’s taken me so long. I have a notebook full of notes and am getting around to pushing them through the blog machine to get to you.

Cooking at home seems to be a dying art. Even ‘foodies’ often have a schedule that is too busy for a meal cooked at home. Parents are leaning more on pre-made, processed food instead of cooking for their families. When I was growing up, we ate together. Even with a single parent, and 3 kids in high school we ate together most nights. I think that had a big impact on my relationship with my family. It was in those times that we talked about life (and laughed until our stomachs hurt). My two sisters and I learned how to sit at a table and have conversations about our lives. We were taught (much to our shegrin at the time) that mealtime is not to be interrupted by the telephone, television or any other activity. It was an activity in and of itself.

Even in my own life, that is not the case anymore. Too often, I grab a meal and eat it on the run. Or Mollie and I will have dinner while watching a movie. It so easily can turn into a regular occurence. Mollie and I do deliberately eat most meals together and I really enjoy that. We have implemented some of the things that Barbara Kingsolver writes about (page 128) in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Her list (with my comments) is below.

• Cooking can be fun – Especially if you make it fun. Cooking can be a chore, but it doesn’t have to be.
• Rely on variations of simple recipes – There are tons of variations of a cooked protein with vegetables. Get a cook book and explore. Mollie and I make our weekly menu on Sunday for the upcoming week. We both grab a cookbook and have to choose something new. It helps keep us out of ruts.
• Save labor intensive (lots of prep) recipes for the weekend – My sister and her husband often use their weekends to prepare lunch foods for the week. They cook up a bunch of roasted veggies, or a soup that they can then use the rest of the week.
• Start a routine – We have a history of making homemade pizza on Fridays. It takes Friday off the dinner menu each week.
• Invite others to join in – For help and also to learn from them – The times that I have learned about cooking is when I have cooked with other people who know a lot more about cooking than I do. Either I was invited to cook with them, or I asked them to cook with me. Either way I always have an open ear to learn some new technique or recipe.
• Cooking at home will be more healthy – You have control over every ingredient that you put in your meal. You also are in control of portion size.
• Significantly cheaper – Once you are set up with basic ingredients in your pantry, home cooking is definitely a money saver. You can have a great (and healthy) meal that feeds a family of four for under $20 (probably under $10). You can’t get that at a restaurant (fast ‘food’ definitely doesn’t count).
• Buy whole foods (produce, meat) – Instead of buying boneless/skinless chicken breasts, buy a whole chicken. With a sharp knife you can turn that whole chicken into 2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 legs, 2 wings, and a carcass that makes a mean chicken stock. To add to the cheaper point, organic free range boneless skinless chicken breast runs about $4.99/lb (at Trader Joes) and a organic free range whole fryer costs about $1.99/lb. So for the price you pay for 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (usually $6-$8) you can get at least one whole chicken. That whole chicken yields at least one (probably two) more meals.
• It builds family relationships – Like I mentioned earlier, families are built around the kitchen table.
• Teaches children manners and life skills – Because of family meals, I learned how to set the table, how to wash dishes, how to cook, how to shop for groceries, how to have a conversation and most of all to be involved with other people around me.