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ORGANIZATIONS & BUSINESSES

Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State

The Labor-Religion Coalition builds coalitions and campaigns for economic justice, including living wage, anti-sweatshop and Fair Trade. This Web site contains resources for those wishing to take action on behalf of Fair Trade and includes information on curriculum, Fair Trade Eyewitness Delegations and more. °°° Visit our Facebook page, New York Fair Trade for additional resources and regular Fair Trade updates.

Dean's Beans
Activist and entrepreneur Dean Cycon has been working with indigenous communities in the coffee lands for two decades, and his company, Dean's Beans, is a recognized industry leader in the Fair Trade Movement. Included in this Web site are photographs and stories of how even small Fair Trade purchases make a big difference and excerpts from Dean’s zine.

Equal Exchange
Equal Exchange has been promoting Fair Trade for more than 20 years. In addition to a catalog for ordering quality products, this Web site contains Fair Trade curriculum and fundraising materials, descriptions of farmer-partners, a section on interfaith partners and the story of Equal Exchange’s worker-owned business. To keep current on the latest in the Fair Trade movement, visit the Equal Exchange blog, Small Farmers. Big Change.

Fair Trade Federation
The Fair Trade Federation (FTF) is the trade association that strengthens and promotes North American organizations fully committed to the principles of Fair Trade. Crafts, apparel and other goods are produced and sold by members of the Fair Trade Federation. Visit this site to explore more of the history and practice of Fair Trade; find Fair Trade businesses and ways to become involved.

Fair Trade Resource Network
The Fair Trade Resource Network (FTRN) seeks to improve people's lives through Fair Trade alternatives by providing information, leadership and information. FTRN gathers, develops and disseminates educational resources to people and organizations interested in the movement to build a more just and sustainable world through Fair Trade.

Fair Trade USA
Fair Trade USA, formerly TransFair USA, is an affiliate of Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International (FLO) and is the leading third-party certifying agency in the United States for Fair Trade products. The Fair Trade USA Web site contains a wealth of information about Fair Trade, certification and Fair Trade products and producers. Fair Trade curriculum for grades K-12 available for free download.

Global Exchange
Global Exchange is an international human rights organization and a leader in the U.S. Fair Trade movement. This Web site offers education on a wide range of global economic issues and provides direct action ideas to expand Fair Trade markets. A newly updated Fair Trade curriculum and cocoa books are available for free download.

Green America
Green America, a national nonprofit consumer organization, works to harness economic power to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society. Find many resources on this Web site, including their Guide to Fair Trade (available as a PDF) and their new Fair Trade My Supermarket campaign.

CURRICULA

Quick handout: Fair Trade Activities for 2012

Win Win Solutions:
An Introduction to Fair Trade and Cooperative Economics

Equal Exchange’s 124-page curriculum provides a link between personal actions and community efforts to create a more just and sustainable world. This interdisciplinary resource is designed for grades 4-9 and addresses national standards in a wide variety of subjects.  The flexible structure allows teachers to incorporate individual experiential activities into current lesson plans or use all four units. Available online for free download at http://www.equalexchange.coop/educational tools.   

Setting a Higher Bar:
Global Exchange’s Fair Trade Cocoa Unit for Kids

This full unit from Global Exchange has nine ready-to-use lesson plans using inquiry-based learning and encouraging critical thinking. The unit was written broadly for grades 2-5, but is suitable for younger and older students with adaptation. While primarily a social studies unit integrating language arts, it also includes art, math, and life science. Designed to be supported by the Global Exchange Fair Trade Chocolate Book. Free download:  http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/fairtradeintheclassroom.html

Focus on Fair Trade
From Fair Trade USA

Each unit highlights our global interdependence by focusing on three different Fair Trade foods: Chocolate Explorers (grades K-2), Banana Bonanza (grades 3-6), and Coffee Connections (grades 7-12). Units include lesson plans and address relevant national standards with ideas for accessible, interactive activities in subjects ranging from geography, economics, social studies, history, environmental studies and marketing. Free download:
http://getinvolved.transfairusa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Fair_Trade_intheclassroom

Bilingual Coloring Book: Maya Arts and Crafts of Guatemala /
Artes y Artesanias Mayas de Guatemala

Pictures and text in this bilingual coloring book illustrate the importance of arts and crafts in the lives of the Maya. Two teacher and parent guides are available online for free download: Kids and Fair Trade , which contains lessons designed to help children understand how Fair Trade helps address some of the injustices inherent in our present trading system, and Learning From the Maya About Diversity, Culture and Ecology . For more information about ordering the coloring book or to download Teacher Guides: :http://manderson.home.igc.org/artandbooks1.html

GET IT
(Global Education to Improve Tomorrow)

This Heifer International Curriculum teaches middle school students about their roles as consumers and the effects their choices have in the global marketplace. Lessons focus on economic links between Latin America and the U.S. and the interrelationships between human activities and the environment. One lesson highlights a Fair Trade cooperative in Guatemala. The unit emphasizes reading comprehension, audience-based writing, high-level thinking and research strategies . http://tinyurl.com/35xyu39

FILMS / DVDs

The Dark Side of Chocolate
This 2010 documentary by U. Roberto Romano and Miki Mistrati reveals that child labor, trafficking and slavery continue in the cocoa fields, nearly a decade after the cocoa industry promised to resolve the problem. You can view the film trailer at :www.thedarksideofchocolate.org. During the National Week of Action, October 23-31, 2010, the LRC is distributing a screening toolkit. For more information, contact Anne Kelly, Fair Trade Coordinator at 518/ 213-6000, ext. 6294.

Stolen Childhoods
This first feature documentary on global child labor focuses on stories of child laborers around the world, told in their own words. The 89-minute film places these children’s stories in the broader context of the worldwide struggle against child labor. Purchase at www.stolenchildhoods.org. Individual and institutional pricing. A teacher’s resource guide is available for free download.

Black Gold
The film follows Tadesse Meskela on his mission to help 75,000 struggling coffee farmers in Ethiopia. While the farmers do their part producing delicious coffee, Tadesse travels the world seeking new buyers willing to pay a fair price. Viewers watching the 78-minute film will learn about the powerful international trading systems. Black Gold is available (with individual and institutional pricing) at www.blackgoldmovie.com, where you can also watch it online. A discussion guide is available at the Web site.

Buyer Be Fair
This inspirational but balanced 55-minute television special takes viewers to Mexico, the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden, the USA and Canada to explore how conscious consumers and businesses can use the market to promote social justice and environmental sustainability through product labeling, with a focus on Fair Trade coffee. To learn more about Fair Trade or to purchase a copy (individual and institutional pricing), visit the film’s Web site, www.buyerbefair.org.

Fair Trade: The Story
This 8-minute video features stories and images of Fair Trade communities as well as interviews with Paul Rice of Fair Trade USA and Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard. You can watch it right from your computer by visiting www.eq.tv and entering “Fair Trade” in the videos search box. Order from Fair Trade USA by calling (510) 663-5260 or emailing info@transfairusa.org.

Chocolate Country
This award-winning 30-minute documentary tells the inspirational story of the Loma Guacanejo cooperative, formed by cacao farmers in the rural hill towns of the Dominican Republic. Narrated through voices of the workers themselves, the film serves as a powerful example of the benefits Fair Trade holds for bringing great change to one small community that has long been fighting a losing battle against the realities of the global economy. Purchase a copy of Chocolate Country at http://www.chocolatecountryfilm.com.

Grains of Change
In this 5 minute documentary, anthropology student Carolyn Barnwell travels through northern Thailand where rice farmers are practicing Fair Trade and organic, sustainable agriculture. The film demonstrates how putting people at the center of trade benefits the farmers' families and communities, their way of life and their environment, as well as the health and well-being of consumers worldwide. View online at: http://www.engagetheworld.org/GrainsofChangeVideo.html

Mayan Hands: Weaving a Brighter Future
In this 30-minute documentary, the women of Mayan Hands, a fair trade organization that has been working with Maya weavers in Guatemala since 1989, speak about the positive ways in which fair trade has impacted their lives. By selling their hand-woven textiles at a fair price, Mayan women are able to lift themselves out of poverty, gain greater control over their own lives, and plan for a brighter future for their children. To order the DVD, visit www.mayanhands.org.

BOOKS

Javatrekker
This unique hybrid of Fair Trade business study, adventure travel and cultural anthropology is published by Chelsea Green Publishing. Author, activist and coffee entrepreneur Dean Cycon introduces readers to the real people who make our morning coffee ritual possible and offers a deep appreciation of the global trade and coffee culture.Javatrekker is available through the Labor-Religion Coalition, at local bookstores or at Dean's Web site, www.deansbeans.com.

A Cafecito Story / El Cuento Del Cafecito
Published by Chelsea Green Publishing, A Cafecito Story is a beautifully written eco-fable by best-selling author Julia Alvarez. Based on her and her husband's experiences trying to reclaim a small coffee farm in her native Dominican Republic. A Cafecito Story demonstrates how the return to the traditional methods of shade-grown coffee can rehabilitate and rejuvenate the landscape and human culture, while at the same time preserving vital winter habitat for threatened songbirds. In English or a bilingual edition, starting at $10.00.

Bitter Chocolate: The Dark Side of the World's Most Seductive Sweet
Published by New Press, this book traces the origins and evolution of chocolate from the banquet table of Montezuma's Aztec court in the early sixteenth century to the bustling factories of Hershey, Cadbury, and Mars today, revealing that slavery and injustice have always been key ingredients. The heart of the book takes place in West Africa where poor farmers have turned to the cheapest labor pool possible: thousands of indentured children who pick the beans but have never themselves known the taste of chocolate. Bitter Chocolate is an absorbing social history, a passionate investigative account, and a shocking exposé of an industry that has institutionalized misery as it indulges our whims. The book is available in hardcover for $27.95.

Fair Trade: A Beginner's Guide:
This book reveals why Fair Trade means more than just chocolate and coffee. Author Jacqueline DeCarlo explains the principles behind Fair Trade and its development into a powerful economic tool. This guide was published by Oneworld Publications and is available for $14.95. Search in the Beginner's Guide section for more information.

Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World
Published by Basic Books, Uncommon Grounds focuses on coffee's global impact from its roots in 15th-century Ethiopia to its critical role in shaping the nations of Central and Latin America. Author Mark Pendergast examines trading, marketing and consumption patterns as well as the stark social contrasts between where coffee is grown and the markets where it is consumed. List price is $19.95.

The New Conscious Consumer: Economic Justice through Fair Trade
A booklet published by the Fair Trade Resource Network, is a quick read offering a comprehensive overview of the North American Fair Trade movement and covering Fair Trade’s various models, facts and figures, brief history and key challenges and opportunities. Available from the FTRN for $3.95 retail or bulk pricing for multiple copies.

Guide to Fair Trade
This booklet published by Green America contains a directory of Fair Trade businesses and organizations as well as organizing materials to take action. Available for free download from Green America.

Think Fair Trade First!
A fun educational read, this book by Ingrid Hess is an engaging Fair Trade resource for kids aged 3-8. Contains a fictional storyline as well as nonfiction information sections that will help children and adults understand how and why we can make trade fair. Available for $12.99 from the Fair Trade Resource Network.

Zapizapu Crosses The Sea
The story and colorful illustrations of this children’s book work together to simplify the concept of international trade and personify those involved around the world from grower to consumer. Written by Diane Abad Vergara for children ages 4-8 and available from Trafford Publishing for $7.31.

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Last Updated: 01/19/2012
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