Meet & Greet - February 10

Get Fair in 2008!

Come find out about FTLA and meet others who are interested in the Fair Trade movement.

Help us plan our 2nd Annual “Just Lives” Festival.

Enjoy FT products for purchase, food and live music!

Sunday, February 10, 2008
3pm-5pm

United University Church (UUC)
at the University of Southern California
(Parking entrance on W. Jefferson Blvd. at S. Hoover St. Free street parking also available)

We’ll see you there!

Mirembe Kawomera & Thanksgiving Coffee on YouTube

One of FTLA’s very first events was a visit from JJ Keki and Seth Jonadev, two coffee farmers from the Mirembe Kawomera co-op in Uganda. In addition to the community benefits of organizing and producing FT coffee, the co-op brings together Jewish, Muslim, and Christian farmers. And Mirembe Kawomera? It means Delicious Peace.

Check out the video above, a sneak peek at an upcoming documentary on the co-op. And you can find Mirembe Kawomera coffee at Thanksgiving Coffee. (Plus look for more on both the film and the coffee at our Just Lives Festival coming September 30 to the Hollywood Farmers Market!)

Co-op America’s Fair Trade Guide

Co-op America is expanding its Fair Trade work with more information on shopping Fair Trade. Their 12 Ways to Shop Fair Trade page has links for shopping and they’ve also produced a handy 24 page pdf guide with lots of additional info.

Their twelve ways:  Tea, Chocolate, Fruit, Sugar, Rice, Vanilla, Spice, Olive Oil, Wine, Sports Balls, Arts and Crafts, and of course, Coffee. How many do you buy Fair Trade?

Interview with TransFair USA CEO Paul Rice

The website for the documentary Buyer Be Fair has posted an interview with Paul Rice, CEO of TransFair USA, about Fair Trade certification.

Check out both the interview and the film!

Fair trade halloween chocos for Angelinos

You love chocolate, and you love fair trade. But you just don’t see why you should have to order your chocos over the internet — especially when they’re not for you.

Here’s a list of fair trade chocos you can buy in the LA area:

Endangered Species Premium Organic bars. These cute lil bars cost only $1.29 an ounce. They’re yum, they’re fair trade and organic, and they help protect endangered species. Cybele’s review here. Get ‘em at Co-opportunity, Cost Plus, Whole Foods, Wild Oats.

Divine Chocolates. All fair trade and totally yum Cybele’s review here. Get ‘em at Co-opportunity.

Equal Exchage. Their chocolate bars’re yum — especially the espresso bar. Cybele’s review’s here. Get ‘em at Ten Thousand Villages.

Shaman Chocolate. Profits for these organic, fair trade chocolates support the Huichol Indians. Get ‘em at Whole Foods.

Green & Black’s Maya Bar. A yum dark chocolate bar with a kick of orange that’s fair trade certified. Cybele’s review’s here. Get ‘em at Cost Plus, Whole Foods, Wild Oats.

Art Bar from Ithaca Fine Chocolates. Beautiful chocos that may be better appreciated by you than the trick or treaters. Get ‘em at Made to Inspire

Fair trade month: Co-opportunity

If you wanna celebrate fair trade month, go grocery shopping at Co-opportunity in Santa Monica. You’ll find:

Fair trade teas! You can get Choice bagged teas, or chilled bottles of Honest Tea in the refigerators.

Of course, there’s lots of fair trade coffee, mostly from Cafe Altura and Newman’s Own Organics.

Then there’s fair trade yerba mate from Eco Teas and Guyaki. I’m actually not a big fan of mate, but some people love it –

And fair trade cocoa from Dagoba –

Pick up a couple bars of fair trade chocolate from Divine and Endangered Species.

More dessert: Some of Ben & Jerry’s ice creams in the freezer are fair trade

There’s also fair trade sugar, just below the fair trade cocoa.

In the bulk area, you can get fair trade, organic basmati rice, both white and brown.

As you check out, you’ll see fair trade snack bars from Alpsnack and Maya.

And lastly, you can buy some pretty fair trade crafts from World of Good — They’re displayed on a stand near the cosmetics counter

Co-opportunity. 1525 Broadway @ 16th. Santa Monica. 310-451-8902. 7 am - 10 pm.

Ben & Jerry’s gets more fair trade

You may already’ve known that you can get fair trade coffee-flavored ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s. Coffee, Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, and Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz, to be more specific.

Now, the company’s expanded their fair trade ice cream offerings to include Vanilla and Chocolate

The Vanilla’ll hit Ben & Jerry’s scoop shops this month; the Chocolate in December. Both’ll be available in supermarkets and grocery stores in January 2007.

So — This means that Ben & Jerry’s is now buying fair trade coffee, cocoa, and vanilla from co-ops! Which is like yay!

And which also makes me ask — What ’bout the sugar? Cuz Ben & Jerry’s UK’s already using fair trade certified sugar for its vanilla ice cream.

Do we ice cream lovers in the US not deserve fair trade sugar? No fair!

In any case, I’m glad that an awesome and yummy company like Ben & Jerry’s is making fair trade a bigger part of its company. In fact, Ben & Jerry’s has info ’bout fair trade month on the front of its site.

So — I’m gonna write Ben & Jerry an email saying thanks, can’t wait for the new ice cream! And also — can I have some fair trade sugar with that, pretty please –

Fair trade trick or treat action kit!

Global Exchange’s put together a brand new fair trade trick or treat action kit –

What you get:

• A yummy bag of 42-pieces of Equal Exchange Fair Trade chocolate minis.
• Large colorful Fair Trade is Boo-tiful poster.
• A large stack of 42 festive Halloween postcards for you to hand out
• Traditional Papel Picado Mexican party streamers
• A recycled Trick or Treat Bag

And it’s just $15!!! AND Global Exchange’s running special promotion for Fair Trade Month: a 10% discount on all orders of $20 or more (Coupon Code ftm2006).

If you already have Fair Trade trick-or-treat candy and decorations, email fairtrade@globalexchange.org for a complimentary poster and kids postcards.

Pasadena Independent covers Ten Thousand Villages

The Pasadena Independent wrote about the newly-opened fair trade store, Ten Thousand Villages, Pasadena.

“This is not about handouts,” said store manager Kate Wentland. “It’s about jobs that let them make something beautiful with their hands and then have some dignity at the end of the day knowing they made something someone else can enjoy. This is very different than making something in a factory. ”

Ten Thousand Villages is located at 496 S. Lake Ave. For more information, call Eric and Sarah Clarke at (626) 229-9892 or email them at: eclarke@pasadenavillages.com.

Fair trade sugar — now at your local grocery store!

Thought coffee was the only fair trade product you could get at your local grocery store?

Thanks to Wholesome Sweeteners, now you can get fair trade sugar with your fair trade coffee and organic cream.

Not only are most of Wholesome Sweeteners sugars fair trade, they’re also organic and unrefined. And Wholesome Sweeteners really has all kinds of sugar: sucanat, powdered sugar, light brown sugar, dark brown sugar, molasses, raw cane sugar.

You can find Wholesome Sweeteners all over the place — Including the Pavilions on Vine and Melrose, as Michael and Erin, members of Fair Trade LA, recently found out

Enjoy the sweetness of fair trade –