Fair trade, good coffee

I've written a little bit in the past about our efforts to switch over to more fair trade products and Michele's recent posts on the subject got me thinking that it's time for an update from here.

I've succeeded in switching us over to fair trade coffee and yes, it's a bit more expensive. And, no, we don't like "a bit more expensive" any more than anyone else does.

But ...

disliking the price has tremendous value to me: it reminds me of how much work goes into creating my daily cups of coffee. And all that work should cost me something. It costs the people who grow and produce it, and therefore, it should cost me. When I moan and groan about having to take on another car payment to replace poor, old Putty, I need to be reminded that, in reality, globally, universally, spiritually speaking, I am a rich American.

And, really, it's not that it's that expensive. It's just more than the stuff I've been buying at the grocery store.

My current favorite is from Dean's Beans (I'm particularly fond of Mud Pie and French Vanilla Kiss) though I've also enjoyed the coffees from A Greater Gift.

I believe that finding out more about where the things I consume come from (and under what conditions they are produced) is integral to my faith and to the commitment of the Catholic Church to social justice.

And, thanks to my friend, Jean, I have a couple bars of fair trade chocolate waiting for me, too (I know you gave me at least five or six bars, Jean ... what can I say? Good stuff goes fast around here ....)

LOAFing with the Bookworm

Awhile back, I noted this post from The Bookworm on my Google Reader's Shared Items.

In it, Kathryn talks about a great acronym for the ways in which we can try to shop more ethically:

After Mass last week I spotted a poster in the Parish Hall from Christian Ecology Link which set out succinctly the principles towards which I was blundering under my own steam. Apparently, I am now using my LOAF by looking for items that are:

* Locally produced
* Organically grown
* Animal friendly
* Fairly traded

I have been trying to make a few changes along these lines, too. Awhile back, I posted about how our focus during Lent (through Operation Rice Bowl) was convincing me that I needed to be more concerned about the coffee I drink and the chocolate I eat.

As Kathryn says:

I am not worrying about an all-or-nothing approach, and simply trying to do what I can. Given that I am starting from a near-zero base anything has to be an improvement! My budget will not run to a complete switch, and I am trying to balance costs and benefits.

I'm working on a few things at a time, such as the coffee and the chocolate. I haven't succeeded entirely. I'm due to place another order for more fair trade coffee, and will do so today. But, my addictions (as previously noted) are tragic and pathetic, and I was recently seen skulking into the grocery store to score whatever coffee I could find.

I tried to switch our milk source (to a local dairy farmer who delivers), but she told me they had all the customers they could handle. So, the milk situation is trickier, since the organic, locally produced stuff in the store is much more expensive.

Organic fruits and vegetables are also more expensive, but I'm trying to switch over here and there. It's easy to find locally grown stuff in the summertime, when farmer's markets are all over the place, but it's not easy year-round.

Any feedback or ideas on how to more economically make these kinds of changes is appreciated.

"Mommy, may I have some fair trade chocolate?"

That's how Ramona asked for dessert last night.

Let me back up a bit.

For Lent, I gave up chocolate, among some other things. If you know me, you know that I'm tragically, pathetically addicted to chocolate (thus, the absence of said addiction for 40 days might account for the fruitful Lent I experienced ... it's amazing how much you can ponder and accomplish when you're not looking for the next chocolate fix.)

Over those forty days, one of the things our family did was to follow suggested readings and activities from Operation Rice Bowl. ORB focused on a different part of the world every week, taking us inside the lives of people who have a very different standard of living than we Americans have. My children were struck (as I'd hoped they would be) by the fact that we live with so many luxuries.

And, over those forty days, I read up a bit on where and how the things I so often take for granted are produced. I started making some changes in our buying habits. It's a process, and it hasn't happened overnight. I can't say we're fully converted yet. But, so far, I've found and enjoyed these fair trade products:

A variety of coffees

Divine Chocolate, which is also available in the U.S. through A Greater Gift. (I have no vested interest in this particular organization. I've just found them, so far, to be a great place to buy some fair trade products, including -- shh, don't tell her -- my mother's birthday present.)

You can read more about fair trade practices and products at the Catholic Relief Services website, here.

Our weekly candle lighting and prayers

When I first posted about our Lenten plans, Jill at Praiseworthy Things asked me what readings we planned to use for our Sunday candle-lighting and prayers.

I thought about several different options, from rereading the Gospel of the day, to doing something with the Stations of the Cross. But, I finally settled on using readings and prayers from our Operation Rice Bowl materials, as we are very focused on that this Lent.

Each Sunday, as we light the candles surrounding the crown of thorns, we pray the general prayer provided by ORB, and we pray for the individuals we're learning about. We read a story of one person's life, someone who was touched and changed by the help that Catholic Relief Services provided. Then, throughout the week, we pray for the people in the "country of the week", ask for help and strength in our personal sacrifices, and pray, "Lord, may we abstain from what we do not really need, and help our brothers and sisters in need."

They're simple prayers, and simple petitions. But, I also think it's been touching the girls. And that is the goal of my chosen Lenten prayers. That we're all touched to the point that we can help make a difference.

Which leads me to my next area of Lenten pondering and action ... fair trade coffee, anyone?

Beautiful gifts

which help to feed the hungry. Click here to see gift items available through the Hunger Site.

Click here to find items that you can be sure are fair trade goods.

The Hunger Site is not a political site, but is simply a place that tries to get food to where it is needed: to hungry people. Clicking regularly -- it really is as simple as that -- is a tiny way to help.

And, as I browse the site for some Easter basket ideas, I see that my girls would love to have these.



Another site, Food for the Poor, offers coupons you can print out and give to others, letting them know that a donation has been made in their name. Depending on the amount you donate, you might be feeding a family for a month, or a child for a year.

A good read:


ZENIT - The World Seen From Rome

Code: ZE06032608

Date: 2006-03-26

Holy See Address at U.N. Food Conference

"Put Common Values Before Individual Interests"

VATICAN CITY, MARCH 26, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Here is the text of a speech given by Monsignor Renato Volante, the Holy See's permanent observer to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, during the 28th session of the FAO Conference for the Near East. The conference was held March 12-16 in Sana, Yemen.

* * *

Mr. Chairman,

1. I wish first of all to thank you for giving me this opportunity to address this session and also to congratulate you on your election. In particular I would like to thank the Yemen government for the kind hospitality of this conference called to intensify the response to the development challenges in the Near East, first of all in rural growth and food production.

The Holy See, as you know, is particularly sensitive to the question of fighting poverty, hunger and malnutrition. She makes herself available with help in consultation and action, but also she encourages the member countries of the region and the FAO to fulfill the task to guarantee the basic needs of peoples.

In fact the engagement of the international community in reaching the Millennium Development Goals calls on this session to propose specific guidelines in order to guarantee effective and consistent agricultural development in the different countries of the Near East region. This can be done concretely through the realization of one specific objective, that is, appropriate food security.

2. In this regard the delegation of the Holy See suggests some points for reflection which may be of support in making adequate political choices and selecting concrete actions to correspond to today's necessities.

Among the causes of lack of agricultural development we observe that it fell to FAO to "constitute" the concept of food insecurity, making it gradually evolve from a mere consideration of a technical order, with reference, that is to the availability of foodstuffs in stock, to a situation which denies a real and true human right. These data are for us a source of profound disappointment, especially considering that our world is enjoying, in general, a progress and a development without precedents in history.

The meaning of nutrition should be specified especially in respect to the role that the state should play, in guaranteeing its implementation and thereby its enjoyment by the people. The question directly touches the duties of the FAO Summit and therefore urges for their confirmation. In fact, to guarantee the right of persons and peoples to nutrition, in the absence or lack of the capacity of the single state to do so, other states and the intergovernmental institutions are called upon to come to its aid.

The duty assumed by the different countries concretizes precisely this aspect in the concept of food security, foreseeing an effort of solidarity to guarantee the nutrition of all, and at least to reduce by half the number of the undernourished or starving people by 2015, through the integrated efforts of states and international organizations.

Moreover, comprehensive methods of intervention to struggle against hunger, should certainly pay due attention to all factors of poverty. But it is important to bear in mind that to link food security to other situations, although important, due to their different aims and principles, might however prevent us from mobilizing all the forces required for such a struggle. Now, this approach should also be considered in reference to the impact of recent development in the Near East region regarding trading environment and its implication for food security and agricultural development.

The delegation of the Holy See points out that also in this issue, the adoption of measures in order to achieve sustainable livelihoods, rural and economic growth linked to a concrete social equity and special attention to the vulnerable groups, is an essential imperative. To establish strategies it is necessary to take into account not only the fundamental rights of peoples or communities, but also the respect of everyone's conscience as far as different tradition and cultures are concerned in the Near East. The action should, therefore, involve the education, the training and a comprehensive approach regarding the fundamental values.

Mr. Chairman,

3. In realizing this effort, required today in the engagement endorsed by FAO member countries, the delegation of the Holy See confirms the availability of the Catholic Church, and her various sectors and institutions, to cooperate in the activities of humanization in the realities of hunger, underdevelopment and poverty, a support that would be considered not only as a possibility of logistical support, but also as a source of ideal and programmatic inspiration.

In guaranteeing to every person the possibility of having a qualitative standard of life and adequate food security, we participate in the great design of creation and we have the chance to put common values before individual interests. The international relations today, following the desire of every people to peaceful coexistence, require new forms of solidarity and communion in the implementation of programs and action, according to the fundamental principles of humanity and justice.

Thank You, Mr. Chairman