Why Buy Fair Trade?

Fair Trade is a system of exchange created to build a just global economy for farmers and artisans. When you purchase Fair Trade products you support:

• Fair prices for products
• Fair and safe working conditions
• Investment in people and communities
• Environmental sustainability

Fair Trade and the Fight Against Human Slavery

Purchasing products that are part of the Fair Trade movement also makes it possible to avoid purchasing slave-made goods around the world. Whether you realize it or not, slaves are forced to work all over the world to supply us with the things we buy. Raw materials and products including coffee come from slave labor. Currently there are between 20-30 million slaves in the world. Businesses can help stop slavery by taking responsibility and cleaning up their products chains, and all of us consumers have responsibility to take as well. Fair Trade means that farmers get a living wage for their crops so they can afford to send their children to school, and it also means that they are less likely to be tricked into slavery. To learn more about how you can help to end modern day human slavery visit Free the Slaves or the CNN Freedom Project.

Learn more about Fair Trade:

• Fair Trade USA - www.transfairusa.org
• Fair Trade Federation - www.fairtradefederation.org
• Global Exchange - www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/