Today will likely be the only Monday this semester that I’ll get to spend some time blogging, so that’s cause for celebration on my part (though it likely also means that tomorrow will be slow). As far as the bigger picture, though, I was thinking hard about how to tie Labor Day, which is definitely the US’ most progressive holiday in spirit, into the issues of sustainability that I normally write about. Well, Treehugger comes to the rescue with a suggestion to think about Fair Trade today. While Lloyd Alter’s post provides information that should be old hat to most sustainablog readers, I think it’s important to remember that we do have a least one mechanism out there for examining the relationships between global trade, labor standards and environmental stewardship. Clearly, Fair Trade certification has been a bit of a mixed bag (from what I’ve read, some of their standards may be a bit too stringent), the broad dissemination of the concept through certification must have more people thinking about the supply chain behind that cup of coffee or chocolate bar.
Categories: Labor Day, fair trade, coffee, chocolate