Fairtrade choices for a better world
Online festival fortnight encourages people to make a difference
‘Choose the world you want’ sounds like a great idea. And starting on Monday, February 22, that’s what Fairtrade Fortnight 2021 is all about.
During those two weeks everyone is being asked to make choices that will make the world a better place: better for us in North Ayrshire and Arran and better for people who grow food for us, and make other things we buy.
Want evidence? You are cordially invited to the ‘Choose the World You Want’ festival which will be running throughout the fortnight at the Big Co and Convenience store in Brodick. Just have a look at www.fairtrade.org.uk/choosethe-world-you-want-festival/ and you’ll see how Fairtrade producers in developing countries are struggling with the climate crisis and Covid-19 not to mention the turmoil in trade relations generally.
Jan Macgregor, of Arran, chairperson of the North Ayrshire Fairtrade Zone Group, said: ‘In 2014 I visited the Volta River Estates banana plantation in Ghana and saw how the community benefited from Fairtrade: but when attending a recent online meeting of the Scottish Parliament’s cross-party group on Fairtrade I discovered that because of new trade regulations resulting from Brexit, they could end up being very badly disadvantaged.’
Choosing even one Fairtrade product in our shopping every week makes a difference and telling others why we do it helps to spread the word. And that’s not the only thing because fairtrade goods are produced by sustainable farming methods so they are also good for the planet. If you can’t see any Fairtrade coffee, tea, chocolate – or bananas in your shop or supermarket, try asking somebody where they are – that helps to spread the word as well. And maybe this time next year we’ll be able to have a big coffee morning.