The Economics of Fair Trade
Ever since I heard about fair trade upon my arrival to Wolfville, it had just made sense: farmers don’t deserve the treatment they get from the middlemen, especially in the coffee industry; Fair Trade is a solution. However last year, when I was campaigning against a Tim Horton’s franchise in the Student Union Building, I ran across a report from the Adam Smith Institute (a free-market think tank) describing how fair trade distorts markets and makes little difference in the welfare of farmers. Since I had little time on my hands (this was during exams), I asked Satya Ramen of the Just Us Development and Education Soceity (JUDES) if she had prepared any response before, and since she hadn’t, she worked hard to produce a very well written piece detailing the principles of fair trade in response to the Adam Smith Institute report. I found that by reading both the Adam Smith report and Satya’s response I gained a deeper understanding of the large scale mechanics behind the Fair Trade initiative. So here are some resources for the fair trade debate:
- “Unfair Trade” by Mark Sidwell of the Adam Smith Institute
- “The Bitter Aftertaste” by WorldWRITE
- Response to “Unfair Trade”, by Satya Ramen of JUDES
- The Fairtrade Research Institute Publications Index
- “A Response to the Adam Smith Report & A New Way to Think About Measuring the Content of the Fair Trade Cup” by Alastair Smith of BRASS
- Fairtrade Labelling Organization (FLO) Standards
Wheelock Trayless!
Following last year’s trayless Fridays and individual pledges not to use trays, Wheelock has finally made the switch. According to the press release, the initiative stems from a partnership between Students Affairs, the Arthur Irving Academy for the Environment, Facilities Management, Chartwells, and the Acadia Student Environment Network, but emphasizes that the move is a “student initiative”, perhaps to stem complaints from those who objected to trayless Fridays last year.
Removing trays from cafeterias is a nationwide trend. It reduces food waste by up to a third, reduces water consumption, and helps control overeating in dining halls. The University’s information sheet on the topic points to going trayless as a way around the fabled “Freshman 15″, which I found amusing.
Acadia Orientation Goes Green
Thanks to Jodie Noiles, Brynne Sinclair-Walters and Will Roberts (and others), Acadia’s New Student Orientation is going green. The Orientation Schedule features green events such as the President’s Trayless Lunch, two environmentally focused Special Interest Groups and a team of “Eco-Leaders” (in green t-shirts, of course) to provide information on opportunities to gt involved with the environmental organizations on campus. Additionally, eco-leaders will be at many events involving food to assist in waste sorting to improve events in the future.