Documentary challenges Fair Trade tea model – screening & discussion at UCLA, Wed. 6:30 PM | 3BL Media

UCLA International Institute Human Rights Film Series

The Bitter Taste of Tea: A Journey into the World of Fair Trade
A film by Tom Heinemann and Erling Borgen, Denmark, 2008
 
The film screening will be followed by a forum on tea and Fair Trade.
 
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
6:30-8:00
James Bridges Theater, 1409
Melnitz Hall
UCLA
 
Free and open to the public. Parking available in Structure 3.

  There will be an informal reception before the screening beginning at 6:00 pm.

  The Bitter Taste of Tea travels to tea estates in Sri Lanka, Kenya, India, and Bangladesh—some traditional, some Fair Trade Certified—to expose unsafe work environments and labor exploitation. Finding little meaningful difference between Fair Trade and non-Fair Trade operations, questions arise: Are Fair Trade certifiers being duped by tea growers? Or are the standards for Fair Trade certification too low? Or are growers doing the best they can in a brutal industry and a market that has yet to demand the quantities of Fair Trade tea that would create meaningful trickle-down profits for their workers?

  It is left to the viewer to weigh the arguments and decide.

 
The screening will be followed by a discussion forum on tea and fair trade with:
 
Katherine Stone, UCLA Professor of Law
Katherine Stone is a leading expert in labor and employment law in the United States. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship Award in 2008 and a Russell Sage Fellowship for 2008-2009 for her work on the changing nature of employment and the regulatory implications. Her forthcoming book, Globalization and Flexibilization: The Remaking of the Employment Relationship in the 21st Century, will examine the changing employment landscape in Japan, Australia, and Europe.
 
Rodney North, “The Answer Man”, Equal Exchange
Equal Exchange is the firm that introduced Fair Trade foods to the US market in the 1980’s and have imported and marketed Fair Trade tea since 1998. They advocate for a new approach to Fair Trade tea focused on small farmer co-operatives instead of plantations. They currently work with more than 40 co-operatives of small-scale, mostly organic, coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar and banana farmers, in over 20 countries. Rodney North is one of the most senior members of Equal Exchange, serves on the Board of Directors and his primary role is as an all-purpose information resource for journalists, researchers, and the public. Rodney@equalexchange.coop.
 
David Funkhouser, TransFair USA
TransFair USA is the non-profit third-party certifying organization, based in Oakland, that first certified Fair Trade foods for the US market, founded in 1998. TransFair is the US member of the international Fair Trade umbrella group Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International www.FairTrade.net.
 
Moderated by Beatrice Hohenegger, author and guest curator of “Steeped in History: The Art of Tea,” a 2009 museum exhibition on the history and culture of tea at the Fowler Museum at UCLA.
 
Visit the filmmakers’ website for more information about The Bitter Taste of Tea.
 
Part of the UCLA International Institute Human Rights Film Series.

Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship members come together online to respond to Haiti quake | 3BL Media

As information continues to reach us about the devastating earthquake in Haiti, many of the Boston College Center’s members have stepped up to provide financial and in-kind relief.
 
A discussion on this topic is currently taking place in our online Member Community. Many of the community members are using this space to trade ideas about a variety of issues from supporting employees with family affected by the disaster to how to set up an employee donation page. Others have reported on their companies’ financial commitments, including the following:

• Timberland is contributing to the earthquake relief efforts through Yéle Haiti (http://www.yele.org), a grassroots movement founded by Wyclef Jean that builds global awareness for Haiti while transforming the country through educational, cultural and environmental programs. Timberland announced its partnership with Yéle Haiti several months ago, intending to focus on reforestation, but has now refocused its partnership on earthquake relief.

• Morgan Stanley is committing $1 million to the Red Cross Haiti Fund and is encouraging employee giving.

• The TJX Companies, Inc. has announced that it will be donating $100,000 to the American Red Cross to assist with relief efforts. The company is also waiting to hear more details from the Red Cross regarding on-the-ground needs and logistics before doing any sort of clothing-related donations.

• The General Mills Foundation will provide $250,000 to support disaster relief and long-term rebuilding efforts in Haiti. The Foundation will make a grant in the amount of $100,000 to the American Red Cross International Disaster Relief Fund and $150,000 to CARE International for long-term rebuilding efforts.

The online Member Community, which was officially launched in early November, currently has more than 700 members and 65 active discussions and is growing quickly, particularly as members seek to participate in the current discussion on Haiti earthquake relief.
 
The online community is open only to Center members and is by invitation only. If you are already a member of the community, please join the discussion here. If you are a Center member but have not yet joined the community, email Susan Thomas for an invitation.
 
Another resource is the Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC) of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is coordinating with relief agencies and organizations on the ground in Haiti. They list a number of NGOs that are working on the ground in Haiti, and have a help desk hosting coordination calls, sharing information, documenting corporate aid contributions, and informing the public and relevant partners about the current state of corporate disaster aid contributions. You can learn more at http://www.uschamber.com/bclc/haitiearthquakeresponse.htm.
 
BCCCC4119
 

People. Planet. Profit. | 3BL Media

Imagine that you work hard every day, earning wages to put food on the table, clothes on the kids and paying the rent. But not quite enough to fulfill your dream of having your own home.

Even in this burst housing bubble, the average price of the American home, in the $140,000–$230,000 range, is beyond your slender means. But then there’s Dan Phillips.

Dan is building homes made almost entirely with salvaged and recycled materials, from wine corks for flooring to broken mirrors for decorative pieces to glass plates for windows. He conserves resources in other ways, too. Instead of hiring expensive crews, he hires unskilled labor and helps them build their skills along with the house, right on the job. This includes the future homeowner, who can wind up in a home costing in the $20,000–$50,00 range! This is a no frills home, no dishwashers, Viking stoves or posh features, but it’s well built affordable housing that’s one of a kind with an artistic flair that can only come from building with what you can find. Can’t imagine having a recycled house? Take a look at some of the photos we found on The Greenest Dollar of some of Dan’s work. This is green building that is craftsman like, unique and brilliant.

Dan and his wife Marsha have started an organization called The Phoenix Commotion, to foster his dream of helping others build their dreams.

The mission of The Phoenix Commotion is straightforward: build affordable homes for the working poor using recycled and reclaimed materials. The goal is to 80% recycled material minimum in every home. And the houses are built with unskilled labor. He trains the workers to build homes, which gives them skills to keep on keeping on in life. This makes Dan’s homes affordable, keep material out of landfills, and gives people hope and skills. It’s a people, planet and profit deal.Nothing suffers in the process either. Each home is solid as Gibraltar and built to code.

Their mission statement includes reducing landfill burden, providing low income housing, and training unskilled labor. Talk about a trifecta of waste to resources.

If not for Dan’s work all of this stuff would have ended up in a landfill. Dan will help anyone who has a job, and good credit or no credit.

This video is well worth the 7 minutes to watch it. A story of someone who’s dream of home ownership is made possible by Dan’s work, and some conversation with the man himself.

On the Phoenix Commotion website there is a complete listing of where you can find reusable building material for your own projects, everywhere from flea markets to dumpsites, to the mud, stones and sticks found in nature.

Thanks for the source materials to The Greenest Dollar, and Eco Home Resource.

What can you build from what you can find?

Greenopolis.com is dedicated to our users. We focus our attention on changing the world through recycling, waste-to-energy and conservation. We reward our users for their sustainable behaviors on our website, through our Greenopolis Tracking Stations and with curbside recycling programs.

GREENOP4127

Sustainable Jewelry Makes Perfect Valentine’s Day Gift | 3BL Media

Each year, millions of women receive jewelry for Valentine’s Day. The Hallmark holiday is indeed one of the main drivers to the $76 billion industry. But this year, consumers don’t have to sacrifice their values for that something special.

With the recent launch of Sulusso, consumers can now easily shop beautiful designer jewelry made with minimal social and environmental impact. Going well beyond just conflict-free, each designer has demonstrated a commitment to sustainabilty. The site features work by Dawes Design, Alberto Parada and Joy O to name just a few of the well-known featured vendors.

Sulusso makes it easy to shop by type of jewelry, budget or designer. With hundreds of pieces to select from, there is surely something for everyone.

 

Sulusso Website

Ethically Sourced and Lab-created Diamonds Offer Options for Conscious Consumers | 3BL Media

The true value of diamonds lies not in the stone itself, but rather in the expression of love, happiness, commitment and pride that are often communicated through them. More important than the size or the brand on the diamond, is the story of partnership, hard work, or perhaps family, that the gem represents.

Sadly, this has all but been lost in today’s society. Diamonds have become a commodity with a perceived value that has largely been manipulated by those who benefit the most from their sales.

The issues associated with the diamond industry (mining, manufacturing, trade) are profoundly negative from both the social and environmental perspectives and are too great to detail in this article. Suffice to say that the people most impacted by the diamond trade are not those benefitting the most from the $50 billion industry.

Of course, there is no such thing as perfectly clean diamonds – that is to say, having no social or environmental impact. But consumers need to look beyond just conflict-free to alternatives that are indeed more sustainable. The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme has failed, but new options are available.

Lab-grown diamonds (synomymous with synthetic, lab-created, man-made or cultured) are a great option for conscious consumers. While they do have some environmental impact, the degree is significantly less than that of their mined counterpart. Lab-grown diamonds are chemically, optically and physically identical to mined diamonds, but are not marked by the same degree of impact given that they are not harvested from the earth.

“Conflict-free” absolutely does not address labor and environmental abuses resulting from diamond mining. Nor does it assure ethical labor in the digging, cutting and polishing of diamonds. The definition of conflict-free is indeed very narrowly focused on funding war conflict. Water pollution, community displacement, destruction of habitats, unsafe working conditions and low wages are just a few of the many issues still associated with diamonds, even those certified conflict-free. Purchasing lab-grown is really the only way to ensure that your diamonds are conflict-free.

All of this is not to say that boycotting mined diamonds is the responsible thing to do. The reality is that the diamond sector does have the power to contribute to sustainable development in some of the world’s most impoverished areas. There are a few programs in Africa whereby small scale miners are appropriately involved and benefitting from mining in their community. These ethically sourced diamonds provide meaningful employment as they are cut and polished by the community most affected by the mining.

Consumers don’t need to sacrifice their values. Lab-created and ethically sourced diamonds offer beauty and luxury that consumers can feel good about buying, gifting and wearing. These alternatives can enhance the value of diamonds as they are more directly rooted in our own ethical values, putting that much more meaning into the message of love or friendship or whatever sentiment goes along with the jewelry.

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CSR Minute: Google Stops Censoring in China; Equator Coffee and Teas’ Facebook Store

Corporate Social Responsibility News: Google Stops Censoring in China, Announces Unethical Hacking; Equator Artisan Coffees and Teas’ FaceBook Store