14 Feb 2011

Exeter students have been working together this week to put on a range
of creative and fun activities that promote sustainable living.

The week kicked off with a ‘Can Film Festival’ on Monday, with cinema
goers gaining free entry to a culture-jamming documentary in exchange
for bringing along a tin can to recycle. This was followed by other
successful events such as a ‘Bookcycle’ at Devonshire House on Tuesday,
a talk on easy ways to be green by the university’s own Dr Stewart Barr
and an ethical activities fair on Friday that played host to
organisations from all over Devon including the Devon Wildlife Trust.

Particularly popular was the Exeter Campus Walk on Saturday afternoon,
open to everybody, which presented itself as a chance to bring people
together while learning about our campus and a bit of information on
what we’re doing to make our university greener. Finally, there was a
green themed night at the student nightclub: The Lemon Grove, where
students casually sipped on green drinks and talked about saving the world!

Charley Mason, a student at Exeter, said “Go Green Week 2011 has brought
together people from all over the university who wouldn’t necessarily be
involved in ‘green issues’. By highlighting the key role that
educational institutions can play in tackling climate change, students
and staff alike have come together and have seen that we can bring about
change and ensure that our future is both low-carbon and sustainable.”

Gambling on the price of people's food

The financial crisis exposed the power of unregulated financial markets to wreck the real economy most of us depend on. And the bailouts and bonuses have shown that when bankers get it wrong, they aren’t the ones that suffer the consequences.

The credit crunch was infamously caused by gambling on derivatives, complex and shadowy financial instruments that in this case were based on ‘sub-prime’ mortgage debt. When the sub-prime mortgage crisis hit, large numbers of financial investors moved their money out of property into commodity derivatives – food like cocoa, wheat and maize – to make a quick buck.

This inflow of ‘hot money’ inflated food prices and caused the 2007-2008 food crisis, in which prices of staple foods more than doubled in large parts of the world, causing hunger and starvation. For example, in 2008, maize - the staple food in Kenya - was subject to a 100% cost increase, which meant that many of the poorest people went hungry and lost their livelihoods.

Since the financial crisis, investment bankers and pension funds have poured over $200bn into food markets, betting on the rising price of food. This speculation is now at record-levels, causing the market to over-react to shortages in supply or rising demand, pushing food prices ever higher. Food prices have recently risen above those seen during the global food crisis of 2008. As John Vidal writes in last week’s Observer, the speculative market is a recent phenomenon which is just getting bigger:

“We first became aware of this [food speculation] in 2006. It didn’t seem like a big factor then. But in 2007/8 it really spiked up,” said Mike Masters, fund manager at Masters Capital Management, who testified to the US Senate in 2008 that speculation was driving up global food prices. “When you looked at the flows there was strong evidence. I know a lot of traders and they confirmed what was happening. Most of the business is now speculation – I would say 70-80%.”

At the World Development Movement we are campaigning to stop excessive food speculation. Regulations are being developed in the US and EU to improve transparency and reduce excessive speculation, but these are under threat from intense lobbying by the financial services industry. We need to put the pressure on now.

The European Commission is currently consulting on the financial regulation that it is developing. We want to ensure that this regulation is strong on food speculation and would like for as many people as possible to input.

Please help us by adding your voice to it.

Imagine a crystal prism hung in a window splintering a single ray of light into a multitude of directions to splash a rainbow of color across a room. Despite having the same point of origin, the reflection on the wall is a unique size and shape. Fair Trade is much the same.

When you examine the metaphorical prism from the global North, each surface represents a principle espoused by Fair Trade and depending on what angle you hold the prism, you can focus on a particular issue or set of related issues. A living wage at the local level free from exploitation; promotion of environmental sustainability with a commitment to organic farming; the empowerment of women through capacity building, promotion into leadership positions, and inclusion in decision making processes; a commitment to gender equality through equal pay for equal work; transparency with trade partners and fair dealing when resourcing materials and supplies for the production of crafts to ensure Fair Trade principles are applied throughout the supply chain; to support grassroots, community-driven development projects or social support programs; the enhancement of cultural traditions and crafts in an era of technological gadgetry and rapid urbanization, and so on. All surfaces are equally important.

Like the effect a prism has on a sunbeam, I have found that Fair Trade Organizations which make the handicrafts, grow the coffee and tea, produce the cocoa, weave the shawls, or create the delicate silk scarves, these local groups look much like the beautiful spectrum of colors in various shapes and sizes splashed around the room. No two are alike despite having the same point of reference.

My blog states: “The Journey for Fair Trade is a journey with a purpose; a journey to present the voices of Fair Trade producers, artisans, weavers, farmers, and craftswomen and men. It starts in Vietnam and continues throughout SE Asia.”

Why I am doing this research is simple. The Fair Trade movement in the West has been well documented, as have the theoretical debates surrounding globalization to include the devastating impact of neo-liberal economic models, Structural Adjustment Programs encased in false ideological promises, and Financial Aid packages that place future generations in debt to foreign lenders. Additionally, Fair Trade impact studies have been conducted by development organizations and specialists, and Fair Trade ethnologies have been documented in anthropological studies

Le Paz, Bolivia Demonstration against 'structural adjustment policies'

For those Fair Trade consumers and advocates in the West who want to know more specifically what it is about, one pertinent question remains; How do those principles appear when applied in the local context? Review the established principles carefully and you will see that Fair Trade is about the empowerment of the disempowered, the integration of the disenfranchised, and the recognition of all human rights. Again, what do those ideals look like when applied? And ultimately for the consumer, Why buy or advocate for Fair Trade – who are those people? What impact do these principles have in their life?

My purpose is to write a blog and later a publication that centers on the people and the cooperatives / producer groups in which their lives are entwined; to see the principles of Fair Trade from their view point by listening to their story, their narrative; to see how Fair Trade fits into their lives and understand what those principles mean to them.

How will I conduct this journey? Business class on international flights, 5-star hotels and fine dining, an entourage of $200/day translators, rented SUVs… No, like so many people involved in the Fair Trade Movement, I am of modest means. As I had done in 2005, I put my few belongings into storage, emptied my meager savings, loaded a backpack with a few changes of clothes, picked up a couple books for inspiration (read: Javatrekker by Dean Cycon, the founder of Dean’s Beans – highly recommended!), and a packed a durable Compaq laptop. All I need from this point forth are $7 backpacker guest houses, a coffee shop with wifi, and a range of anti-biotics prepared for those times local foods carry an extra punch. This is my life researching Fair Trade.

Father Marion, Mitch, Father Valentin and the user-friendly Bote Central Coffee Roaster

Who am I to conduct this research? In 2005, a friend wrote to me her observation of my year-long backpack Journey for Fair Trade; she stated, “There are dreamers, who dream; and there are dreamers, who do; you are of the latter.” More than a dreamer, I see myself as an advocate for the return of a marketplace which is integrated into the society in which it operates. In the time of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, the Agora was a place for social, political and philosophical gatherings, an exhibition of the arts and culture, and a marketplace, all in one. It was the centerpiece of human activity.

I believe that learning comes not only from academia and life itself, but more importantly in this journey, learning comes from listening to the voices that go unheard in the shrouded chambers of international trade negotiation and disregarded in the university halls of macro-economic studies. This selective hearing loss is a result of a concerted effort in which the field of economics has completely isolated itself from the social context upon which its very existence depends. For the vast majority of economists advising governance, trade is trade, nothing more than an exchange of goods and services devoid of context. This mono vision is degrading to humanity and simultaneously destroying the world we inhabit.

Perhaps my observant friend was correct; I may be a dreamer because I call for a post-autistic future for economics. This is my dream for the impact of a global Fair Trade movement: A future in which the marketplace is re-integrated with the humanities, labor and human rights are respected, and the environment is protected; the new Agora.

My journey is an open invitation for your comments, suggestions, and ideas; and if so inspired, I welcome invitations as I travel to listen and facilitate those voices of Fair Trade.