On this blog, I talk about not buying products produced using slavery. I tell you how to tell which products to avoid, and which ones you can buy instead. But sometimes there are products you can't avoid buying.
Today I have heard of a web page that makes it easy for you to e-mail companies and ask them to take steps toward making their products trafficking free. This is part of the work of Stop The Traffik The URL for this page is http://traffikfree.org/
They have a pre-written message that you can send via your email address without leaving the website. You can edit the message if you like. They have a link in the message to their protocol which will help the company to make changes, and getting your email will show them that the issue is important to their customers.
Saturday 18 October 2014
Saturday 4 October 2014
Know the issues; sugar
Sugar.
Sweet, fattening, diabetes inducing sugar.
While we know it's unhealthy and wish we didn't, most of us eat a lot of sugar.
I don't know about you, but my family has always bought the cheapest bag of sugar from the supermarket shelf. But it would have so much of a better effect on the producers of our sugar if we could buy fairly traded organic sugar instead.
Our demand for cheap sugar creates a demand for sugar to be grown cheaply. Although countries like the US and Australia grow sugar cane, many other countries that grow it are "developing countries" The demand for cheap sugar creates a demand for cheap labour. In many cases people are exploited to harvest it.
One example is Dominican Bateyes.
In the Dominican Republic, migrants from Haiti, more recently, the children of migrants, make up a large amount of the workers for sugar plantations. Most of these plantations have company housing called bateys. These bateys are often badly maintained, and often there is limited access to health care or school, meaning the children born there end up in a cycle, having no other choice but to work in the same industry as their parents. The pay is not very good, and people do not have the means to get out.
Bateyes, and batey like places exist in other countries. In many other countries where sugar is grown, people have similar problems. Our desire for the cheapest sugar available doesn't help the equality of these workers.
There are some groups and charities working to improve conditions in these places. We can donate to these chatities to help, but when we are buying the product, we have an opportunity to make difference. Buying fairly traded and organic sugar means more money can be spent on labour which provides income for farmers and farm workers. It's also a good idea to look for co-operatives that fund community projects like medical care, school uniforms, and education. Most fair trade products come from such co-operatives. It's also worth while finding out what country your sugar is grown in.
Sources and more information;
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-j-powers/dominican-bateyes_b_1547082.html
http://www.thebateyfoundation.org/about/
http://bateyrelief.org/work/
Sweet, fattening, diabetes inducing sugar.
While we know it's unhealthy and wish we didn't, most of us eat a lot of sugar.
I don't know about you, but my family has always bought the cheapest bag of sugar from the supermarket shelf. But it would have so much of a better effect on the producers of our sugar if we could buy fairly traded organic sugar instead.
Our demand for cheap sugar creates a demand for sugar to be grown cheaply. Although countries like the US and Australia grow sugar cane, many other countries that grow it are "developing countries" The demand for cheap sugar creates a demand for cheap labour. In many cases people are exploited to harvest it.
One example is Dominican Bateyes.
In the Dominican Republic, migrants from Haiti, more recently, the children of migrants, make up a large amount of the workers for sugar plantations. Most of these plantations have company housing called bateys. These bateys are often badly maintained, and often there is limited access to health care or school, meaning the children born there end up in a cycle, having no other choice but to work in the same industry as their parents. The pay is not very good, and people do not have the means to get out.
Bateyes, and batey like places exist in other countries. In many other countries where sugar is grown, people have similar problems. Our desire for the cheapest sugar available doesn't help the equality of these workers.
There are some groups and charities working to improve conditions in these places. We can donate to these chatities to help, but when we are buying the product, we have an opportunity to make difference. Buying fairly traded and organic sugar means more money can be spent on labour which provides income for farmers and farm workers. It's also a good idea to look for co-operatives that fund community projects like medical care, school uniforms, and education. Most fair trade products come from such co-operatives. It's also worth while finding out what country your sugar is grown in.
Sources and more information;
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-j-powers/dominican-bateyes_b_1547082.html
http://www.thebateyfoundation.org/about/
http://bateyrelief.org/work/
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