'Fair trade' is taking on a new meaning - By Julie
Lane
You've just finished eating a delicious chocolate
bar and as the endorphins are kicking in, you're feeling rather
mellow and quite pleased with yourself. But thousands of miles away,
a worker who helped to make, package and ship that chocolate bar
to the United States is struggling to put enough food on her family's
table and to pay for medical care for her sick child.
She's one of millions of exploited workers around
the world who don't make enough money to pay for basics and, despite
long work hours, don't have the health benefits to care for themselves
and their children.
Still smiling?
Fed up with the disparity between our lifestyles and
those exploited to provide our comforts, some North Fork merchants
are taking a different approach to how they do business. It's all
about fair trade, according to Melanie Mitzner, who operates www.thegroovymind.com
with her partner, Nicke Gorney.
It's a concept of biodynamics, says Steve Siegelwaks
of Riverhead's Green Earth Natural Foods. All are convinced that
they can make a living and be true to their own conscience. Their
customers tend to agree.
"A lot of our clientele tends to be educated
with respect to issues like fair trade and a healthy environment,"
said Shelly Scoggin at The Market in Greenport. She purchases products
from the Groovy Mind because "it's the right thing to support."
Wages of fair trade workers are three times the average paid to
farmers and artisans in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Indonesia and
the Caribbean. Fair-trade workers get educational and health-care
benefits the other workers lack, said Ms. Mitzner. The effort is
to break the cycle of poverty in these nations while providing organic
goods free from pesticides, herbicides or hormones, she said.
For Ms. Mitzner and Ms. Gorney, a writer and an artist,
it was the hunt for a business to make their other occupations viable.
They required something that was also socially responsible.
"We in the free world live a life of luxury at
the expense of others," said Ms. Mitzner.
Mr. Siegelwaks agrees, arguing that there are compelling
reasons for wanting to do as much as possible to protect the earth
and all the people who inhabit it.
"Sustainable is not good enough," he said. That only maintains
current fields. Biodynamics, to which his products are wedded, aims
at not only sustaining but healing land, thereby creating more land
from which to plant and reap organic products. Tying that to the
welfare of the workers who farm the fields and produce the goods
is an easy step, he said, disputing the theory that consumers have
to pay more for fair-trade products.
Workers who are being fairly paid have a "keener
work ethic" that often allows them to outperform workers employed
by large conglomerates, said Mr. Siegelwaks.
Add to that the health benefits consumers reap from
using organic products and you more than offset any price discrepancy,
he said.
Americans are often very shortsighted, said Ms. Mitzner.
Whatever is done to exploit the land in other countries "will
affect us here," she said.
"The thing we're up against is an educational
process," said Ms. Mitzner. That's why she and Ms. Gorney include
an informational card with their products that tells buyers they
can "change the world one bite, one sip at a time."
The aim of fair trade is to carry the process through
to the consumer. Just as consumers shouldn't want to exploit the
workers who produce their products so, too, sellers of fair-trade
products shouldn't be pricing to take advantage of the final buyers.
"You don't have to make a killing to make a
living," said Ms. Gorney.
"It's all about giving back," said Rosemary Batcheller
at Mattituck's Village Cheese shop that features Groovy Mind products.
"I feel lucky to be able to do it locally." The idea came
to her when discussing actor Paul Newman's contributions that come
from profits on salad dressings and other food products he sells.
She initially thought that if she ever grew wealthy, that's something
she would like to do. Then she realized that without amassing that
kind of wealth, she could contribute on a smaller level.
"My business is solvent," she said. "Why
wait?" Not only does she carry fair-trade products, but she
also contributes profits from one of the cheeses she sells to the
Heifer Project, which provides livestock to countries in need of
food. Its aim is to end hunger permanently by providing a steady
source of food, milk from the young cows and an agreement from the
recipients to donate female offspring to another family, so the
gift of food is never-ending.
"To do good is part of your daily business,"
said Ms. Batcheller.
"It's a kind way to approach living," said
Dr. Steve Prenzlauer, a psychiatrist and assistant professor at
Stony Brook University, who buys Groovy Mind products as gifts and
for his own use. He thinks fair-trade products are price competitive,
especially when considering that a participating company sells a
pound of coffee instead of the 12 or 13 ounces that non-fair-trade
companies often sell, he said. "We're happy to be part of the
process," said Marie Beninati, who buys fair-trade products
for both the Belvedere B&B and to use as gifts in the real estate
business she and her husband operate.
"It's groovy to be socially responsible,"
said Ms. Mitzner.