Winner of the Be Fair competition- its very cool, check it out

You could not have asked for a better day for the last University market day of the year. Warm, sunny and perfect for grabbing a spot on the Union lawn to watch the bustle and listen to the bands. OUSA were there in force, giving away free hot chocolate to eager students and getting the word out about the new Fairtrade My Uni web site which has just been launched.

And word on the street is that the School of Business is about to go Fairtrade – that is one quarter of the entire University of Otago! And may help to dispel any arguments against the going Fairtrade, if all those clear-sighted commerce lecturers are backing it..

punters happy about hot chocolate!

Mash cafe in the Octagon

Is it just me or is the whole city abuzz with Fairtrade news at the moment? Perhaps it is just the circles I have drifted through while writing this blog, but the movement really seems to have grown amazingly in the last year. Dunedin has 10 Fairtrade schools, more than any other region and loads of cafes and businesses that have opted for Fairtrade. Recently I spoke to Julia Campbell, of the Fair trade Association of Australia and New Zealand, who was visiting Dunedin to help to facilitate things for those who wish to go Fairtrade. I wanted to find out how she became interested in Fairtrade and just what Dunedin needs to do to become a Fairtrade city. Listen to the podcast below..

This event is whispered to happen this Thursday 15th october 10am- 2:00 in the uni square.

second time lucky, as the campaign was planned to happen 2 months ago.

Thumbs up for Countdown. The Countdown supermarket in Dunedin stocks Scarborough Fair trade chocolate, Green and Black chocolate and Scarborough Fair tea and coffee.

Great to see countdown supporting fair trade. Scarborough Fair is Australasia’s only fair trade company.  It was formed in 2004 in Auckland and now supplies 1,500 supermarkets in New Zealand with fair trade products.

Welcome to Dunedin’s newest Fairtrade workplace: The Design Studies Department! So how does a workplace become Fairtrade? Well, it takes commitment but it’s surprisingly simple. Its all about options. First, your workplace pledges to provide two Fairtrade options in staffrooms, say Fairtrade tea and hot chocolate for example, or coffee or sugar. Secondly, Send in the forms you downloaded from the Fair Trade Association web site. Then they will send you a poster or a sticker to put in the window to say you have chosen to be a Fairtrade workplace.. and Bob’s your uncle!

Check out the official info here

By the way, those men in the dinghy are catching the lines that will pull the boat into the Panama canal, they aren’t about to get run down by Dole bananas..

The panel debate question “Has Fairtrade been hijacked by Multinationals?” is an interesting one. Surely if Fairtrade has become mainstream enough for big corporations to want to hitch a ride then that is a sign of the movement’s success? The downside is that the Fairtrade system could lose some of it’s integrity. For example, to supply Fairtrade cocoa to huge companies like Cadburys requires a massive number of co-operatives whose outputs need to be managed by a governing body – which is putting middle-men back between the producer and the seller,  going against Fairtrade’s initial plan of small farmers directly connected to the people who buy their produce. However, thousands of people will be better off, will get the Fairtrade minimum price and a portion of the Fairtrade premium, oh and no child slavery either which is a Good Thing.

Complaining about corporations changing the nature of Fairtrade is a bit like travelling to a place and complaining that it’s touristy. Everything changes with increased popularity, but hopefully Fairtrade will keep its essence..