Month: March 2013

Ethical Food Products Delivered to Your Door

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Trade as One, an online retailer of fair trade food and personal care items, is launching a quarterly delivery service for fair trade products. Through the program, called “Change for Good,” subscribers receive an assortment of 12-15 items such as chocolate, rice, olive oil, sugar, quinoa, tea, soap, and more. Change for Good delivers four assortments per year at a cost of $99 each (shipping is included).

Change for Good food assortment

An assortment of ethical products offered by Trade as One

Benefits of the service include the convenience factor and the fact that it provides access to fair trade items for people whose local stores may not carry them. Trade as One’s homepage has a great video that succinctly explains the positive impact that fair trade shopping habits can have on workers around the world.

Here’s the lineup for their Spring assortment as an example of what subscribers receive:

  • Thai Purple Sticky Rice
  • Black Quinoa
  • Divine Milk Chocolate Bar
  • Women’s Bean Project Jelly Beans
  • Southwest Salsa Mix
  • Olive Oil Soap
  • Couscous
  • Tomato Caper Spread
  • Rooibos Tea
  • Rolled Oats
  • Mascobado Sugar
  • Cocoa & Shea Butter Lip Balm
  • Geobars – Mixed Berry
  • Cream Scone Mix

I’m lucky enough to live in a city with several markets that carry fair trade items, but if I ever moved to a smaller town, I would be thrilled to know I could still make ethical food choices without driving 90 miles. The shipments are curated, which means you can’t pick and choose exactly what you want. However, Trade as One does offer a gluten-free option, as well as the option to add coffee to your assortment.

Read Trade as One’s press release about Change for Good for more information, or visit their website.

Would you subscribe to a delivery service for fair trade items? Do you like surprise assortments, or do you like to choose exactly what you want to buy?

Thanks to Don Lam’s Fair Trade Quilts and Crafts e-newsletter for the tip about Trade as One’s new service!

Fair Home Chicago

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Chicago skyline

Chicagoland has always had a special place in my heart. I grew up in the suburbs until we moved downstate when I was 10. My sister still lives there, so my family gathers there a few times a year for holidays. And at just over three hours from my home in Indianapolis, it’s so close that it feels like my bustling, skyscrapery neighbor. Chicago also has one more thing that I love: an active and vibrant fair trade scene.

Our friends at Lucuma Designs posted a link to a great article about fair trade retailers in Chicago. We’ve already written about some of the retailers on this site, including Mata Traders and Greenheart, and the article lists several more worth checking out. (Most have online stores as well, so I recommend reading the article whether you are in the Midwest or far afield.)

In addition to having multiple fair trade retail stores, fair trade enthusiasts and organizations in the Windy City can join Chicago Fair Trade, a group that works to promote the local fair trade movement. Chicago has the status of “fair trade city” through Fair Trade Towns, making it the largest fair trade city in North America and the second-largest in the world after London.

Basically, Chicago has it going on when it comes to ethical shopping opportunities. Indianapolis has a long way to go to catch up, but it’s great to have such a strong example of what’s possible so close by. How does your city compare? And does anyone else feel like a road trip?