Fairtrade Congregation
St John's hopes to become a recognised Fairtrade congregation, using fairly traded goods in our church meetings, helping to highlight the injustices of the global market and to promote fair practices. In Britain the Fairtrade Foundation issues certificates to workplaces, shops, churches and even towns who meet its standards. We hope that this initiative at St John's will help the local Christian Aid committee in its efforts to turn Carluke into a fair trade town.
International trade may seem a remote issue, but when commodity prices fall dramatically this has a catastrophic impact on the lives of millions of small scale producers, forcing many into crippling debt and countless others to lose their land and their homes. Too many farmers in the developing world have to contend with fluctuating prices that may not even cover what it costs to produce their crop.
Fairtrade Labelling was created in the Netherlands in the late 1980s. Max Havelaar launched the first Fairtrade consumer guarantee label in 1986 on coffee sourced from Mexico. Today, there are now 19 organisations including the Fairtrade Foundation, that run the international standard setting and monitoring body Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO). Producers registered with FLO receive a minimum price that covers the cost of production and an extra premium that is invested in the local community.
We have applied for a Fairtrade Certificate for St John's from the Fairtrade Foundation on the understanding that we will, whenever possible:
- Use Fairtrade tea and coffee for all meetings for which we have responsibility.
- Move forward on using other Fairtrade products (such as sugar, biscuits and fruit).
- Promote Fairtrade during Fairtrade Fortnight (1-13 March 2005) and through other activities.
With our Tradecraft Stall already in operation twice a week, and our organisations' leaders agreeing to serve fairly traded tea and coffee, we should qualify without difficulty to be recognised as a Fairtrade congregation.
