Consuming fair trade products is easy. The hump that fair trade faces is the perception of ease. Fair trade needs to catch up with a world where the most successful products are advertised as easy. I thought this challenge would be a lot more difficult then it was. Now thats its over, I realize fair trade is easily accessible, and worth the extra pennies that I end up loosing in my coach anyways. I didn't even realize it was over (today is the 21st not the 13th). Give it a try, day by day you soon realize how easy it is, until, it just becomes normal.

- Jonathan

Take Home Message

Although the challenge is over, it feels like it's still on. Which is, I think, a good sign. I had some chocolate fudge today, home-made by a co-worker, and felt a pang. Of guilt.

Of course, I will continue to purchase fair trade and I will continue to push for fair trade options. But there is a middle ground here. I can't see myself giving up all chocolate, coffee, and tea that aren't fair trade. But I can control my purchases and I can ensure that they are considerate. And that, folks, is the take-home message.

- Tabitha

This is the End!

Well, folks, today is the last day of the Challenge. Really, the time flew by, and now we can all forget about Fair Trade altogether.... Or not. The One Month Challenge is a great way of raising awareness of environmental and labour justice issues, but it is certainly not the end of the road.

Through this challenge, many of us discovered that Fair Trade Options are generally pretty easy to come by (in an urban setting, anyway) and not necessarily more expensive, or at least not prohibitively so. Fair Trade wine isn't much more than an average bottle, and many coffee shops offer Fair Trade coffee for the same price as a regular cup.

After lamenting the fact early on that boxes of Fair Trade teas were quite a bit more per bag than the cheap-o varieties offered at grocery stores, I was surprised to find that I still have a good amount of tea left over. Not only that, but when compared to Gretzky's Green Tea, the Fair Trade option is actually cheaper to purchase than the Great Ones' brand. Sorry Wayne, but you just don't make the cut, this time.

To celebrate a successful challenge, I'm going to enjoy the last of a bottle of red wine tonight, and look forward to challenging myself to choose Fair Trade options regularly until next year's challenge comes around again.

- Sheldon

There are very few food chains that I like. I have to admit Robins Donuts is one of them. The stained yellow pictures of donuts on their menu, the way they have the same looking grandparents in all of them warms my heart. I'm glad to find out they have organic fair trade coffee! 1.37 for a small. Not to shabby Robins. Stay classy, stay stained yellow!

- Jonathan

Amnesia

Like many students I woke up sunday morning with a head ache, belly ache, dehydrated, and worrying about an exam on Monday. Yup, thats right, I spent saturday night sipping on vinho du porto discussing fine literature by my fire place with other elite scholars. I made my way to the university to study, and after a nauseating 50 min bus ride, I was felt even worse then ever. The only cure: Coffee. You would think Starbucks, the one company that has more pictures of foreign people on their walls then world vision, would support our brothers and sisters around the world, and have fair trade. Nope.

After 30 minutes of laying head down of an book-less table, about to explode, I remembered. There are other choices!  Smarter choices! Degrees(the UMSU run restaurant, with biodegradable cutlery, delicious vegan options, and fair trade coffee)! 

I think some times we are so saturated with large corporations that we can no longer remember that there are other options. I think that is what this challenge has re ignited in me, a little bit of freedom and empowerment in choice. I think its exciting, and empowering to have the choice everyday to practice something that is right.

- Jonathan

The Final Countdown

Well, there’s one week left in the One Month Challenge, and I am still going strong. One box of tea has bitten the dust, and the coffee is starting to run low, but there’s more than enough of everything to last through the end of the challenge.

Last night we even picked up a bottle of Fair Trade red wine, a Sima Kunye shiraz out of South Africa. The bottle was priced under 11$, too, so it was quite affordable. Haven’t tasted it yet, but that’ll likely come up in the next day or so, and I’ll report back.

Other than that, I’ve got little to say. The challenge has been very interesting so far, particularly when discussing the concept and the principles behind Fair Trade with friends and coworkers.

- Sheldon

Loosely Defined

I'm a big fan of loose tea. And I love that with loose tea there are so many options- herbal, green, white, black, fruit, rooibos. But in undertaking this challenge, I've discovered that there aren't a lot of options for fair trade loose tea. In fact, a call to local tea shops revealed that fair trade loose tea is not easily available in Winnipeg. (I might be wrong, please let me know if I am.)

I don't know enough about fair trade to know if herbal teas or green tea, say, are in need of the certification. Because these aren't considered true tea. Nonetheless, in the name of the challenge I have gone without. I stocked up on boxed teas- rooibos and peppermint- at Ten Thousand Villages. But this seems a bit of a grey area for me. Can't wait until the summer when I can make my own herbal teas. But for now, boxed tea it is.

- Tabitha