Tuesday, 2 March 2004

Greenbelt

Lost for words

[Trade Justice]

"What does your badge mean?" is not a question I expect to be asked at the supermarket checkout. Still, it's a direct approach and so much more accurate than the previous question asked about it. ("Are you a Pices?" someone once asked me at work. I think he meant Libra, but the answer was still "no".)

Back to the checkout. I fumbled. "It's about fair trade," I said. "Oh yes, we have those flowers". Conversation over.

That's not what it's about. It's the symbol of the Trade Justice Movement, a group of organisations campaigning to change the rules of trade so that they are weighted to benefit rather than harm poor people and the environment. (Greenbelt's a member of the movement.)

Those words were hidden somewhere in my brain at the time so I fudged the answer. It's a big issue. Bigger and more complex than just fair trade, and it's hard to know where to begin explaining. But I've swotted up on it now. Next time I'll be prepared.

(By the way, Fairtrade Fortnight started this week. And to celebrate it looks as though Tesco have finally agreed to stock fairtrade bananas. I hope it's not just for these two weeks though.)

Posted by pab at 23:39