Norman may soon be joining a very elite group of U.S. cities as student organizations push to get the home of OU certified as an official “Fair Trade Town.”
“In the U.S., we only have 14 cities, so we have a lot of catching up to do,” said Ajit Bhand, a Norman Fair Trade founding member.
“This idea of not only people buying Fair Trade products [food, clothing and other items bought and sold with equality and sustainability in mind], but communities themselves being Fair Trade, originated in the U.K., where there are now over 400 Fair Trade cities,” Bhand said.
In order to achieve this title, there are many criteria a town must meet.
There are five basic requirements: a steering committee to organize the campaign, support from the community and businesses (for Norman, this means at least 20 establishments that carry Fair Trade products or one for every 5,000 residents), Fair Trade products used at various public places (such as schools or churches), media attention focusing on the campaign and the city council must both pass a resolution supporting Fair Trade and commit to buy the products themselves, Bhand said.
Currently, the city lacks only one of these requirements.
“Right now we are focusing on urging the city council to buy Fair Trade products,” Bhand said.
Norman Fair Trade is asking students and residents to help overcome this final hurdle.
“We just started a petition on change.org, which has a link on Facebook, trying to collect signatures to get the city to commit to purchasing Fair Trade products,” said Gene Perry, Norman Fair Trade steering committee member.
If the petition is successful, Fair Trade advocates are hoping the city’s certification will have a deep impact.
“It will give us prestige but also show that we are a progressive city and we’re trying to move forward. It will just show that we’re looking toward the future, trying to help people,” said Cindy Woods, president of the Student Organization for Fair Trade and steering committee member of Norman Fair Trade.
Some Norman businesses said Fair Trade products have shown positive results for their businesses.
Sara Kaplan, owner of Native Roots Market on Main Street said, “ has definitely been a big draw to our store.”
Kaplan said she is hopeful business will increase once Norman becomes an official Fair Trade Town.
Matt Runkle, Native Roots owner, said “the more people that start buying [Fair Trade], the better it becomes for us. ...There’s so many Fair Trade things right now that we can’t sell because people don’t know what it is, but if there was more awareness of it, all that means is that we can go and buy from the other 50 people we have lined up.”
Norman does not only stand to gain financially from its certification, however.
“It simply makes us a more concerned, compassionate community,” said Mary Francis, Norman Fair Trade steering committee member.
Groups like Norman Fair Trade also hope that this will only be a stepping stone on the way to more cities in Oklahoma and beyond receiving their own title.
“One of the things that towns can do once they are certified is mentor other towns,” Bhand said. “So that’s something further down the line for us.”
Although such a prestigious title for the city is one of the Fair Trade organization’s goals, it emphasizes that the point of this and all of the other activities is ultimately to shed light on the subject.
“We want to get more people to hear about Fair Trade,” Perry said. “They often don’t understand it ... but we’re confident once they learn they will be more interested in buying Fair Trade products.”
For more information on signing the petition, a list of other certified towns or Norman Fair Trade, you can visit the Web site at NormanFairTrade.org.
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Gene 2 years, 5 months ago
Fair Trade connects marginalized producers directly with markets, cutting out the middlemen. It empowers them to understand the value of their products, IMPROVE it's quality and sustainability, and put the profits of their labor back into their community. And it provides a way for consumers to ensure that they are not supporting child labor or abuse of workers. For anyone who really knows something about economics, these are all significant and valuable marketing features.
williamcombs 2 years, 5 months ago
Fair Trade is a myth created by progressives so they can feel better about themselves and tell everyone about it. Anyone who knows anything about economics, and international trade specifically, knows that fair trade artificially inflates prices and creates an inferior product around the world. It's FREE TRADE that we should be after.
williamcombs 2 years, 5 months ago
"Connects marginalized producers directly with markets"
There reason they're marginalized is because their products are too expensive to survive a free market.
"empowers them to understand the value of their products"
What does this mean? Are we buying products to make people feel better about themselves now?
"IMPROVE it's quality and sustainability"
Again, the sustainability is artificial. These producers can't compete on a global scale. They should improve by competing with global prices.
"put the profits of their labor back into their community"
I want to put the profits of my labor into the least expensive products, period. I'm not concerned about their communities.
"not supporting child labor or abuse of workers"
The United States didn't need foreign consumers telling us how to run our industries. We got away from child labor on our own. We got away from abuse of workers on our own. But this issue isn't an economic one in reality. It's a political issue. These places make cheaper goods, which is good for us. Leave the child labor issues to the political arena.
TAG 2 years, 5 months ago
GO Fair Trade. We need this everywhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Veganese 2 years, 5 months ago
Mr. williamcombs, I don't even know what to say. Maybe you need to read up on marginalization of farmers/workers in global trade before you comment here. Let me suggest http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/?q=node/view/159
"I want to put the profits of my labor into the least expensive products, period. I'm not concerned about their communities."
Great. Even if getting least expensive products means that they come from companies that employ forced and/or child labor to produce the goods, that prohibit workers from forming democratic unions and that pollute the environment? So what if a child under the age of 14 is workin 18 hours a day at a cocoa farm in the Ivory Coast. You're just happy your chocolate is cheap, right?
"The United States didn't need foreign consumers telling us how to run our industries. We got away from child labor on our own."
Really? What about the factories owner/operated by American companies overseas?
TylerBranson 2 years, 5 months ago
At least WilliamCombs is honest about not caring where or how his products got to him. His comments reflect what most people think but aren't willing to say. I applaud you, sir.
JJanowiak 2 years, 5 months ago
Williamcombs is partially right that Fair Trade creates artificial pressures to raise the price of goods although I personally think he's wrong about that connecting to any sort of low quality. But really, this is more about progressives because fair trade arrangements are totally dependent on progressive, wealth people like the ones commenting on this thread to purchase goods for artificially high prices. Fair trade goods are nice but they aren't a large-scale solution to problems of exploitation because they depend on another guilty-feeling upper class of exploiters who want to shell out extra money to feel good. Meanwhile, the poor will continue to buy cheap products.