Brands, labels and guides - a starting point to shopping ethically.

Okay, so the feedback I have had from the last post has been great, and also very constructive.  For those who did download the Free2Work app you would have realised by now that most of the brands mentioned are from the US market (for obvious reasons - as the app is an American based creation).  

I had thought there was no Australian based equivalent and was going to direct you all to buy the Ethical Shopping Guide - a great little resource that you can carry with you to the supermarket.  Upon visiting their website to collect details, however, I discovered that they now have their own app!!! Ahh, how exciting! So, now I am going to encourage you to buy the Ethical Shopping Guide AND download the app :).  The guide includes a rating and assessment for hundreds of brands and products.  It also includes other snippets of information on certain brands and information about fair-trade labeling (letting you know which brands you can trust).  I cannot recommend it enough! 

http://www.ethical.org.au/

Another useful shopping guide is the one produced by the Fair Trade Organisation, which can be downloaded from their website. It provides information about fair-trade businesses. Here is a link direct to the guide:

http://www.fta.org.au/sites/default/files/file/Fair_Trade_Association_Fair_Trade_Guide_2012-13.pdf

The last place I am going to direct you to is one of the Fair Trade Association’s website’s where you can search online for fair-trade stores and products.  The search works Australia wide, so to narrow it down to your local city make sure you include the city name in the search - e.g. "Chocolate in Melbourne"

http://fairtrade.com.au/

Thanks guys, and I hope the above information will help you to be more informed about the brands you buy and guide you to making ethical choices in your shopping.

Till next time, happy shopping!

    

Hello Friends!

Have you ever been in the supermarket and stumbled upon a new product or brand that you thought looked interesting? Did you pick up the item and decide it would be worth buying? As you were placing it into your shopping trolley did you at any point wonder where or how this new product was made?

Well, if you have then I recommend you download an innovative phone app produced by the founders of 'Free2Work'.  The app allows you to browse through hundreds of brands from different categories and gives you information about the brands fair working policies and whether the item you are about to buy has been touched by slave labour.  It also has a barcode scanner which allows you to scan and check a product while you are out shopping!  The app was developed in the US so a lot of the brands are US based, yet many of the brands can still be purchased here in Australia.  It is a great starting point for those wanting to know more about the products they are buying!

Check out the 'Free2Work' website for more information and to download the app today! http://www.free2work.org/

A Fair Story

What is this blog all about?

Here in Australia, each one of us is a consumer of goods. We purchase packaged and branded food from the supermarket, labelled clothes from the shops, furniture to decorate our homes, products to clean our bodies, toys for our kids to play with, and technological gadgets to help us stay connected.  

A 2010 ABS survey[1] measuring household expenditure found that the average low-income earning Australian spends around $559 per week on goods and services, including food and alcohol, clothing and footwear, household equipment and furnishings, and personal care.  The average higher income earner, by contrast, spends around $2,160.  Compare this to a 2005 report released by the World Bank[2] which indicates that almost half the world’s population is living on only $2.50 per day just to survive, and I think it is fair to say a vast majority of us here in Australia have money to spend.  The question is, what are we choosing to spend it on and are we – as a nation blessed to have a seemingly endless amount of options of things to buy – spending it in a way that is supporting a just and fair working environment for those who make our wonderful products?

The sad truth is that a lot of the things we buy are not only made off shore, but in many circumstances are made under appalling, unjust, or even dangerous conditions.  

But how can we, as workers, parents, siblings, and friends, possibly make a difference as we go about our day-to-day living?  The problem may seem so huge and sometimes feel too mountainous to overcome but I believe that a difference can be made if more of us a willing to make a stand for what is right! The more who choose the ‘just’ option, the more the unjust will have to change.  We are the consumers, we determine the market.  Don’t let this be just a fashion or phase, but let it be our choice for life and let fair-trade become the new and only model of consumer products!

So join with me as I use this blog to share the how, where, and who for shopping and buying fair-trade*.  Share and review with me products you have used/bought so we can encourage others to make the choice!     

 

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[1] Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011, ‘6530.0 - Household Expenditure Survey, Australia: Summary of Results, 2009-10’, Australian Bureau of Statistics, 06 September, viewed 1 April 2012, <http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/6530.0Main%20Features22009-10?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=6530.0&issue=2009-10&num=&view=>.

[2] Shah A 2010, ‘Poverty Facts and Stats’, Global Issues, 20 September, viewed 7 April 2012, <http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats>.

[*this is a Melbourne based site - so many of the organisations, products, and services mentioned are either local or Australian wide]