Hello friends of Fair Trade!

I'm Ian Finch, the Fair Trade University Coordinator for USFT.  I live deep within the heart of the Rockies in Missoula, Montana and study environmental studies at the University of Montana.  I have a deep rooted passion for sustainable food systems and small-scale agriculture. I actually joined the Fair Trade Movement through an unlikely vehicle: the local foods movement.  I know it seems contradictory, to advocate for an alternative global trade system while at the same time working tirelessly for local foods for a local market.  The truth is that people are not going to give up coffee, nor chocolate, nor other crops that can only be produced in certain regions, and not accessible to those who might be, well, addicted.  And so I seek to find the most "local" way to source these foods and goods that brings the most benefit to those that produce it.   After all, the principles of local food and fair trade are really the same: transparency, small scale production, accountability, sustainability, local knowledge, and bridging the gap between the producers and those that consume their products.  It is about bringing dignity and respect back to the communities that support the people on this earth.  On a personal note, I am drawn to fair trade because it seeks to rectify the power structures put into place hundreds of years ago by the colonial powers by giving that power of choice and democracy back into the hands of those that have been oppressed.  

Along that same line-of-thought, we as students hold an enormous amount of power on our campuses.  We have the power of mass organizing, through our student groups and administrators.  That is why I am so excited to be the Fair Trade University (FTU) Campaign Coordinator.  I want to see students, in solidarity for fair trade, demand that our universities make lasting institutional tansitions into Fair Trade Universities.  Colleges spend a total of four billion dollars on food alone each year.  Imagine what that would do for small producers if that money was transfered into the fair trade market!?  That is HUGE!!!!!!  (and it doesn't even include non-food items like sports equipment, jewlery, clothing, and paper products)

And so I ask you to join me in this struggle by joinging the Fair Trade University campaign and affiliating with USFT.  Email me at ftucoordinator@usft.org to find out more about the campaign and what you can do to help.  The campaign, complete with website and organizing tools, will be launched this October so make sure to join our mailing list to keep updated.   The fair trade movement is slowly growing, but we can be catalysts in the reaction and really push this idea forward on our campuses and in our communities. 

Thank you for being a part of this movement.  Thousands of people are behind you!

Ian Finch, FTU Campaign Coordinator

ftucoordinator@usft.org