Advocate For Fair Trade

Local Fair Trade Actions

Advocacy around fair trade can take many forms. While buying fair trade products is a direct endorsement of equitable trading relationships, you can also make an impact by raising awareness and organizing or joining with other like-minded fair trade advocates. Below are just some of the many options to encourage fair trade in your local community. 

1) Promote fair trade among local retailers. Visit shop keepers in your community, such as coffee houses and independent boutiques - go prepared to discuss the benefits of and growing demand for fair trade products. To get started, visit the Fair Trade Resource Network for the basic information you’ll need when speaking to local merchants.

2) Write a letter to the editor of your local paper. Newspapers may be declining, but they are still an incredibly effective way to get the word out on important causes like fair trade. Check out the Learn section of our website for information that can help you craft your letter, or ask us to send you a sample letter.

3) Organize to make your community a fair trade town. There are already 10 localities in the U.S. - and counting - that have achieved the five major guidelines required to become a certified fair trade town. Among the guidelines are a minimum number of local fair trade vendors, a certain number of organizations and social groups that use fair trade products at their events and an ordinance passed by the town council in support of fair trade. For more information, check out the organizers of the national campaign.

4) Look for a Fair Trade Network near you! Many areas in the country already have their own organizations advocating for fair trade on a local level. TransFair USA keeps a comprehensive list of local fair trade networks here - maybe there’s one near you! If not, think about starting your own network.

National Fair Trade Actions

Lend your voice to the national fair trade movement! Join with thousands of people around the country who volunteer each year to heighten awareness and push fair trade forward on the country’s domestic agenda.

1) Make the White House a Fair Trade zone! Become part of an exciting campaign to “Fair Trade the White House”. Global Goods Partners and over 60 other fair trade organizations are calling on the Obamas to use their cultural sway to advance the fair trade movement. Sign the open letter to First Lady Michelle Obama here. 

2) Contact your representative. Resolutions advancing the causes of fair trade and global development are constantly being put before Congress. E-mailing your representative takes only a few minutes, and it can make a world of difference on these acts and resolutions. To make things easier, you can find a bunch of relevant resolutions currently before Congress—as well as form letters for addressing those issues—at Mercy Corps Action Center online or Global Exchange.

3) Inspired to do more than just write a letter? Go to D.C. and tell your representatives what you think. Citizens Trade provides some good guidelines on planning your visit.