Comercio Justo and "A Deeper Shade of Green"

FAIR TRADE

For those of you interested in buying Fair Trade products or just want to find out more about it, I found some good webpages online for Spain, the US, and the UK. The concept originated in Europe in the 1960s, and it is a movement to help:

·promote sustainable development

·alleviate poverty

·create transparency and accountability

·develop the producers' independence, eliminating the "middle-man"

·payment of a fair price, enabling a production that is socially just and environmentally sound

·gender equity

·safe and healthy working conditions

·children's rights

·encourage better environmental practices

WEBSITES:

Equi Mercado

Global Exchange: Fair Trade

Traidcraft Shop


"A DEEPER SHADE OF GREEN"

In my family I've always been picked on as being a "tree hugger". Now, I'm no Julia "Butterfly" Hill who spends two years of her life living in a California Redwood, and I am strongly against radical or violent activism, but I would consider myself an environmentalist in the sense that I think conservation and sustainability are extremely important. I'll also be the first to admit that I don't do all I should. I hate taking the bus and it's so much easier to go to the grocery store below my house rather than walk to the local Farmer's Market in the old city. But we are slowly destroying our natural environment and we,the world, need to change our practices and our way of life.

If you are suscribers to the National Geographic, there's a great article in the August issue by Bill McKibben (author of the best seller, The End of Nature) called, "A Deeper Shade of Green". He talks about the need for a new cultural environmentalism. The need for a new frame of mind and way of living and thinking. He deals with fossil fuel, energy costs, urban sprawl, farmer's markets, etc. Here are few exerpts:

"The old paradigm works like this: We judge just about every issue by asking the question, Will this make the economy larger? But endless economic growth is built on the use of cheap fossil fuel...We need to stop asking, Will this make the economy larger? Instead, we need to start asking, Will this pour more carbon into the atmosphere?"

"We've gotten used to eating across great distances. Because it's always summer somewhere, we've accustomed ourselves to a food system that delivers us fresh produce 365 days a year. The energy cost is incredible--growing and transporting a single calorie of iceberg lettuce from California to the eastern U.S. takes 36 calories of energy. What would it take to get us back to eating more locally, to accepting what the seasons and smaller scale local farmers provide?"

"What would it take to make us consider smaller homes, closer to the center of town, where we could use the bus or a bike for daily transportation?"

"Standard economic theory has long assured us that we're insatiable bundles of desires. That may be true, but more and more it feels like our greatest wish is for more contact with other people...We don't need to erase individualism; it is one of the glories of the American character. But environmentalists desperately need to celebrate community, too."

The Rain in Spain...

...is FINALLY falling softly in Galicia. I don't think anyone here has ever been so happy to see rain as we are now. It's direly needed.

Galicia is STILL Burning

The number of wildfires just keeps going up. There are now 135 dispersed all over Galicia, but mostly on the coast. Here are the two local newspapers if you want to take a look at what's going on:

El Correo Gallego

La Voz de Galicia

Galicia Burning

As you can see in the sidebar, the weather for today in Santiago de Compostela is...smoke. Over the past few days more than 90 different forest fires have been blazing throughout Galicia. We had to wait for hours last night before we could come back home from the beach because all of the roads leading back to Santiago were cut off by fires. We've been breathing smoke for 3 days straight.

These devastating fires are deliberately set by individuals who are either pyromaniacs or have been bribed by companies who might benefit. Who knows. The beautiful forests of autochthonous oaks, chestnuts, and pines are being destroyed, and then later replaced by the invasive Eucalyptus tree (because it grows quicker)that push out the native species of trees. The once lush and green hills and mountains are now dead, barren, and black from years of deliberate illegal burning.

Here are some articles in English:
Army sent in as fires ravage Galicia

Raging fires in Spain kill 3

Forest fires wreak havoc in northwestern Spain

Tunisia: Sights, Sounds, Smells, Tastes (Part 4)

TASTES:

· sweet, sticky dates
· spicy cus cus and lamb
· mild palm tree juice
· salt from the Great Salt Lake
· "Boga" lemon/lime drink

Tunisia: Sights, Sounds, Smells, Tastes (Part 3)

SMELLS:

· the strong, earthly scent of freshly tatooed henna on my hand

· incence in the air
· sweet, fruity smoke floating out of the cachimbas/shishas/hookahs

· curry, saffron, cumin, ginseng, and cinnamon in the spice market
· vendors crushing mint and jasmine tea leaves in their hands for me to smell

· sweaty street vendors

(best when read with a "Scratch N' Sniff" screen)

Tunisia: Sights, Sounds, Smells, Tastes (Part 2)

SOUNDS:


In the desert there was only silence but walking through the medinas and zocos in Tunisia was like something out of movie. There were so many sounds and languages so unfamiliar to me.

First, the haggling. Everytime we walked by a vendor we were bombarded with a constant "Españolo? Españolo? Entra, Entra!! Solo mirar, solo mirar. Mira, mira!!! Un Dinar, un Dinar!!" Jose and I talked about how easy it is in our culture to find something you like, look at the price, decide if you want to pay that for it, and if so, buy it, and if not, walk away. Not so in Tunisia. Everything is priced triple what's it's really worth. Here's a typical conversation I had everyday with the vendors (translated into English, of course):

Me: (looking at silver bracelet) How much?
Vendor: 35 Dinars each.
Me: Ooo, no. That's too much.
Vendor: Ok, you tell me a price.
Me: I'll give you 30 Dinars for THREE of them.
Vendor: You're crazy! You want me to go bankrupt??
Me: I'm not paying 105 Dinars.
Vendor: Ok, ok. 105 not fair price, but 30 not fair either. Give me good price.
Me: No, you give me one.
Vendor: Take all three for 90.
Me: No, no, no.
(I start to walk out of the store, leaving the bracelets behind. Vendor grabs my arm to pull me back into the store)
Vendor: Ok lady, give me 80.
Me: No, I'll give you 35.
Vendor: Ok, ok. Just give me 70. I'll go bankrupt for this.
(I start to walk out again. He grabs me once again, patting my shoulder)
Vendor: Ok, ok. Give me 60.
Me: No, 40.
(Still holding my arm and pulling me in, and me struggling to walk away)
Vendor: No, no, no. Just give me 55.
Me: 40 is my final offer.
Vendor: Come on, just give me 55.
(This time I really leave the store and start walking away...knowing all the while that he'd come running after me with the bracelets)
Vendor: Lady, lady!! Ok, ok, ok. 40.

So I give him the 40 Dinars (about 25 Euros)for 3 beautifully detailed, silver bracelets knowing that I'd gotten ripped off, because he wouldn't have sold them to me if he wasn't going to make a profit.

We get back to the bus and one of the other tourists showed me the 6 silver bracelets that she had gotten for 30 Dinars!! And the guy made a profit off of it!! Everytime you buy something you feel like you've been ripped off...and you have. You even have to bargain to buy a bottle of water! The first 3 or 4 times was fun, but it gets old quick.

After my purchase, we continue to walk through the streets wiping the sweat off our foreheads. All of a sudden we hear something...something enchanting. Chants, and singing and prayers began echoing throughout the town from the high towers. The sound is beautiful and captivating.

The singing from the towers is only vocal, no instruments, but the music on the streets and on the radio is full of drums, flutes and ethnic rhythms.

Arabic or French is being spoken around every corner. Whether it be bickering or friendly conversation. Cars and motorcycles constantly honking as they weave in and out. The clip clop of horse hooves. An occasion bray from a donkey or grunt from a camel.

It's a different world.

Tunisia: Sights, Sounds, Smells, Tastes (Part 1)

SIGHTS:

· white-washed/tan adobe houses with blue doors and windows

· burnt reds, oranges and yellows of hanging cashmere carpets

· deep blues and greens of the Mediterranean Sea

· silver, gold and bronze jewellry
· veiled women, cloaked men, Tuareg turbans, and topless tourists lying by the pool
· baby blue eyes and dark, wrinkled skin

· exotic, colorful, detailed tiles

· plump dates hanging heavy from palm trees

· chaffon, silk and sequence flying with every jiggle of the belly dancers



· the contrast of dry desert sand and mountainous rough terrain with green and blue oasis

· arabic



· houses dug into mountains

· Roman ruins

· Carthaginian ruins

· miles and miles of nothingness

· and of course...camels