Organic & Fair Trade News

So, it seems that our vision to live in a world that focuses on the health and sustainability of our planet is growing everyday.  People everywhere are realizing the effects of our consumerism as they begin to make the change to building and supporting businesses that are focused on benefiting the environment, our communites and other communities throughout the world.  Over the past year of business, as we have become more educated and affiliated with green businesses and concepts we are so often thrilled to see the amount of products being made available to the people.

There are dozens of organic health and beauty lines.  The organic cotton industry is booming.  Fair trade clothing, coffee and crafts are steadily being added to well established businesses as well as new businesses coming up with a focus on fairly traded items.  Our country as we know it is responding to the calls of social and environmental justice on a scale that is expanding each day and rapidly each year.

Recently, I have being writing content for several sites that are primarily focused on babies and mommies.  My life is primarily focused on my babies and I am most of the time answering to the name of mommy, so it has been a very fulfilling job.  I am learning about so much pertaining to all aspects of parenting, from breastfeeding to strollers and everything in between.  When a product or issue strikes me, I feel I need to expand my new found knowledge to as many people as possible.  So, in the vein of what we work for here at Organic Fair Trade I have discovered a new eco-friendly baby stroller manufacturer called Baby Planet and wanted to lend our kudos to their efforts.

Baby Planet came onto the stroller scene a few years back with a mission to design strollers that were baby friendly and environmentally friendly.  Each year they expand and improve on this vision a little more and have already added an impressive product line for 2008.

Each stroller is designed to optimize comfort as well as provide a very durable and reliable ride for the baby as well as the parent.  They offer a variety of lightweight, aluminum strollers as well as the Unity Sport Twin Stroller for those parents with more than one child who needs a push.

Baby Planet is concerned about the rapid rate at which our current landfills are growing so they have implemented their own donation and recycling programs for used strollers.  They encourage parents who no longer have a need for their stroller to donate or recycle it to Baby Planet.  If the stroller is in good, usable condition it will then be passed onto a family in need.  If the stroller is past it's prime and needs to be discarded, Baby Planet will be sure to accuately disassemble the parts so that the material may be recycled.  No worries, the recycled parts will never be used to produce another Baby Planet stroller in adherence to their safety regulations.

In addition to their recycling programs, Baby Planet has also engineered and designed a separate product line called the Endangered Species series.  Partnered with the Wildlife Conservation Society  (WCS) , Baby Planet  has introduced  this new line in 2008  which focuses it's efforts on the resoration of our precious endangered wildlife.

Each stroller is dedicated to a specific endangered animal and is fashioned according to the qualities of that animal. Not only are they cause worthy but they are also really great looking, my favorite is the Lemur Leaf Frog!  Each animal chosen is currently listed as an endangered species or to be living in an endangered habitat.  For every Endangered Species stroller sold, Baby Planet will donate $5 to the WCS in addition to the current yearly contributions they already pledge.  The money will be used by the WCS to further protect and restore these animals and their habitats.

All Baby Planet strollers are JPMA certified and last year the Unity Sport Twin Stroller was among the ten products to receive the 2007 JPMA Innovation Reward for it's unique features.

If you or any one you know is in the market for a baby stroller then this is definitely the company to seek out.  Although there are many options out there for strollers,  no other company employs such consciousness to their products as Baby Planet is doing.  Please pass on the info about their recycling and donation prgrams to anyone you may know looking to get rid of their own.  The stroller brand doesn't matter if usable it will certainly be passed onto a family who only cares about having a stroller not a particular stroller, so many folks cannot afford to be picky.

I look forward to 2008 and what those of us who are focused on creating a more harmonious earth will introduce to the world.  It is with great hope that we live on!


Peace,

Brianne

Hey Folks!

Thanks for stopping by!  Currently we are in the process of revamping our website and making some changes in our product selection.  We are thrilled about the success and support we have received throughout our first year but we are also ready to expand our horizons.  Our business up to this point has been a family operation consisting of husband and wife efforts to succeed. There is such a large market of supporters for organic and fair trade products that we began to feel as though there was more we can do to better serve our customers.

Luckily we have befriended and established business relations with another successful local online retailer of organic food, Wellness Grocer.   This company offers a broad variety of natural foods, gluten free foods and more!  Please check out the website for anything organic that you may need. 

Also, there is a great resource library called the Wellness Center.  This aspect of the website is designed to help you gain knowledge about your health, which vitamins to chose and why as well as offering recipes and herbal remedies to help you acheive wellness.

We are delighted to have the opportunity to team up with this wonderful group of people!  It is always a blessing to find more and more people that support the lifestyle choices we feel are important to maintaining a balanced, healthy being.

There is much to look forward to in our new year and we want to be as prepared as possible to offer you the products we have come to know that our customers need.  Please stay with us and continue to check back periodically to see our progress.  We will let you all know when we are ready to begin operating and taking orders.

In the meantime, we wish you all a blessed and fulfilled holiday season! As we say here in cajun country, Joyeaux Noel sha!

This October is Fair Trade Month.  Transfair USA, the leading certifying body for fair trade goods imported in the United States, is holding a contest called "Connect with Fair Trade."  Participants must submit a 5 minute video demonstrating what fair trade means to their lives.  Winners will receive a trip to Peru where they will personally meet fair trade farmers affiliated with Transfair USA.

Organic Fair Trade is planning to submit a video to this contest and we will need your help if we make it to the top 5! The winner will be selected in an online poll, and we are hoping our readers will come out to support us.

In thinking about the film we would like to create, I explored what is available on YouTube. I found this collection of poignant short clips created by Oxfam International that I wanted to share here.

If you have an interesting ideas for a fair trade film, please send them our way.

Those living or travelling near Lake Charles, Louisiana this weekend will have an opportunity to see, feel and taste our products in person!

Organic Fair Trade will have a tent at the first annual Pony Fest tomorrow, Saturday August 25th, at Central School in Lake Charles.  While this will be our third time to display our products in a "real" (as opposed to "Web") setting, we have really gone all out for this one!  We will have literally hundreds of organic and/or fair trade products for sale, including clothing, jewelry, soap, christmas ornaments, cell phone cases, wallets, keychains and more!  In addition, we will also have organic iced coffee, organic yerba mate latte's, organic cookies, organic brownies and organic sodas for sale!

Our biggest investment has been in fair trade clothing and jewelry, as we feel these items are most used in daily life and are, we feel, the most interesting and beautiful products we offer.  We have even constructed a 4' x 4' x 8' portable dressing room so you can try the clothes on!  This is something that has been requested at past events, so we are happy to now be able to offer it.

As we have been planning this event, our goal has been to create a space, however small and temporary, that clearly represents our vision for the world we want to live in.  We'll be bringing lots of chairs, so even if you don't plan to buy anything, we invite you to come, sit, and enjoy the good company!

To learn more about Poor Pony and Pony Fest we invite you to visit their website at www.poorpony.com.

 

We wrote this as an informational piece about our company to be displayed at an upcoming festival in Lake Charles, Louisiana where we will have a booth.  We thought we would share this with our online community as well!

Organic Fair Trade grew from the idea that making a living for our family, and making the world a better place could be one in the same.

We felt that the only way to counteract the negative relationships in the world, such as those between poor producers and rich consumers, was to promote our own vision of loving relationships.  We wished for everything in our home to be either fair trade, organic, or both.  But this seemed impossible as the products were either not available where we lived, or were too expensive.

We knew that this would only change if we ourselves began to devote our energies toward increasing quality in our world—quality of lives, as well as quality of products.  So beginning in March of 2006, we began forming relationships with others who shared our vision of a peaceful, healthy, and equitable world.

While Organic Fair Trade offers a wide selection of products that carry either organic certifications, fair trade certifications, or both, our main emphasis is currently upon fair trade clothing, jewelry and accessories for both men and women.  We know that these industries are under great pressure by economic forces, large companies who wish to minimize cost and capture their share of this lucrative market.  Primarily young teenage women across Latin America, Africa and Asia carry most of the burden, working long hours in usually unsafe conditions for less than minimal wages.

Our clothing, handbags, wallets, hats, scarves, dresses, shirts, necklaces, rings and bracelets are from virtually every place in the world where workers are being exploited.  However our products are different in that they represent the work of small collectives of people who have voluntarily agreed to work with small importers in the United States, with the mutual guarantee of reasonable working conditions, good pay, investments in long term growth, and an honest, carefully produced product. We feel the quality of work speaks for itself.

In addition to durable items, however, we also carry a broad selection of organic food and supplements including coffee, yerba mate, oils and organic nut butters, raw cacao, and several exotic delicacies. We also have a good selection of organic mattresses, blankets, pillows, comforters and sets.

We are based in Lafayette, Louisiana, and while we currently do most of our sales through the Internet, we are always in search of opportunities to present our selection in a face to face manner, and hope to one day open a physical store.

If you would like to get in touch, please visit us on the web at www.organic-fair-trade.com.  We can also be reached by phone at (337) 255-3355.

Thank you for business, and thank you for supporting fair trade!

Hello Everyone!

I just wanted to announce our new clothing line from our friend Fair Trade Industry!  We are really proud of the products added from this manufacturer and feel that is is very different from the other clothing line we already offer.  Fair Industry designs are original and produced in the countries of Kenya and Bangladesh.  The founder designs her own clothes and jewelry and has them made by artisans for a fair wage. 

There is a simple yet sophisticated style to the clothing and jewelry that I think would be great for a casual day at the park or worn to the office for a workday.  If you search the market for fair trade clothing you will find many indigenous styles but not often do you find clothing that seems versatile as well as comfortable with a fair trade concept.  I was really excited when I came across this line and even moreso when we decided to work together.  And to make it even better the prices are fantastic!

Please peruse our site and check out the new tops, skirts, pants, earrings and necklaces from Fair Industry!

Peace,

Brianne B Lozier 

Google has teamed up with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to launch the Genocide Mapping Initiative, which aims to increase awareness and understanding of genocide by using Google Earth to visually communicate its reality to millions of computer users worldwide.

Typing "Darfur, Sudan" into Google Earth transports you to the region, where you are shown numerous icons that represent damaged or destroyed villages and refuge camps.  You can click on one of these and are given the option of downloading the "Crisis in Darfur" layer for Google Earth, which contains numerous photos, videos, and testimonies of victims of the artocities.  Users can zoom in on the devastation and the refuge camps in Sudan and eastern Chad.  Users are also provided clear links for learning more about the crisis and how to get involved.

It is hoped that this technology will help more people understand the severity of the situation and be moved to action, such as pressuring their governments to get involved to protect civilians.  The Google Earth technology can also be used to create presentations for churches or community groups, in order to further build public pressure regarding the necessity of intervention.

Links:

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
http://www.ushmm.org/
Google Earth
http://earth.google.com
Google Earth Crisis in Darfur Layer (You must download Google Earth and install it on your desktop for this to work.)
http://www.ushmm.org/googleearth/professional.kmz

It's been some time since we've written, but hopefully now you can see why!  The last two months we have been undergoing extensive renovations behind the scenes.  It has been a collaborative effort, involving myself, Aaron, my wife Brianne, my mother-in-law Sabrina, my friends Steven and Rachel and countless other inspirations including my son Poete, and my newest son Lennon.  We are happy to unveil, with all our love, the new and improved Organic Fair Trade.

Though the look is much different, the functionality of the site is largely unchanged.  Hopefully you will find things a little easier to read with our increased font size.  And also we have already seen the one page chekout getting some use!  But the best is yet to come, as we are now going to be able to return to the serious business of increasing our selection of ethical products, especially fair trade clothing, and providing you with extensive news, research and information about the growing organic and fair trade movements.

While we have done our best to make this transition as smooth as possible, it is inevitable that some unforeseen issues may arise.  If you encounter anything on the site that could be improved, or doesn't function as you think it should, please contact us and let us know!

Hey Folks,

Organic Fair Trade was just mentioned in the May issue of Sojourners, a peace and justice magazine:

http://www.sojo.net/

If you click on the May issue, then on the article "what can I do," we appear under the list of retailers who support trade justice.  (You may have to register, but it only takes a second)

The other sites that are mentioned are HUGE.  It was such an unexpected honor to be listed in their company.  Wow! 

Thanks for all the love and support and we are looking foward to the future!

Organic Fair Trade

On March 16, 2007, Organic Fair Trade became an approved member of Co-op America's National Business Network after undergoing a screening process which ensured our business practices, policies and products were in accordance with socially and environmentally conscious principles.  We are proud to become a member of this notable organization and are very happy to now be listed in the National GreenPages!

According to Co-op America's Website:

To qualify to appear in the National Green Pages™ and carry the Seal of Approval, companies' representatives must demonstrate that they:

• Actively use their businesses as tools for positive social change;

• Run "values-driven" enterprises that operate according to principles of social justice and environmental sustainability;

• Are socially and environmentally responsible in the way they source, manufacture, and market their products and run their offices and factories; and

• Are committed to developing and employing extraordinary practices that benefit workers, customers, communities, and the environment.

We are pleased to join this network of over 2,500 businesses who meet this criteria and are daily working to make this world a better place to live!