Website Green America Today platform for your search on Fair Trade information

The American website Green America Today encourages consumers to buy and consume green and offers solutions to companies to act green. On their website there is an interesting section about Fair Trade. Below you can see a copy of their initial page on Fair Trade. By clicking the links you get to their website and can find answers about what Fair Trade Means and what you can do.

Fair Trade is a people-powered solution to global economic injustice. It is a system of trade based on direct relationships and partnerships between buyers in the global north and producing communities in developing countries.

Fair Trade helps ensure that farmers and artisans throughout the developing world receive a fair price for their products, have direct involvement in the marketplace, and uphold environmental and labor rights standards. The system builds real and lasting relationships between producers in developing countries and businesses and consumers around the world.

Green America serves the Fair Trade community as public educators, encouraging people to support Fair Trade while providing them the means to do so. We encourage using your spending power to influence the market and help reshape the global economy to one that works for all people and the planet. Use this site to learn about Fair Trade, its products and producers, and what you can do to make a difference.

Discover ...

• What is Fair Trade?
• Products & Producer Profiles
• What You Can Do
• Get Involved: Green America's Fair Trade Alliance
• Resources
• Order the Guide to Fair Trade

http://www.greenamericatoday.org/programs/fairtrade/

Green Retailing in the Netherlands is booming

n The Netherlands you see the trend that despite, or maybe thanks to, the crisis, that green retailing is hot. For some important Dutch retailers it was a stimulation to further focus on green retailing, sustainable and repsonsable retailing.

When the economical crisis began, many people were afraid of the effects on green retailing, that companies would choose for cost savings instead of social responsability. Partly this happened, retailers competing on price without thinking to much of the environment, but we also some innovative new initiatives to develop environment-friendly retail projects.

Research shows that 59% of the Dutch people is prepared to pay an extra for more sustainable products and/or services.

Below we give some examples of the Dutch retail sector of how some of the mayor players adapted to environmental-friendly and honest retailing.

Maxeda, the organization of 11 retailers launched a program called “keen on green”.
La Place for example serves only Max Havelaar coffee and biological tea

De Bijenkorf launched a clothing brand “Pure”, all products made of biological cotton

V&D increased the assortment of with a lot of new green products

DIY-markets Formado and Praxis increasingly add new construction materials which are used to make houses more environmental friendly, they even decreased the format of the leaflets which are now printed on environmental friendly paper.

Project “The Green Plug” of BCC electronics chain, increasing the consciousness of the consumers for environmental solutions like saving light bulbs. Clients can borrow energy meters for free.

Clothing brands G-Sus and Mexx are now members of the Fair Wear Foundation