Category Archives: Uncategorized

Warmest Regards for Fair Trade Trailblazers

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Thank you all for this Fair Trade experience and I wish you the best in helping spread Fair Trade advocacy. My favorite thing to take away as a Fair Trade Intern is finding my career path. I would like to continue to find ways to help the greater good and have become passionate in speaking for those who may not have voices. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and remember to choose Fair Trade.

Now, I would like to pass on the position to Connor Harootunian, the new spring Fair Trade Student Intern.  Best of luck!

Contributed by Fair Trade Student Intern, Lisa Chun

Fair Trade Month 2013

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Happy Fair Trade Month Everyone!!! This year marks the 10th annual Fair Trade month. It will be Penn State Brandywine second year in joining the national voice in October to further promote awareness about the movement.  Fair Trade USA has some insightful reasons on why it’s important to choose Fair Trade items in order to make Every Purchase Matters. Throughout the Month of October The Fair Trade Trailblazers will be on campus raising awareness about supporting the Fair Trade movement. What locations sells Fair Trade items, and also how to recognize Fair Trade products by learning about labels and brands that are Fair Trade.

Fall 2013 Introduction

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Hear Ye, Hear Ye! A new semester has commenced at Penn State Brandywine and the torched had been passed to further promote and raise awareness about the Fair Trade Movement. It is with great excitement that I begin to embark on this journey to advocate the need of Fair Trade on the Brandywine campus, within the local community, and to whomever may come across this blog.

However, I do believe introductions are in order, my name is Leshaun Warner and I will be the Fair Trade intern for Fall 2013. I am currently a senior at Penn State Brandywine majoring in Communications Arts and Science with a minor in Business. During this fall semester I will be taking over the duties of posting to the Penn State Brandywine’s Fair Trade blog and other social media platforms.

I became interested in Fair Trade because everyone deserves the right to be justly compensated for the services or goods they produce. Many people in developing countries are taken advantage of and are unable to provide for themselves or their families. Those products are then sold in the U.S, products that you and I buy, products that support an unjust system. A system where children do not go to school but instead they go to work, a system where people work in hazardous environments with no health benefits, a system where communities are disintegrating. By supporting Fair Trade products you are helping to improve people’s lives by simply choosing to purchase one brand over another. As we embarked on this journey I hope that we can further this movement to greater heights so that we can ensure fair treatment to all.

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– Contributed by Fair Trade Intern, Leshaun Warner

Fall 2013 Farewell Post

storypeople_connectionAs the fall semester gets underway, my time as the summer intern is coming to a close.  This will be my last post as the official fair trade intern.  I enjoyed updating the Penn State Brandywine fair trade blog and social media sites over the summer, and I look forward to taking part in the fair trade events that are going to be taking place on campus this school year.  Be sure to check this blog, as well as our Facebook and Twitter to receive updates on upcoming events.  I am handing over the fair trade internship to Leshaun Warner, who I know will do an excellent job as the fall semester intern.

On the 26th, I will be leaving to spend time as an undergraduate research assistant in Borneo, Indonesia.  I will be volunteering for seven weeks with the Orangutan Tropical Peatland Project (OuTrop) and earning course credit as a Penn State Brandywine student.  While I’m away, I’ll be keeping my eyes open for fair trade related products.  I also hope to gain firsthand insight on the environmental and social challenges facing developing countries, challenges which fair trade attempts to alleviate.

I encourage all Penn State Brandywine students to not only consider becoming a Fair Trade Trailblazer but to take advantage of the opportunities that only occur at a smaller campus.  I do not think that I would be having the opportunity to earn Penn State credit in Borneo as an undergrad if I had not attended Penn State Brandywine.  I wish the Fair Trade Trailblazers the best of luck and I look forward to continuing my involvement with the campus fair trade program when I return.

Contributed by Fair Trade Intern Megan Draper

Fair Trade Chocolates

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A couple of fair trade chocolate bars I purchased at Martindale’s Natural Market…

choc_equalexchange_mint1Above: Equal Exchange mint chocolate.

choc_madecasse_pinkpepper2Above: Madecasse chocolate, pink pepper and citrus (I had to try it because it was such a unique and interesting sounding chocolate)

choc_madecasse_seasalt1

choc_madecasse_seasalt2

choc_madecasse_seasalt3Above: Also a Madecasse chocolate, although this one was Sea Salt and Nibs

choc_divine_bakingbarAbove: Divine Milk Chocolate, you can just make out the Fair trade logo in the upper left corner

I thought that these chocolate bars were a good example of how there are so many different “fair trade” labels to choose from.  How these labels compare to one another, however, is a subject for another post.

Contributed by Fair Trade Intern Megan Draper

Summer 2013 Introduction

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StoryPeople Making a World

Before I start writing the posts for Penn State Brandywine’s fair trade blog this summer, I thought I should introduce myself.  My name is Megan Draper and I will be the fair trade intern for Summer 2013.  I am a senior at Penn State Brandywine and a psychology major.  My goal is to pursue a career in primatology (the study of nonhuman primates), which is one of the reasons I have become interested in fair trade.  Although equity and social justice are the primary (and important!) motivators of a fair trade system, environmental concerns are also weighed when a product is deemed “fair trade.”  For most primate species to survive in the wild during the coming decades, the sustainability of human food systems is a must, and fair trade is one way to improve food production.  Despite my initial interest through primatology, the more I learned about fair trade, the more I became passionate about fair trade in and of itself.  I hope to share what I find particularly important about fair trade through this blog, and I hope to hear from you in the comments and on our PSU Brandywine Fair Trade Facebook and Twitter.

Contributed by Fair Trade Intern Megan Draper

A Call for your Support from Fairly Educated!

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I recently received an email from United Students for Fair Trade, asking for me to support Fairly Educated’s effort to make every university in Australia and New Zealand a Fair Trade University by the end of 2015. We are asking for your support as well and encourage you to sign their petition on Change.Org. This petition seeks the support from “…the two most influential organizations in the tertiary education sector”, the Tertiary Access Group (TAG) and Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability (ACTS), in passing resolutions agreeing to help their members become Fair Trade. It is an important effort to support as the global impact on farmers and workers would be incredible! Please share it and sign.

–Contributed by Sarah DeMartino, Fair Trade Intern