Hemp has been grown for over 10,000 years as an ecological source of fuel, food, and fiber. The economic advantages of hemp even prompted George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to grow it themselves. Since their time, hemp has been utilized to produce eco-friendly alternatives to plastic and petrochemical products as well as sound and strong building materials. It has a place in the automotive and clothing industry. Its demand as a food source is on the rise as its superior  nutritional benefits are recognized. It is an excellent source for omegas and protein. I recently switched to hemp milk and hemp oil. As a vegetarian, I feel it has been the perfect source of Omega 3 and I certainly feel the benefits.

But in the U.S. you can only buy hemp products, you cannot grow the hemp needed to produce them. Therefore, currently, the majority of the hemp used in the food industry comes from Canada. The U.S. is the only industrialized nation banning this ecologically sound crop; without reason as industrial hemp is free of the psychotropic component THC.

Perhaps this new proposal will gradually bring awareness and education as to the value of growing hemp crops in the U.S. With the rise in demand for hemp products, perhaps the economic benefits will finally sway the opinion of resistant lawmakers. Check out the complete news story:   Hemp Wars Fire Up

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We will be celebrating Pico’s fifth anniversary and Earth Day on Sunday, April 19th from 1-4PM. To mark Earth Day and give back to our community Pico’s will be the Rogue Valley’s one day recycling center for batteries, toners, and cell phones! For one day only, April 19, Pico’s will accept any type of battery (excluding car batteries!), all cell phones (inoperable or not), and printer cartridges. Just drop them off and we will take care of recycling them appropriately.

We also have a great line up of FREE activities to celebrate our anniversary and promote the awareness of Earth Day:

•Andy Casad on Acoustic Guitar
•Pacific Wine Club’s Eco-Wines
•Good Bean’s fair trade, organic coffee.
•Lots of good eats and organic sweets

Start Time: 13:00
Date: 2009-04-19
End Time: 16:00

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Slumdog Millionaire swept the Oscar’s with 8 awards! What a moment for the people of Mumbai. To be seen. To have their conditions witnessed. This fictionalized account of life in Mumbai was filled with reality and truth. The locations are real: masses of people forced to live without dignity, devoid of basic human rights, stripped of their humanity. The conditions are real: high-density dilapidated housing with open sewers; scarcity of water; horrific pollution; destitution and poverty; corruption; maiming; sweatshops.

These are the conditions the cooperatives we work with at Pico’s Worldwide are fighting everyday. This is the life we hope to affect through promotion of fair trade. After viewing the movie I was compelled to interview some of our suppliers located within the regions depicted in this film. Much of the filming was done in the slum areas of Dharavi, Juhu, and Nehru Nagar. MarketPlace: Handwork of India is a non-profit fair trade organization located in this region. They state

“Unlike some cities, where the poor areas are confined to separate sections (usually a comfortable distance from the business districts and expensive housing), in Mumbai the shantytowns are all over. They fit between and around affluent areas like liquid filling any available space. Many were originally built on swamp land that squatters filled in with coconut leaves and garbage before building small homes and shops of brick, cement, corrugated metal, tarpaulins and materials containing asbestos.”

Handmade Expressions, another fair trade producer of goods made in India, spoke to us of the crime and violence that exists there. The atrocity of acts like maiming children to produce more sympathy as beggars is horrifically true to life.

“With the utter lack of opportunity and without any external or government support, many people living here do not see any way of sustenance other than crime.”

So what do we, as viewers, take away from this movie? My hope is that we leave the theaters with an awareness of our responsibilities as world citizens. Our globalization has gone too far to consider ourselves helpless or removed. Each time we spend a dollar we make a choice in how we impact the world. Thus, we can affect change by choosing to become a more responsible consumer.

In our industrialized world we are no longer responsible for procuring the goods needed for our daily sustenance or pleasure. We do not have to hunt or gather, tool and hone, carve or craft. We simply need to walk down an aisle of a super store and make our selections. In these circumstances it becomes easy to forget that, despite our mechanization, a human being sweated and toiled to fill this store’s shelves.

Consumerism itself is not an inherent evil. Trade has been a primary component in the evolution of civilization. Trade began as an exchange of goods that was agreed to be of equal value and mutually beneficial. Sadly, it has evolved into a system of commerce that is beneficial to some and injurious to others. In many instances commerce has morphed into coercion. But it does not have to be this way. In fact, responsible consumerism can aid us in rectifying some of the atrocities you witnessed in Slumdog Millionaire and many other poverty ridden areas of the world. To do this, our purchasing decisions cannot be simply price-driven: we must consider what contribution (or lack thereof) our purchase will make to the livelihoods and circumstances of others.

Fair trade cooperatives, through vocational training and financial assistance, increase economic opportunities through a form of self employment when no other opportunities exist. As workers begin to provide support for their families, a sense of dignity is returned to them. This begins a gradual shift in the mindset of entire communities; one of hope and the belief in self improvement,; one where an individual may aspire to more than simply survival and begin to explore the multifarious aspects of their internal and external worlds.

This is, however, contingent on a market for their goods. Next time you make a purchase, hold the images of Slumdog in your mind’s eye and ask yourself if you can spend just a little more to become a part of the solution. When you don your cute new shirt, swing that darling handbag, fill your hand-woven basket, set your table, or watch your child cuddle with her stuffed animal wouldn’t it be good to know that it was not at the price of starvation, destitution, and child welfare? Wouldn’t it warm your heart to know, instead, it was one small but vital way to bring about change?

Slumdog Millionaire has a happy ending. But that’s the part that is pure fiction. And in Mumbai a bit of glitter and glam fell upon the slums for a day. But that lasted no longer than a snowflake touching warm ground. A happy ending in real life is up to us. Please support fair trade – together we can make a difference in the lives of others.

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Thus, many people ask why fair trade cooperatives produce “non-essential” items in the first place. How will this ever be financially stable or viable? What we must remember is that, unlike Western Culture, traditional crafts play a vital social and practical role in many societies. We are used to factory production of our daily wares such as clothing and utensils while indigenously, the production of these items, as well as ritual baskets, masks, and other ceremonial objects, is sacred and integral to their cultural existence. Poverty causes people to forsake their traditional ways. If we do not act as a world community, time-honored traditions, knowledge, and skills, even entire cultures, can be lost forever.

Western influences continually permeate the globe: the world is becoming homogenized. If we do not consider the preservation of traditional arts and customs as “essential” then we all perish; we lose pieces of our world’s history, ancient parts of our own heritage, and an expanded sense of our selves in relation to a world culture.

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What is fair trade?
Fair Trade is an alternative way of doing business. It involves building long-term and equitable partnerships between consumers in North America and producers in developing regions. Fair Trade businesses must commit to the following criteria - established by the Fair Trade Federation (www.fairtradefederation.org):

• Paying a fair wage in the local context.
• Offering employees opportunities for advancement.
• Providing equal opportunities for all people.
• Engaging in environmentally sustainable practices.
• Being open to public accountability.
• Building long-term trade relationships.
• Providing healthy and safe working conditions within the local context.
• Providing financial and technical assistance to producers whenever possible.

What percentage of the sale price is received by the artisans?
This is perhaps our most common question. And it is definitively the most impossible to answer. Alternative trade organizations work worldwide under an unending variety of circumstances: production, resources, geographics, and the unlimited number of factors involved in crafting and manufacturing. The short honest answer is: it varies. What we can count on is the “partnership” aspect of fair trade: fair trade producers are obliged to guarantee fair profit margins for all parties and not exploit artisans and workers.

Is the fair trade movement significant enough to make a difference?
I will never forget the moment the answer to this question crystallized in my mind- and inspired my commitment to fair trade. We had spent a month in Bali working with artisans producing crafts for our store. As our trip came to a close we offered $100.00 to a woman who had been particularly helpful to us during our stay. Suddenly, she threw herself down and flung her arms around our legs and cried in gratitude. Needless to say we were embarrassed and overwhelmed (not to mention naive). As we wrapped our arms around her and gently brushed away the tears she was finally able to speak through her astonishment. What we leaned was that we had, in essence, handed her a years worth of wages. She only made $75.00 annually. Upon learning this we then set up a fund for her children’s education and arranged tuition for her to attend sewing school. A little bit goes a long way. It is nothing to us, even in our worst of times, but so much to them. When a small cooperative in India, for example, receives an order from us for $1000.00 worth of tote bags it makes a significant difference to their livelihood and the survival of their community. In some areas, fair trade earnings are, in part, turned over to the community to improve quality of life. These monies may provide health care, potable water, day care, educational programs, literacy programs, or any number of social programs that bring viability and justice to an impoverished community.

Can I make a difference?
Please do not doubt the difference your dollars make to the cause of fair trade. Wherever you are, whatever you do, this is one way you can impact your world. Look forward to more ins ands outs of fair trade in my next blog. Thank you for being partners in spreading good around the world. And hey- if you haven’t become a subscriber to our website newsletter you might want to sign up- we are offering discounts all month to our preferred customers as a way to say thank you for supporting fair trade 365 days a year.

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We are very excited to finally be online! It has been a long journey fraught with much indecision. What we really love about this business is sharing our time, ourselves, and our space with the many wonderful people that come through our doors; being inspired by our shared vision and stimulated by the exchange of thoughts, ideas, and experiences. Having no more interaction than a computer click seemed inconceivable to us. What about community, dialogue, and relationship? At the end of the day, it is the reflection of these exchanges that leave us energized and motivated. 

And then we pondered the loss of tangibility; touching, feeling, and sensing the beautiful works from artisans around the world. It is deeply rewarding to witness a customer moved and wowed by the ingenuity, creativity, and talent involved in the creation of a finished product. It isn’t so much about shopping; rather it is this wondrous three-dimensional experience that has a way of bringing us together, from all parts of the world, and remembering our connections - to one another, and our planet.  How could we ever duplicate this on a website?

But, our customers, so many from out of town, kept asking for a way to continue their support of fair trade and green practices and, equally poignant, to continue to support us in our mission to help turn our economy into a green, equitable, and sustainable one! So we realized the time had come to shift our perceptions. The online community is a part of life and we needed to join it in a creative way!

Thus, we have tried to transfer our philosophy (and our personalities) to the website: it’s not just about shopping. We have several pages of up-to-date and informative information on fair trade, eco-friendly practices, and our artisans. You may not be able to touch and feel our products but we aim to give you the best sense of them we can in this format. And while we can’t interact face-to-face, we hope this blog can keep the relationships interactive and ongoing.  We still encourage you to ask all the same questions and we will answer them! We still look forward to having you share your vision with us. Picosworldwide.com is a work in progress: we would like to know what you want to see and how we can work together to create a strong community together online.  

While the economy experiences upheaval, it is still imperative to remember how fortunate we are and not to forget that so many individuals live in near poverty-they cannot lose our support without horrific and dire consequences. We hope you will find a way to allocate dollars to fair trade purchases that can literally mean the difference between life and death for families around the world.

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