When I write posts for Oh My Green, I often get a bit stressed out. Sometimes I feel like when I talk about my own business, and when I talk about other eco and fairtrade initiatives and businesses, I give a sense of justification – ‘it’s organic, fair trade & recycled, but it also happens to be amazing!’ I think this is a throwback to my younger days when I honestly believed that ethically made clothes were all tie dyed or hemp.
But really, when I see fashion like the latest collection from One Colour, I’m happy. This dress is amazing. It’s also made of organic cotton jersey, grown in East Africa. The dress is made by staff at Viva Africa, a social organisation giving training and employment to people in Kenya. It’s mailed to you from Australia. And there is a bird.
Oh Mabel, how are you so gorgeous? I really think Oh Mabel is right on the money at the moment – geometric patterns, and especially chevron stripe, are claiming a little spot in my heart lately. Oh Mabel bed linens are made from 100% GOTS certified organic cotton sateen – no yucky pesticides, workers are paid fairly, and sateen is silky smooth! Hooray!
Articles and videos like this make me rather depressed and upset. I don’t like to think of slavery as still existing, let alone contributing directly to so many things I enjoy, like chocolate, or clothes made of cotton, but it does. It’s a pretty sad thing when kids as young as 10 (and even younger) are enslaved on cocoa farms so that we can buy cheap chocolate.
Read this article on The CNN Freedom Project website, then think about your favourite chocolate, cocoa, and chocolate-related products. Are they fairtrade? If they are, good one! If they’re not – write a letter, tweet or Facebook your fave chocolate brand and let them know you’ve seen CNN’s Freedom Project report and what your thoughts are. Then, find a delicious fairtrade chocolate to eat instead. Personally, I’m generally pretty good on the chocolate front – Green & Blacks chocolate is so easy to find. But that box of non-fairtrade cocoa in my cupboard is making me feel very guilty. Here are Oh My Green’s tips for fairtrade deliciousity.
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