a vantage point on activist consumerism
From the category archives:
According to CNN, traffickers are taking advantage of the current instability in Haiti to take children and organs out of the country. Many children have been orphaned and the massive displacement of people, in makeshift dwellings, make them extremely vulnerable:
Haiti is trying to locate displaced children and register them so they can either be [...]
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It’s a disturbing thought that a market established on the dreams and imaginations of children could be profiting from the widespread use of sweatshops and unsafe working environments. According to Tim Hunt, of Ethical Consumer Magazine, this is today’s reality and ethically conscientious manufacturers are in the minority:
Up to 80% of the world’s toys [...]
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Rowan Williams, The Archbishop of Canterbury, has been directing attention recently to environmental issues and our responsibility to reduce our ‘footprint.’ One of his suggestions (in a recent interview with The Times) could take a serious toll on the livelihood of many African farmers:
He said that the carbon footprint of peas from Kenya and [...]
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The Guardian reports on the current state of life in Southern Sudan. While the SPLA are said to be disarming, peace is threatened from all sides by poverty, disease, interference from neighbouring territories, and the arrival of Uganda’s LRA. People are displaced and children are stolen and traded as commodities:
“We [...]
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This is the first in a series of micro enterprise profiles on makethingsfair.com. We want to make people aware not only of the progress of the consumer giants, but also of the people who are engaging with specific communities and harnessing their energies in creative and transforming ways.
It might seem hard to believe, but [...]
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British supermarket Sainsbury’s will begin stocking Fair Trade Coffee produced in the Congo, according to a recent article on The Guardian website. Coffee smuggling between the DRC and Rwanda is responsible for a huge number of deaths each year:
Most coffee from this part of DRC is smuggled across the lake to Rwanda at night. [...]
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