What can teachers, professors, and graduate students do?
Invite a guest speaker to your classroom to talk about Fair Trade. Order a copy of the video Santiago’s Story and show it to your students. Have them discuss Fair Trade, what it means and what they can do to support it. Follow up with concrete actions (delivering postcards and petitions to a local Starbucks for example, or organizing a public education presentation on Fair Trade for the community). Discuss with the students what it means to take concrete action in promoting fairness in the global economy. Check out our Action Pack for more ideas. There is also a serious need for expanded research around Fair Trade issues, such as the improvement in farmers’ lives, working conditions on coffee plantations, consumer research, and movement strategies. If you are interested in researching themes of use to the Fair Trade movement, contact deborah@globalexchange.org.
