Fairtrade Day

Today I am hosting a small "house group" from the Church I go to in Exeter. It's an interesting club which consists of young adults in their twenties and some in their thirties. A lot of us are postgraduate students. We have a good time talking about a wide variety of issues from theology of grace and salvation to crime and destitution. This week we are discussing Fairtrade and what it means for us as Christians. We'll also be having lots of fair trade food for everyone to sample. The food products from Tradecraft, for example, are very good, so the extra price has significant justification.

So, the upshot is that I get to do some baking. I've picked up some fairtrade chocolate and some fairtrade sugar. But what shall I make with them? I'm thinking basic chocolate chip cookies. Nothing to fancy because I'm busy. Otherwise I could also make some kind of chocolate cake, but my oven is a bit dubious in the even heating department. Cookies allow a little more hands on approach if necessary, so I think that will be my course of action.

What has me thinking is whether I could justify buying these products on a regular basis. I don't have a high roller job, and I'm a student. This means, at least temporarily that I'm poor. But I'm poor for a middle class white western guy, which means I've still have next to nothing to worry about. Still, if I am to be responsible in my own situation then what do I choose to eat. Well I try to save money where I can, and much of what I buy is from Europe, so my conscience is significantly eased by that. But what about goods imported from third world countries. I know that there are significant problems with the current trade regime from their point of view. If they were planting the right crops for their needs and for their situation much of the hunger of the third world might be alleviated. So there is a conflict of interests. But the question is, does Fairtrade really make a difference or is it simply a small gesture in the midst of a giant problem. Well I don't know, but that's what I'm pondering.

Of course my other thought is that I can't live every element of my life for other people. I have responsibility to look after my own welfare. Sometimes this will converge with buying things that are fairtrade, but if I can't afford it, I can't afford it. Maybe when I've got a job I'll be able to buy more. But of course then I'll be making money and being part of a system which, allegedly, causes all the problems. This just leads me back to thinking that the world doesn't work out in a fair way for everyone and it is so systematically unfair that for me to help those who are much worse off than me I have to have the cash. And this cash has only been gotten off of an inegalitarian distribution of goods. I don't see that there is much that can be done about this. I just hope that something can be done about starvation, so that at least if there is just going to be poverty it needn't be grinding. Well that's an empirical question, and I don't have the data to know whether an answer is to be had.