Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Fairtrade London: One of the freebies thrust into my hand at the Thames Festival over the weekend was a guide to Fairtrade in London. That's Fairtrade, the movement which aims to ensure that faceless multinationals don't monopolise the global supply chains for catering, clothing and cosmetics. London is a Fairtrade City, and has been since 2008, because fairly-traded products from the developing world are on sale and supported across the capital. But only 21 of London's boroughs can boast the same. My leaflet identified the Fairtrade-accredited, and also the status of the campaign in the boroughs that aren't there yet. I've knocked up a map to show which are which. Five London boroughs are working at Fairtrade-ness, but haven't yet jumped through all the hoops (they're in purple). Six are not particularly interested (they're in pink). And one, that's Bexley, has rejected the idea outright saying they'd rather promote Kentish farmers thankyou very much. It is perhaps no coincidence that all of the pink and red boroughs are currently Conservative controlled. Meanwhile only three of the fully-Fairtrade boroughs are true blue, namely Richmond, Croydon and Hammersmith & Fulham. You can check how global-friendly your borough is here, and maybe join the community-led campaigns to get the remaining councils on board. Or you can move to Bexley and have a nice cup of Gold Blend, your choice.
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