As the Eco Committee have been working on Sustainability Goal 12 -Responsible production and consumption we decided what better way to show we support this that holding a Fair Trade stall during Fair Trade fortnight.

Fairtrade is basically a way of helping farmers in developing countries. It means that producers are paid a fair price for the goods they make or grow. These producers acquire Fair Trade certification if their products match a number of ethical criteria. For example, they must  source water sustainably and reduce water use as much as they can over time,  not use any GMOs (Genetically modified organisms) and minimise the use of potentially hazardous chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Fairtrade also ensures worker’s rights for producers.  Consumers pay a little extra for Fairtrade goods but that money is reinvested in the local community and   is used in local projects and infrastructure such as better sanitation, schools and local medical facilities.

We got in touch with the One World shop in Edinburgh and chose goods such as chocolate bars, pencils made from recycled paper, musical flutes and friendship bracelets which we thought would appeal to our pupils. We set up the stall every day in the dinner hall at lunchtime and we sold all our chocolate within a few days. The good thing about the Fairtrade chocolate is that unlike most supermarket chocolate it is  made without palm oil. Palm oil production is devastating rainforests in Indonesia with the resulting deaths of many creatures whose habitat is being destroyed like Orang-utans. We sold just about everything we ordered and returned what we didn’t sell. Here you can see our stall all set up for business. We also ran a Fair Trade stall in 2018. You can see some photos of this one too.