Social Change Through Fair Trade

To acknowledge International Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8, we are taking this opportunity to honor and recognize women the world over as true agents of social change. Through purchasing retail items that were once known only as tribal or village handicrafts, you can help support these women as they implement change within their communities through their successful entrepreneurial endeavors. Supporting women from around the world through fair trade is a direct and effective way to create sustainability and peace within a community. Economic empowerment is a goal we can all relate to and for some women it is a matter of life and death. This month we encourage you to fall in love with some of the beautiful, hand-made, one-of-a-kind pieces from our strong and inspiring sisters across the globe. In this way you can help support Women for Women International, support female entrepreneurs worldwide and get your best girlfriends a unique gift just in time for International Women’s Day!

Launched in 2005, Macy’s Path to Peace Project is changing lives by putting income-generating opportunities into the hands of Rwandan women. Today the project employs thousands of weavers yielding remarkable results that impact tens of thousands of lives. Because this initial campaign has proven so effective, Macy’s has embraced an even broader product line named Shop for a Better World which includes collections of limited-edition master works from artisans in recovering regions of Rwanda, Cambodia and Indonesia.

To take action on International Women’s Day, Global Exchange is pleased to introduce the Women Around the World Gift Basket, a collection of gifts made by women from around the world. The Kaisa grass basket from Bangladesh is filled with Putumayo’s ‘Women of World Acoustic’ CD release, Palestinian Olive Oil Soap from the Aseela Women’s Cooperative, Native Scents Goddess of the Bath Herbal Bath Bags, End the Embargo on Cuba -1 Pound Bag of Coffee, Choice Tea, Star Ornaments made by members of Thai Tribal Craft, Dip n’ Whisk Gift Set from ‘The Tomorrow Project’ (helping women create futures today), Greeting Card featuring a removeable hand-painted bottlecap ornament from the Batsiranai cooperative (a co-op of mothers with disabled children living in Zimbabwe), one dark Divine Chocolate Bar and a Recycled Flour Bag Shopping Tote, again from the Batsiranai Cooperative.

Peaceful Valley seeks out vendors that are committed to supporting environmental awareness, eco-friendly manufacture techniques and sustainable farming. Their products are chosen for sustainable characteristics as well as social responsibility. They do their best to buy locally. When they do order from other countries such as Brazil, Sri Lanka, China, Canada, Mexico and the Andes, they work with the owners of the companies to ensure that all imported products are manufactured under Fair Labor Standards

Indian textiles, art from Haiti, handicrafts from Eastern Europe, or jewelry from Asia… At Gaiam you can shop for fair trade merchandise by the region in which it was produced and help local artists and family craftspeople make a fair wage using traditional skills. “Tomorrow, I will have money; I will not have to beg, and my children can go to school,” says beadwork artisan Ms. Jagwati, summing up the most important reason to support fair trade: to restore someone’s hope, dignity, and smile. Jagwati comes from a slum in Delhi, one of many places around the world where fair trade is paving a way out of the cycle of poverty. By paying livable wages, funding schools and providing job training and child care assistance, fair trade is helping talented yet disadvantaged people gain ground against illiteracy, exploitation, slavery and human trafficking.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY-A CELEBRATION OF WOMEN

Each year around the world, International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8. Women from far and wide join together in celebration, honoring the intelligence, strength, courage and beauty of all women. Since 1908 this has been a day to recognize the achievements of women worldwide without regard to their national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political differences.

IWD is now an official holiday in China, Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. The tradition sees men honoring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. In some countries IWD has the equivalent status of Mother's Day where children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.

Hundreds of events occur not just on this day but also throughout March to mark the economic, political and social achievements of women. Organizations, governments and women's groups around the world choose different themes each year that reflect global and local gender issues. On March 8, Women for Women International offices around the world hold events ranging from quiet and reflective meetings to loud and festive celebrations. This year - maybe more than ever - the women the organization serves are in dire circumstances due to rising food prices in Sudan, Nigeria and many other countries. These rising costs have forced 100 million people into extreme poverty over the past year and leaving families wondering where they'll find their next meal.

Through Women for Women International programs such as its Commercial Integrated Farming Initiative (CIFI), women are acquiring skills that will allow them to end the food crisis forever by learning how to use sustainable farming practices to grow crops that can help feed their families, earn an income and move them from victim to survivor.

To learn more about this program and what women are doing to eradicate hunger in their countries, Women for Women International invites you to join a Global Teleconference on March 5, facilitated by Global Program Executive Director Karen Sherman and Dr. Grace Fisiy, Agribusiness Specialist.

For more International Women's Day Events, please see the listing below by country:

• United Kingdom (215 events)
• United States of America (144 events)
• Australia (141 events)
• Canada (107 events)
• Ireland (13 events)
• more countries ...

WOMEN FOR WOMEN INTERNATIONAL - CHANGING THE WORLD ONE WOMAN AT A TIME

Women for Women International mobilizes women to change their lives through a holistic approach that addresses the unique needs of women in conflict and post-conflict environments by providing them with the necessary tools and resources to move beyond crisis and poverty toward stability and self-sufficiency, thereby ultimately promoting viable civil societies.

Women for Women International begins by working with women who may have lost everything in conflict and often have nowhere else to turn. Participation in their one-year program launches women on a journey from victim to survivor to active citizen. The organization identifies services to support graduates of the program as they continue to strive for greater social, economic and political participation in their communities.

As each woman engages in a multi-phase process of recovery and rehabilitation, she opens a window of opportunity presented by the end of conflict to help improve the rights, freedoms and status of women in her country. As women who go through the program assume leadership positions in their villages, actively participate in the reconstruction of their communities, build civil society, start businesses, train other women and serve as role models, they become active citizens who can help to establish lasting peace and stability.

Women begin in the Sponsorship Program where direct financial aid from a sponsor helps them deal with the immediate effects of war and conflict such as lack of food, water, medicine and other necessities. Exchanging letters with sponsors provides women with an emotional lifeline and a chance to tell their stories - maybe for the first time. As their situations begin to stabilize, women in the program begin building a foundation for their lives as survivors.

While continuing to receive sponsorship support, women embark on the next leg of the journey and participate in the Renewing Women's Life Skills (ReneWLS) Program that provides them with rights awareness, leadership education and vocational and technical skills training. Women build upon existing skills and learn new ones in order to regain their strength, stability and stature on the path to becoming active citizens.

Women for Women International believes that establishing a means to earn a sustainable living is critical to being fully active in the life of a family, community and country. To help women transform their new skills into financial independence and sustainability, they offer job skills training to strengthen women's existing skills and to introduce new skills in traditional and non-traditional fields so women can access future employment opportunities.

Building on the skills training program, Women for Women International offers comprehensive business services designed to help women start and manage their own micro-enterprises. The organization gives them access to capital and operates micro-credit programs in Afghanistan and Bosnia & Herzegovina with an overall repayment rate of 98%. They give women access to markets by facilitating product sales through outside retailers and provide expertise such as product design, production assistance and business development workshops. They also help women form micro-enterprises such as production facilities and cooperative stores to sell the goods these women produce.

View the Other Side of War - by Zainab Salbi: Founder and CEO, Women for Women International

Listen to Alice Walker read her introduction and view slideshow. *Then buy it here from Amazon.*

Founded in 1993 by Zainab Salbi, Women for Women International has empowered over 153,000 women survivors of war to move toward economic self-sufficiency with its year-long program of direct aid, rights education, job skills training, and small business development. The organization has distributed $42 million in direct aid, micro-credit loans, and other program services, while having mobilized more than 125,000 women and men in 105 countries worldwide to reach out and support women survivors of war - one woman at a time.

© Copyright 2008 Women for Women International

Green LA girls recent post about the Fuel Film!!!

Fuel: An Entertaining primer on a clean energy future

Posted by Siel in art/lit/music, environment, film (Thursday February 12, 2009 at 11:14 pm)


Watch Fuel, and you’ll likely have one of these two reactions during the first hour: “OMG biodiesel ROCKS so why don’t we run everything on biodiesel already!!!” or “Don’t the filmmakers realize that biodiesel poses huge environmental problems of its own?”

The last half hour of Fuel reconciles these two sides somewhat, cluing in the biodiesel newbies on the fuel’s dark sides, while assuaging the biodiesel critics that their concerns are indeed valid concerns — before proposing a more complicated future of green fuel.

Fuel traces the story of one Josh Tickell, a grease-lovin’ dude who spent an idyllic childhood in Australia, moved to oil industry-polluted Louisiana where many people had health problems (his mother suffered 9 miscarriages), discovered biodiesel in Germany, then basically became a techie hippie of sorts — traveling around in a biodiesel ride to educate the public on the power of grease.

Watch Fuel, and you’ll get a quick lesson on all the problems posed by America’s addiction to oil: Huge oil spills as a result of Katrina, general environmental pollution, health problems, etc. You’ll also get a quick primer on how the government’s encouraged this addiction, with big subsidies for big cars, even bigger subsidies for oil companies — and a willingness to wage huge wars to get oil.

And during the bigger part of the film, Fuel pushes biodiesel as the obvious, easy, and quick solution to all these oil-related problems. Josh pretty much deifies Rudolf Diesel, pointing out that his engine was originally designed to run on peanut oil, taking the power away from big oil and giving it back to small farmers. (below: at the Fuel premier at Conserv Fuel last night)

Of course, biodiesel’s not without its own problems — which Fuel finally gets to in the last half hour of the film. When it does though, Fuel clearly outlines the many concerns: genetically-modified crops, monoculture farms, razed rainforests, etc. Read Tom Philpott’s post from yesterday, “Don’t suffer biofuels gladly,” for a quick look at why many environmental groups oppose government subsidies as they’re currently awarded for biofuels.

In fact, Fuel ends up reporting that biodiesel’s really only a small part of our green fuel / energy future. And despite the fact that most of the film seems to push readily-available biodiesel as the immediate eco-fuel solution we can use now, Fuel in the end showcases the most environmentally viable biofuels as algae-based biodiesel and cellulosic ethanol — fuels that aren’t even commercially available or viable yet.

That last half hour, in fact, packs in a whole lot, expanding the biodiesel-is-the-solution mantra and complicating it, to include wind, solar, public transportation, energy efficiency, and other alt fuel sources (some still just experimental). For a film that seems to start out pushing an instantaneous solution to our oil problem, the conclusion of Fuel’s much less simple and immediate. There is, in fact, no instant solution — though there are a rainbow of partial solutions that could, if cobbled together, give us a clean energy future.

While I do think that the biodiesel-rah-rah part of Fuel could’ve been whittled down, I loved how the film quickly explained in easily understandable terms both the promises and challenges posed by the many alternative energy options that are currently under debate. Plus, fans of Sheryl Crow, Julia Roberts, Naomi Klein, Barbara Boxer, Woody Harrelson, Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Larry David, Larry Hagman, or Bart Reed will love seeing their celebrity in action.

Watch Fuel free by biking 3 blocks tomorrow — or just make sure you catch the film this weekend to ensure its future success. Fuel opens in L.A. tomorrow in two theaters: AMC Broadway on 3rd Street in Santa Monica and Sunset 5 Laemmle in West Hollywood.

Interview with Josh Tickell on Leno...

GO SEE THE FUEL FILM!!!

The Fuel Film!!!! GO SEE IT!

This movie is so well put together it is a MUST SEE!!! Go see it this week in LA - find a theater at http://www.thefuelfilm.com!



CHANGE YOUR FUEL, CHANGE THE WORLD!

11 Easy ways to have a pink and green Valentine's Day!

Show your significant other and best buds you really care by thinking pink and green this February 14. And since volunteering and contributing to nonprofits is the new green, go gift shopping at Do Something's nonprofit shopping mall. Many of the gift ideas below are available on the site, which donates a portion to Do Something. So surf over, and shop away! You’ll feel great knowing that you’re spreading love and giving back this Valentine’s Day! (Psst: Email this guide around so you can be on the receiving end of some of these goodies!)

1. Send an e-card . . . American Greetings Corporation reports that around a billion physical valentines are mailed each year. If one billion cards were laid out end to end, they would stretch around the world five times. Whoa, that's a lot of trees – and trees help our planet by soaking up that bad, global warming-causing carbon dioxide. Not to mention, emailed V-cards also make cents in this economy.
2. . . . .or a recycled one. Determined to deliver physical proof of your love? Buy recycled paper and make your own heart-shaped greetings (Aww!) or Google eco-friendly card brands for purchase.
3. Donate to an environmental organization. It doesn’t have to be a lot of money – it’s the thought that counts. This gift’s a particularly good idea for the serious eco geek in your life or the parent who has everything.
4. Give green flowers. No, not weeds or clovers (though if you find a four-leaf one, you might want to save it for next month). Here’s the scoop: Nearly 90% of V-Day roses are imported from Colombia and Ecuador. In addition to the air freight costs, most flower growers there need not adhere to the safety standards that produce suppliers do. This means their flowers may be doused in chemicals to maintain their unblemished appearance. So check out VeriFlora-certified flowers or 1-800-Flowers (both are available on Do Something's shopping mall). The blooms are sustainably grown, guaranteeing not only adherence to the highest of environmental standards, but also fair labor practices.
5. Buy a gift card for a yoga or pilates class. #1: We all need to get off the couch and get in shape. #2: Your local health club or spa is probably hurting for business (dang recession!). #3: Always give a gift that you’d like yourself. Here’s an idea: buy yourself a class too and go together.
6. Think fair-trade chocolate. Valentine's Day will be extra sweet for you, your beloved and the cocoa farmers too. Farming families earn a price for their product that is adequate to meet their basic human needs. Additionally, environmentally sustainable production methods are required, and you can be assured that forced and abusive child labor was not involved. Organic Style has some great options and is available on Do Something's shopping mall. Search for their "Life is Sweet" Fair Trade Chocolates or Organic Gourmet Signature Chocolates
7. Opt for natural perfume. It’s a popular gift this time of year, but did you know that your average fragrance is a total chemical cocktail – not something you'd want all over your body. Gross! There are a ton of beauty vendors on Do Something's shopping mall that sell all-natural brands of perfume. One name you can trust is LAVANILA. They carefully infuse pure essential oils with 100% active botanicals for natural fragrances that are fresh, clean, and nurturing.
8. Send a Valentine to a candy company . . . that doesn't sell organic fair-trade chocolate. Take action by asking the company to use fair-trade chocolate. Explain the benefits and why it would make you want to buy their candy.
9. Buy local groceries for your Feb. 14 dinner. What’s better than a V-date with your boyfriend, girlfriend, or a bunch of your best friends? A V-date that features delicious fare you’ll find at a farmer’s market or in the local section of your supermarket. Buying local foods saves on the transportation, energy, and packaging it takes to bring produce from faraway (and hence, cuts down on greenhouse gas emissions) while also supporting local farmers.
10. Lead the charge on making V-Day green at your school. Encourage your principal, class prez and/or team or club to start new, eco-fabulous traditions - like, for those sweetheart sales, swap out those plastic bags filled with candy for paper ones (tie ‘em with raffia – it’s organic!), use fair-trade chocolates, and look into potted flowers that can be replanted instead of single-stemmed ones that will die within a few days.
11. Go on an environmentally friendly retreat. Spend some time at a local wildlife reserve, park, or natural area – even if it means bundling up. Being at one with nature will remind you how precious our planet is. Or see if your parents might consider a V-Day getaway. This year Feb. 14 falls on a long weekend (it’s also President’s Weekend) so the timing is perfect. We love Gaiam’s earth-friendly travel options and there are some other great travel deals out there too!

Want to shop for a good cause all the time? Just download this widget (http://shop.dosomething.org/shop/widgets/9) and anytime you buy something at your favorite shopping sites, a portion will come back to Do Something (and cost you nothing!). How sweet is that!