Speech - Elle Ogden

Today, I want talk to you about something that may make you feel uncomfortable. Something that you may walk out of here and never want think about again. Fortunately, you have that choice.  But let me share a few details:  My topic is about something you can’t actually see. You can’t actually feel, or hear. But, there are times when you can taste it. 

So to start, I want you to close your eyes.
Think back to when you were 12. Can you see yourself? Now put your home in rural Columbia. Your two room concrete home that you share with your parents and two older brothers. You’re on a farm. Not a farm like we have, here. There is not a cow or a barn.  But rather, a farm covered in the thick green leaves of cocoa plants. You and your brothers wake up at the crack of dawn, but no one is going to school.

Now at this point in the year, that might sound wonderful, but the reality is, you would not go to school – ever. You would work all day and every day. 12 years old…your future is the cocoa farm.  You don’t get to go to school or play sports or join clubs….you get to work on the farm. 

Now open your eyes. What I just described is the fate of many children living in Columbia, Guatemala, Venezuela, and many other prime agricultural locations. That delicious cup of coffee or candy bar you ate yesterday, came from a farm much like the one you just tried to imagine.  A small family, working day in and day out, to pick cocoa and coffee beans.  If they are lucky, they are connected to an organization that insures they will receive fair and equitable pay.  More often than not, small family farms like these work tirelessly just to keep their land. 

It’s not that the adults who are not connected to fair trade want to keep their children home, but they simply cannot afford to send them away for the day and lose out on the labor the child provides.  Let’s think of it like this:  if you, the 12-year-old were to pick cocoa beans all day and the non-fair trade connected family received $1 for the day’s work, that is $1 they cannot spend towards their land.  Now go to the Fair Trade connected 12-year-old. This 12-year-old gets to go to school because the adults who work the land are paid $10 for the day’s labor.  That is fair and equitable pay for that country. 

That being said, as an American, you have a choice. When presented with a choice between fair trade or not fair trade; always choose fair trade. The cost is a bit higher, but the benefits are greater for all. 

Though it may be foreign to you, fair trade is a rather simple concept. Farmers receive a premium which allows them to improve their communities and invest in education for their children. You receive a quality product that is safe and good for the environment. And finally, companies can form relationships with farmers in order to know exactly where their product is coming from (Lake Champlain Chocolates). There is a wide variety of fair trade products ranging from coffee, to chocolate, to clothes, and even jewelry. By making a simple choice to buy fair trade of our everyday products, we can change the lives of children and their families, who don’t live in such a plentiful country.

         We live in a privileged society that we take advantage of everyday. When you’re running late for school, but trying to avoid the caffeine headache, what do you do? You drive your car through the drive thru at Starbucks, swipe your card, and within minutes, there is a warm frothy mocha in your hands waiting to be consumed. But more than the convenience of it all, is the social stigma and marketing that comes with that warm mocha; especially the cup it’s in. We’re all guilty of it, walking around school or the store holding a coffee cup with the Starbucks logo printed on the side. Announcing to everyone that yes, we in fact drove our car to a coffee shop, paid a rather hefty price for our coffee, and are now advertising for everyone else to do the same. What a life of luxury we live. But let me ask you this, is that social stigma and convenient cup of coffee worth a 12-year-old little girls education?

         In the documentary, “Living with Coffee”, it details the life of a family in Columbia, much like the one I described to you. It starts with a little girl, expressing her dreams to become a doctor and study medicine. Though her dreams are lofty compared to her situation, she, unlike others, may have a chance to achieve her dreams. Her father is connected with a fair trade organization in New Zealand, allowing her family the extra money to send her to school. But others don’t fair as well. There are thousands of children, acting as slaves just because large corporations know that they can get away with paying a lower price. Though you may be completely unware, but every time you buy a product that isn’t fair trade certified, when there is a fair trade product available, you are supporting child slavery. Just let that sink in. There could be a brilliant young girl or boy, who could in fact be the next Einstein, but the world may never know. Because their future is the field. The plants. Slaving for the rest of their life.

         Some may ask how you could argue this, but fair trade has been accused of distorting the market (Morrison). However, no one is forced into a fair trade agreement. Companies and manufacturers can choose to connect with a fair trade alliance. It doesn’t hurt anyone for a company to pay a little extra money, which ensures that they will receive a quality product that was harvested in an environmentally safe way. Yes, it is a valid point that buying fair trade costs more money, but when you put into perspective what you are buying it seems like a mindless choice. We are so economically and technologically advanced compared to the places we get our products from. It should be our top priority to bring other countries up to speed with America. Whether it be one cup of coffee or an entire chocolate company, we should make every effort possible to respect and validate the fair trade agreements.

         Though I have grown up drinking fair trade coffee and eating fair trade chocolate, I will be the first to admit, that yes, in a bind, I do love Starbucks. Though as we all should, I feel an inkling of guilt when buying my mocha because I know that my money could be going to children in poverty that just want the one thing I take advantage of, an education. My civil liberty, is their deepest desire. My hope is that the next time you are staring at the isles in a grocery store, you’ll look for the little fair trade certification and choose that product. No pressure or anything, but a child’s education is riding on your back and your decisions. If you remember anything, remember “Reason 10: When you buy fair trade, what you buy matters” (10 Reasons).

      

"10 Reasons to Buy Fair Trade." Management of Env Quality Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal 18.4 (2007): n. pag.     Web.

Living with Coffee. Dir. Diane Abad. Youtube/Living with Coffee. N.p., 5   Apr. 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

Morrison, Sarah. "Fair Trade: Is It Really Fair?" The Independent.     Independent Digital News and Media, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2015.

What Fair Trade Means. Digital image. Lake Champlain Chocolates. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2015.