Our choices affect the lives of others

Do you ever wonder how the things you buy were made and by whom? Would it bother you to think that the people who made some of the things that make your life enjoyable are paid so little that they barely survive and have no money left to send their children to school or pay for medicine? How would you feel if you learnt that the way some of your food is grown could be harming the environment or depriving people in developing countries of a decent livlihood?

Do you care that the way we in the West are using natural resources some could run out and people in the rest of the world may not be able to have their share and that some products contain products may well be harmful? Do you wonder if anything you can do will make a real difference?

If many little people
In many little places
Do many little deeds
They can change the face of the Earth.
African Proverb.

(The proverb and paragraph above have been taken from the Church Action on Poverty website)

Fighting poverty through trade

One of the great successes of recent years has been the growth of the ethical consumer and fair trade movements, which empower individuals and organisations to act ethically in the market place. A range of magazines and websites offer well researched practical advice on how to buy ethically an ever increasing range of goods from food and furniture to personal stereos and pensions.

Traidcraft is probably the best known Christian initiative, whose mission is explicitly to fight poverty through trade.  Traidcraft focuses on reducing poverty by engaging directly in trade, by influencing others who engage in trade, and by developing the skills and market access of poor producers.
You can now order Traidcraft products on-line as well as through an increasing number of supermarkets and other Fair Traders across the UK.

Visit thef Fair Trade section of this website and find out more about Trade Justice in the Justice section.

You can read more about these issues in this section or talk about them on the discussion board.

Protect the Environment When You Shop

Buying local produce helps reduce transport miles and so means that less of the world's limited crude oil reserves are used up in order to get products from the producer to the shop. In turn this means less CO² emissions caused by the products travelling to retail outlets.

Some sources of locally produced food in the Godalming area are Secrett's Farm Shop in Milford, Farmers' Markets and Wakelings the Butcher in Farncombe. Other local outlets can be found here .