Today Nottingham held its 2006 One World Christmas Fayre and its events like this that give me that warm ready brek glow. Seeing the lovely people of Nottingham selling organic and fair trade goods home made yummy veggie food and campaigning for peace and human rights all under one roof.

Held at the YMCA on Shakespeare Street there were stalls from Traidcraft CND Veggies Tearcraft and many more. As well as these well known organisations there was a stall from Make Hays good friend MondOrganico selling a range of beautiful ecological and handmade skincare and health products. Of course I had to treat myself to some lovely soaps and face cream and having used them before I can happily say they make you feel really good.
To find out where you can buy MondOrganico goods at future events watch this space!
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Well after a bit of a break while my husband and I shuttled around the South of England visiting the various members of our family for the festive season Im back and ready for a Christmas debrief!
Im intrigued to know how other green givers got on with the annual shopping frenzy and am happy to offer up my own findings to start us off
Christmas crept up on me. I didnt manage any goats or chickens this time as I did the year before using the Good Gifts catalogue and I thought I was going to resort to a last minute dash around the shopsuntil my December issues of Organic Life The Ecologist New Consumer and Amnesty International (AI) came to my rescue!
Their Christmas gift guides provided the required inspiration and even though I had left it as late as 15th December New Consumer Ethical Superstore and AI were all still offering guaranteed delivery in time for Christmas.
So I sat down and did nearly all my shopping in one afternoon! People Tree hat and Ethical Careers Guide for my sister Ethical Travel Guide for my brothers girlfriend beautiful mango-wood salad bowl and servers exquisite wooden cube perpetual calendar for my dad and yummy veggie recipe calendar for my mum
And one of the surprise successes that I took a bit of a gamble on: a coconut thumb piano for my brother gorgeously carved and excellent value at

To celebrate this years Fairtrade Fortnight (26 Feb 11 March) Alex Prince my colleague at Ethical Weddings has set herself the challenge of finding a different fair trade wedding item for every day of the Fairtrade Fortnight.
While The Times reported yesterday that overall marriages had dropped dramatically from 2004-2005 the interest in ethical celebrations is definitely on the way up the only problem is how to do it.
Alex whose own wedding recently featured in The Guardians Green Guide says:

I was attending a meeting in the Gedling Borough Council building today and something caught my eye which made me vary happy indeed. In the reception was a stall promoting Fairtrade and announcing that the Borough of Gedling is aiming for Fairtrade town status. This means that after the City of Nottingham it will be the first borough in the county to gain Fairtrade status.
To demonstrate their committment to this the council have set out 5 main goals:
The council has already passed a Fairtrade resolution.
Fairtrade goods must be sold in local shops and Fairtrade products served in local cafes and restaurants.
Fairtrade products must be used by a number if local workplaces and community organisations
Attract media coverage and popular support for the campaign
Set up a Fairtrade steering group of councillors campaigners and representatives from locals schools churches and businesses.
If you are a resident of Gedling Borough and would like to be involved or express your support then dont delay! Either visit the Arnold Civic Centre and fill in an expression of interest form or telephone Allan Leadbeater on 0115 961 1316 or Phil Barlow on 0115 952 6488.
This is such great news and a massive step forward for Gedling! I love the idea of being able to walk to a local cafe and sit down with a lovely hot fair trade coffee rather than this being an unusual treat you can only find in the city centre. All credit to our local borough council for taking the lead you have GGGs support and good wishes!
Visit the Gedling Borough council website to find out more about their aims for Fairtrade town status.
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Hurrah! Fashion Made Fair is coming to Brighton!
When we lived in London we loved getting the chance at the Old Truman Brewery off Brick Lane to see our favourite fair trade fashion come out of the catalogue and onto the clothes hanger. So I was thrilled to see a poster announcing that Green Threads was bringing the fair to Fabrica in Brighton for Fairtrade Fortnight.
All the usual favourites will be there
People Tree with some gorgeous garments in their new Spring collection
Howies the go to people for a talking point t-shirt! And lots of lovely comfort clothes
And top Tonic t-shirts and Ethletic trainers (must get me some of those) too.
Oh and whens all this happening? Well it all kicks off tomorrow (sorry about the late notice I only saw the poster on Monday!) with late opening till 9pm
Thursday 8 March 5-9pm
Friday 9 March 10am-6pm
Saturday 10 March 10am-6pm
Sunday 11 March 11am-4pm
Will I see you there? Hope so!
Katie
ethicalweddings.com
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I havent been able to find the link but in the programme of Roskilde Festival they claim that theres a whole area of green and fairtrade (due to the weather for the next couple of days I will join the mud girls global instead of green girls global) at the festival.
the area is the one surrounding the odeon stage how cool is that ? has anyone else any good fairtrade/green references from festivals ?
its so cool that they are acting on this =)
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This is a bit of a mixed-bag post about a few fair trade items I wanted to share
MY FAIRTRADE

This is a new networking website set up by the Fairtrade Foundation. It gives all of us the opportunity to share news and ideas about supporting fair trade. Ill definitely add something on there about Fair Trade Gedling soon.
I did feel that this site wasnt very easy to navigate and doesnt have the most logical format but I do think its a fantastic idea and its great to see all the fair trade support and activities out there. Take a look at http://my.fairtrade.org.uk
FAIR TRADE TOWNS

Back in February I wrote a post about fair trade in the borough of Gedling (where I live) and how a steering group was being set up in order to work towards gedling achieving Fair Trade Town status.
Well since then the steering group has been formed and plans are well underway with the first task being to identify local shops cafes/restaurants and workplaces who sell use or serve Fairtrade goods. Im sitting on the steering group as a local business rep with our web design business Make Hay.
If you run a business in the Gedling borough of Nottinghamshire you may have received a letter about this or one of the steering group members may have visited you. If you do run a business in the Gedling area and sell / use Fairtrade goods on a regular basis then please let us know so that we can add you to our Fair Trade Town directory. You can contact me by filling in the contact form on this website.
Were also looking for more steering group members so that together we can raise the profile of and support fair trade. If you live in the area and would like to sit on the steering group please contact me.
FAIR TRADE ON E-BAY
Did you know that e-bay (UK) now has a shop dedicated to fair trade?
You can search for lovely fair trade items by category (bags jewellery etc) but unfortunately the pages about fair trade itself and FT sellers seem to have disappeared.
In the shop youll see some of the old favourites like Traidcraft and Bishopston Trading and e-bay says

Today sees the start of Fair Trade fortnight.
Theres more to Fair Trade than just food. Its not just bananas cocoa and coffee; Fair Trade can apply to clothes and even toys.
Its about partnership with the suppliers in developing countries making sure they get a fair price for their products whilst ensuring decent working conditions and fair terms of trade even for the smaller producers.
There are those who claim that retailers are jumping on the proverbial bandwagon to sell us Fair Trade products but does it matter if they are? Fair Trade sales reached nearly

Raising my boys on healthy doses of competitive sports over the years I have had many opportunities to talk about what it means to have a game feel fair regardless of win or loss. Teaching young players a healthy respect for their teammates their opponents and the opportunity to do their best is what most of us parents really want our kids to get out of their sports experience. Now there is a company FairTradeSports.com that has taken the idea of respect and not only made it their balls trademark design but brought the idea of building respect into the games of life to a new level of social entrepreneurship.
This company is a model of what good business can do and bring to our global community. By aligning themselves as a Fairtrade Labeling Organization they are committing to paying their partners in production a living wage for themselves and their families. If adults can pay for shelter food clothing medical needs emergencies and expenses for education then children no longer have to contribute to family income.
In addition the company also pays a 20% premium which is used for improving the lives of the workers their families and their communities. Programs which have been instituted include community clinics and healthcare insurance a first in this industry as well as micro-credit loans and more. These are major improvements for the some 44000 people in Pakistan who are involved in making 70% of the worlds soccer balls at wages far below any standard of living.
Somehow when I consider the number of balls my boys have gone through in their soccer years it seems like I should have known some of this but like most of what we buy their source and the labor that went into it is disturbingly not part of the marketing package. In addition with all the good that you can do buying one of these fair trade balls the pricing is remarkably competitive to what you would pay in any store.
So its a win-win all they way around. We get to throw our purchasing power into some truly respectable projects supporting the people in the world who make our games possible and with every toss or kick we teach our children through words and actions that the real goal is in playing fair. For more information or to get one of these great balls for your kids upcoming season go to www.FairTradeSports.com

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I drink a tea from the Traditional Medicinal tea company everyday! Im slightly allergic to coffee which is horrible here in America as that is our national beverage next to beer; so my warm beverage for the morning commute is tea. I like the Traditional Medicinal tea brand for what I feel to be REAL tea no added flavoring or coloring like some of those other companies in fact some of their