Well, here we go again. It’s the rich causing the problems as usual.
When the government gave those on income support the extra £20 a week, which they took away later, that money was used for food, clothes and supporting local businesses. When the rich get their huge tax breaks from the government, the money goes straight to the Cayman Islands, Bermuda or British Virgin Islands.
So in the same way the climate is being damaged by the richest people in the world, 50% of global emissions are caused by the richest 10%.
It is our Fairtrade communities who we try to support are suffering the most under climate change.
And they are the ones who are working the hardest to help the climate by farming appropriately, and are the activists fighting climate change on our behalf.
Many representatives of our farming communities went to COP26 in Glasgow to try to influence the world governments. Their theme was the Fairtrade theme; “Be fair with your climate promise”. 1.8 million farmers and workers challenged these governments and 30,000 campaigners supported them in Glasgow.
The extreme weather conditions that we are experiencing now are having even worse effects on our Fairtrade farmers.
Because of unfair global trade, our farmers are suffering incredible hardship while still supplying us with the goods that we cannot grow here, like bananas, tea, coffee, sugar, cotton, etc.
Our global Fairtrade communities are challenging the wealthiest 10% of nations of which, believe it or not in spite of our own poverty here, the UK is one.
There was a promise made by these governments to fund $100 billion for climate investment. This never happened.
So we all struggle with the extreme weather conditions, although the poorer countries suffer the worst and these include our Fairtrade communities. We are still fighting for this investment and COP26 was a very inadequate response.
The determination of our farmers and workers was not equalled in the COP26.
If we support Fairtrade, even in our small way, whether it is ensuring that we buy Fairtrade bananas and changing one item in our shopping to Fairtrade, we can make a difference.
We, who are able to, should shop considerately. Not Fast fashion but Fair Fashion. If we are shopping very cheaply, we are supporting slavery. If we shop considerately, we are supporting those activists, who are fighting for the rights of the individual, and no slavery, and NO CHILD LABOUR!
COP27 takes place in Cairo next year. Let us hope that the rich nations listen more intently to what the Fairtraders are trying to say.
We did a Wave of Hope this year to gain climate justice for farmers and workers. We have to get involved in any way we can to fight for climate justice. We have already seen the extreme weather conditions affecting us. We have seen the storms, the fires in California. We shelter in our own homes as Storms Arwen and Barra batter our country and flood our lands.
We know what it feels like but most of us have proper shelter. Obviously we have the homeless situation here, which is a significant issue and a problem. For a rich country like ours to have the homeless and food banks is a stain on our nation. For the government to take away that £20 from those on income support is yet a further mark of disgrace in our country.
So yes, climate change affects us in so many ways. Triple that effect on the poor countries where our Fairtrade farmers struggle to survive. The Fairtrade premium payment can provide a small maternity hospital the size of a large shed so that babies are no longer born in fields but in a building with a midwife.
When I talk to schools I talk to the pupils about where the toilets are in the school, I look surprised and say, “Oh, you have toilets then?” Of course we all laugh, but then I turn it to a serious point and explain that in the Fairtrade countries many farmers and workers do not have access to toilets. I have been in those countries and I have actually had to dig a hole to go to the toilet and then cover it up afterwards. The Fairtrade premium payment often pays for toilets to be built.
Environmental protection is one of our ten Fairtrade principles. We expect our farmers to follow that implicitly. They cannot be Fairtrade farmers unless they work on improving soil and water quality. They have to manage pests and avoid using harmful chemicals. Yet we see our own farmers using chemicals to spray trees etc. They have to manage waste properly. They have to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and protect biodiversity. Our principles forbid the use of certain agrochemicals that are harmful to the environment and encourage farmers to reduce their use of pesticides.
I have watched fruit farmers dressed up in specially designed protective clothing, spraying their trees. What they forget is that there is such a thing as the WIND which then spreads all this ghastly stuff to people in nearby villages who end up with serious eye problems.
Because our farmers reduce their use of pesticides, this allows the land and soil to be improved. This can then support healthy plants and then wildlife which comes back can help control pests and diseases.
I remember when I was younger and more ignorant, I was moaning about having to prune trees in our garden and expressing that in the jungle they did not have secateurs, to which my husband replied,”No, they have animals”. This is the natural way. Let nature do its work. We cannot improve on that.
I must add here that the young people of today are very aware of climate change and the environmental problems. Greta Thunberg is one of many young people who are saying, “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH”.
We the adults are destroying the planet which hurts our young people as they are the ones who will have to try and restore the planet from our destruction of it. I am intensely proud of them and Fairtrade.
Remember to shop considerately and support Fairtrade.
