Letters to the editor

Benefits of Fair Trade outweigh frustrations

As someone who has traveled to El Salvador to live on a Fair Trade coffee farm, I can understand much of the frustration that Anders Loven-Holt voiced in last week's article, "The bitter side of Fair Trade."

I agree with many of the points that Loven-Holt made in his article, including the grossly expensive costs of becoming certified "Fair Trade." I can also sympathize with his frustration that well-off Western coffee drinkers are using Fair Trade as a tool to "feel good" about "helping poor farmers."

However, while Fair Trade may have its bitter side, it is not just a "counter productive waste of resources" or an "anemic charity." Fair Trade is a lot less black and white than the article makes it seem.

One very important aspect of Fair Trade that the article failed to discuss is the environmental component. Evidence clearly suggests that Fair Trade coffee brings increased biodiversity conservation, such as increased bird and plant species and soil conservation. The increase in the health of the environment has the potential to not only help the flora and fauna, but also improve the health of farmers and surrounding communities as well as improve ecosystem services.

Loven-Holt's statement that Fair Trade "makes the poor poorer" is based off of the assumption that Fair Trade will actually increase supply.

When I lived on a Fair Trade coffee farm in El Salvador, the farmers told me that their yield actually cut in half when they became Fair Trade certified because they had to stop using pesticides. During my research for my environmental studies capstone on the impact of Fair Trade coffee, I found that many other coffee farmers experience a decrease in coffee yields as they become Fair Trade certified and are required to adhere to more sustainable practices.

The majority of the benefits of Fair Trade, such as better prices for crops, low-interest loans and more money to invest in education and health care, offset the lower yield.

We will not be able to solve poverty through simply consuming consciously, although it may be a baby step in making people aware and interested in these issues. Eventually, we will need to do more than just sit back and passively drink our "feel-good" coffee.

We need to actually be involved in taking political and social action to try to make the entire trade system more fair and to make sure that all of the producers are getting a living wage under humane working conditions.

Whether you ask for Fair Trade coffee or not, my hope is that this dialogue continues outside of the newspaper and has inspired you to become more aware of the impacts of the products that you consume.

Ann Thomas

Political Science '08

Former co-president of the

SCU Fair Trade Coalition

Multiculturalism can't be confined to library

Believe me, I love the new library -- never has my social life been so active on a Monday night.

While routinely wandering for a seat, I have had ample time to explore the nooks and crannies of our new learning commons. However, one particular nook irks me to no end: the Multicultural Reading Area, which consists of four tables and a smattering of chairs tucked away in a back corner of the second floor.

What makes this corner so multicultural, I wonder? Are we only supposed to read multicultural books here? Are only multicultural students allowed to read here? As far as I can tell, its only purpose is as a destination on the walking tour, frequented by donors and alumni, where it is advertised as featuring multicultural reading materials.

Upon closer inspection, it is neighbored by a wide variety of current periodicals: Nuclear Fusion, The Mathematical Gazette and The Philosophical Quarterly, to name a few. Library planners say the area will eventually feature exhibits related to multicultural classes, but this begs a larger question: What does having a designated Multicultural Reading Area say about the rest of our library?

In all other areas, consider yourself "excused" from multiculturalism? And what does this area say about multiculturalism itself? That it can be pushed into a corner, allotted four chairs and forgotten? This doesn't seem like the sort of inclusive excellence on which we pride ourselves at Santa Clara. What next, a multicultural drinking fountain?

Meghan Mooney

Anthropology '09