STAC Students Travel To DC

STAC's Fair Trade and Marketing class traveled to Washington DC for the Fair Trade Campaign National Conference on March 24th and 25th. Many speakers from many organizations got the chance to inform students and advocates what they can do to help the world.

A few key points we learned include-

1. A macro perspective- We need to inform businesses. If Fair Trade benefits their companies positively, they will be interested. It is our job to spell it out for management and let them know how exactly they can help, and what it will do to benefit their business.

2. We need to increase consumer awareness- People want to know more! By explaining how Fair Trade products are both organic and contain no GMO's (perhaps put a label that shows these facts on your product), people will be more eager to buy. Consumers also want to know about products they are buying, and what Fair Trade means for others. One example of what a college in Ohio worked on, was the selling of Fair Trade bead bracelets. Each bracelet contained a small picture of the person who made that bracelet. This gives people the proof they want, and will give them a sense of accomplishment that they helped that specific person.

These are just a few ideas that we learned while in DC. Fair Trade is such an important movement, and we can change our campus' attitude towards it, simply one student at a time.