By Lloyd Alter, Source: TreeHugger

It is the first Fair Tuesday, set up as a response to Black Friday and Cyber Monday by Global Goods Partners. Fair Trade was founded to help level the playing field for small co-operatives; farmers are paid a premium price that is used for ” education, health care, environment, business management, quality improvement or productivity.”

While coffee is the big deal, the Fair Trade movement covers a wide range of products including sugar, olive oil, tea, bananas and importantly, chocolate. It’s not just about fair pay for the workers, but also about the environment; Fair Trade products are greener, organic and sustainably grown.

Fair Trade has not caught on in the United States to the degree that it has in Britain or Canada; judging from comments on posts in TreeHugger, it appears to be considered vaguely communist by the right wing, being so preoccupied with worker’s rights, fair wages, health care and education.

Perhaps they will be happier with the new Fair Trade USA Label, which controversially expands Fair Trade beyond its original mandate to include plantations. For Americans who like the original concept, There is the recently introduced Fair Trade International label.

On this Fair Tuesday, try a cup of Fair Trade coffee or a bite of Fair Trade chocolate. It goes down better in so many ways.