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Crowdfunder for Fair Trade Suppliers

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The Scottish Fair Trade Forum have today launched a Crowdfunder to raise money for Fair Trade suppliers and retailers, ourselves included, to give us a better chance of surviving the Coronavirus pandemic. As most of you will know, we’ve had to close the shop entirely during these worrying times and so we’ve lost a lot of money and our future is currently insecure. The SFTF say:

Fair Trade suppliers across Scotland are the backbone of our campaign for justice, equity and sustainability in trade. Today, we are launching a fundraising appeal to support them through these difficult times. Can you help us support them? Any contribution, no matter how small, will make real differences to keeping Fair Trade shops and suppliers alive in our communities.

To donate, visit the Crowdfunder page here. We know that finances are tight for most of us right now, but a contribution of any size will help us, and other Fair Trade shops and suppliers like us in Scotland, to come out the other side of this in a better position. In doing so we’ll also be able to do more to support the producers – the real reason that we do any of this – by placing orders for goods like we normally would. Even just sharing the Crowdfunder will help a great deal. Thank you!

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World Fair Trade Day

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World Fair Trade Day is approaching on Saturday 9th May, but of course with the current lockdown most of the planned events will not be going ahead or will be taking a different form. There are, however, lots of activities and events that you can take part in from home:

The Scottish Fair Trade Forum are running a poster or video competition for school aged children, which might be a good activity to include in your home learning in the coming weeks. The submission deadline is 31st May, and you can find more information, and some other activity ideas, here.

This year the focus for World Fair Trade Day is #PlanetFairTrade, a very relevant theme as the World Fair Trade Organisation state:

Fair Trade Enterprises are a vision of hope and perseverance. In good days and in bad, they stand with their producers, workers and trading partners. They work in solidarity to get through the lockdown and pandemic. Now, more than ever, we can see why we need a world full of Fair Trade Enterprises. This is #PlanetFairTrade.

The global economy was already broken. A climate and ecological crisis was already brewing, alongside spiralling inequality and entrenched poverty. The pandemic has shaken the economic system, and we can together create a better world. Fair Trade Enterprises are helping create an economy based on human and planetary well-being, a world where no one is left behind. Join us to make planet Fair Trade a reality.

The WFTO have lots of ideas for activities for everyone, young and old, here, including a campaign to #StayHomeLiveFair and post your support to social media. The WFTO’s Instagram will be broadcasting live chats and Q&A sessions with experts in fair trade and sustainability.

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Renewed Website

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Have you noticed anything different about our website recently? Maybe that there aren’t adverts anymore? Thanks to the hard work of our director, Colum Scriven, and his friend Alan, we’ve finally got our dot-org-dot-uk web address back! It had been feared lost to hackers some time ago, and we had been using a temporary address ever since, but we’re now back in business. So if anyone asks you where to go for information on Rainbow Turtle (especially as our shop is sadly closed until further notice) then direct them to www.rainbowturtle.org.uk for the most up to date info! If you’re subscribed to our newsletter, which collates these blogs once a month, you’ll still receive this as normal. If you aren’t yet subscribed to our blog you can join here.

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Fashion Revolution Week 2020

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It’s Fashion Revolution Week right now, running from the 20th until the 26th April 2020, but what does that mean? Well, the clothing industry has a lot of problems, affecting both people and the environment. The Rana Plaza disaster in 2013, in which more than 1000 garment workers died due to unsafe conditions, inspired the start of Fashion Revolution who campaign against these issues.

Fashion is also one of the most dangerous industries for the environment, meaning that its problems have the potential to affect everyone. The statistics below reveal the extent of just some of these shocking issues.

This week, Fashion Revolution are working to make sure that as many people as possible know about what goes on within the clothing industry. This includes putting on many events, which are all taking place online due to the current circumstances and can be found here. They have also published an updated Fashion Transparency Index so you can see just how ethical your favourite clothing brand is from the comfort of your home. Another piece of easy activism you can do from home is to use social media to ask companies: