Sustainable Living

In honor of World Oceans Day, Fair Trade USA, the leading certifier of Fair Trade products in North America, launches a campaign to raise awareness of issues in the seafood industry.

Mohawk Group, a leading commercial flooring company known for cutting-edge and innovative flooring solutions, has just become the first flooring manufacturer to achieve Living Product Challenge Petal certification for the company’s new Lichen modular plank carpet system. The certification, which presents the most rigorous standard for sustainable manufacturing, was officially announced today at the International Living Future Institute’s (ILFI) annual unConference in Seattle.

The rise of the smart city will rely on the ability of stakeholders to collaborate, engage citizens and act on data. Partnerships are hard at work and planning is under way to overcome the legacy of siloed services, focus on integrated systems that will ultimately be more adept at delivering critical services, empower communities and elevate our quality of life.

We put together this Mother’s Day Gift Guide, composed of some of our favorite Fair Trade Certified™ products. Mom will enjoy any one of these gift options, and will also love knowing that her present empowers and supports mothers and families around the world.

GM’s car-sharing brand Maven recently expanded to include Maven Gig, an enabler for the sharing economy. This new platform provides the Chevrolet Bolt EV to freelance gig drivers who do not have access to a vehicle. The service supports people maximizing their earning potential, while helping add more electric vehicles to the streets.

As urban centers rapidly expand, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, smallholder farmers are and will continue to be on the frontlines of global food security. With the right tools and training we know these farmers are incredibly resilient.

Certification of seafood products, including tuna and shrimp, began in 2014, and the volume of imports of such products grew more than 350 percent last year to more than 1.2 million pounds (500,000 kilograms), said Fair Trade USA, a California-based nonprofit group. The first company to offer fair trade seafood harvested from U.S. waters will have scallops on the market this month.

At Fair Trade USA we have long worked with a diverse range of stakeholders to deliver on our mission to empower farmers and workers around the world.Recently a new ally, the Sustainable Coffee Challenge, has emerged to help build a shared space for organizations to come together, share lessons and build a vision for coffee to become the world’s first sustainable agricultural commodity.

Waste is a crucial issue for businesses; reducing waste doesn’t just prevent pollution and conserve energy, it saves companies money. This is especially evident in the food service industry, where billions of dollars are lost due to food waste. It’s very clear that waste reduction isn’t just about sustainability; it’s a business imperative.