My wallet has fallen apart, it’s actually so bad that coins have started falling out, a shame as I have had this wallet for nearly two years and had become quite attached to it. To be honest it came as a free gift with the aftershave my wife selected for me to wear on our wedding day, so it did have some sentimental value.

So in keeping with our Ethical challenge, I looked for an ethical wallet. First of all I checked the charity shops in my area, but for some reason none of them have had any wallets for nearly a month now. So I ended up goggling ‘ethical wallets’.

And what pops up, but a wonderful one made of recycled car and bike inter-tubes from Bali, and even better its sold by Oxfam, and at a bargain at £9.99. So I paid that along with a small donation for the postage and packing and a week later I sit here with my nice new shiny and ethical wallet.

Pointing out the obvious, it’s made of rubber, and smells a little like it too! But it is, sturdy has enough slots for everything and a transparent part for an ID card. The only issue with it is that there is no coin pocket, although that’s not a big problem as I tend to carry very little cash on me.  Still, I might invest in a coin purse in the future, I have seen some nice ones made from recycled juice drinks containers on ethicalsuperstore.com.

Anyway the wallet feels very durable and I think it will last quite a while which is good. The company that makes them in Bali is providing jobs for people who collect the inner-tubes, and those that make them, and of course keeping the inner-tubes themselves ending up in a landfill!

I will also mention that we got our first ‘odd’ vegetable from Riverford in this weeks vegbox, Swiss chard. I remember my Nana using chard when I was younger, but it’s been a long time since I have had any, plus its not something you can get in Tesco or Waitrose.

Not really knowing what to do with it, I consulted the recipes section on their website, and searched for Chard, and lots of yummy recipes came up. We ended up selecting one for a black eyed bean, mushroom & chard balti. We did alter the recipe slightly by adding an onion, extra tomatoes and a pinch of turmeric. It was beautiful, I can not complain at all, loved every bite. To make it even better we had brown rice with it, not sure if I can adjust to brown rice so quickly but I am going to give it a good shot as it’s better for us my doctor tells me.

With this weeks Riverford delivery we got some milk and eggs, which are both organic and in the case of the eggs free-range. We received a lovely phone call from Gwen at Riverford who left a very nice message for me as I missed the call. She read my last blog post about Riverford and was glad I was happy, plus she noticed that I used Ecover products and let me know they do an Ecover Refill service, which is brilliant, so I am awaiting the price list which she said she would email over to me, but when my next bottle of Ecover runs out I hope to get it refilled by the guys from Riverford. I must say I know it has only been two weeks but I am very impressed so far.

Oh and I know it’s not so healthy but my case of Ubuntu Fairtrade cola arrived, its a lovely cola and is guilt free which is great. I have promised to drop a can off with the One World Shop in St Thomas Church at the Haymarket as I am going to try and convince them to stock it. Unfortunately Newcastle upon Tyne does not have a single stockist of Ubuntu and the nearest is Durham University, maybe I can convince some places to stock it, perhaps the health food store on Princess Square.

Though to be fair it’s not that bad price wise when I buy it in bulk from ethicalsuperstore.com, working out at about 52p for a 330ml can or 65p for a 500ml bottle. If all else fails maybe I can sell it myself!

God Bless

Michael

Sorry for no sooner update but things have been hectic. Anyway the Ethical Challenge is going quite well. This past month we have focused on our food, particularly as Fairtrade Fortnight is currently on, and I have been looking quite closely at Fairtrade from a Bahá’í Perspective lately. We even had a very successful Fairtrade Event at the Newcastle Bahá’í Centre this week, which I will blog about shortly.

For the past couple of years we have bought Fairtrade on and off, but quite recently we made a commitment to, where possible only buy Fairtrade. For tea, coffee and sugar this is easy, and we have already been doing this for some time anyway. But we have looked very closely at everything else, bananas, chocolate, cola and even our rubber gloves! All of these are products we can swap for something that is Fairtrade, many of which we are buying online from ethicalsuperstore.com, and they are based in Team Valley so low carbon on the transport.

You see most people involved in the manufacturing of cheap food get a raw deal. In some cases the economies of entire nations are affected: people are kept in poverty through the actions of western consumers. And if I am trying to live more ethically I really need to try and help stop that.

So our weekly shop now has more Fairtrade products in the basket, from spices to rice. Although we currently do have a lot of Ringtons tea in the cupboard, but this is because my Nana is always giving it to us, however, Traidcraft have their Fairtrade tea blended by Ringtons, and I can’t imagine that they would have anything to do with a non-ethical company, so I don’t feel too bad about having that in my cupboard.

I am also aware that eating too much meat is not so good for the environment, so we have also looked to eliminate some meat from our diet. We aren’t going veggie, I used to be and would love to again, but I have medical issues preventing me from becoming completely veggie. So fewer cows need to fart methane to keep me happy!!!

Fruit and veg is one area where we are badly failing, looking at what we buy, its often imported or grown in hot houses. So I have been looking at ordering a weekly veg box from Riverford Farm, who deliver organic veg boxes. So that’s starting once we return from a visit to Suffolk next week, so we will see how that goes.

So I will keep plodding on and let you know how its going.

God Bless

Michael

I have been informed that Typhoo is responding to Traidcrafts and the WIs Make it Fair campaign and become the first of the UKs big five tea producers to go Fairtrade.

Fantastic news in my opinion, hopefully its a 100% offering across their range rather than a specialist range, but in my opinion it would give it a real march on its rivals, and hopefully it will open up many many more people to Fairtrade. If this is true, then hopefully the other four of the big five (PG Tips, Tetleys, Twinnings and Yorkshire) will follow suit.

Ok fair enough PG Tips, Yorkshire and with their everyday tea, Twinings, have all began to start using Rainforest Alliance Certified (RFA) tea, PG Tips plan to be 100% RFA by the end of this year, and Twinings everyday brand will be 100% RFA by as late 2015!!!

RFA itself is ok, but it concentrates on the environmental side which is admirable, but neglects the workers, also while Fairtrade places the responsibility on the company making the final product, RFA places all the emphasis on the farmers, so they have to shell out the cash to get certified. Also some products that have the RFA seal are only 30% certified, which is the case with Galaxy chocolate, which also has palm oil in it, hardly good for the rain forest.

Anyway to sum up, if  Typhoo goes Fairtrade, then great, hopefully fewer people will buy Tetleys, sorry tastes  horrible and the owners Tata Tea are not at all interested in trade justice or ethical trade.

Watch this space.

Michael

At the Newcastle Bahá’í Centre, we have recently started a monthly open deepening/fireside, exploring different themes within the Faith. It all started with some deepening’s we received from the NSA on the fund and we kind of carried it on. Having had deepening’s on Marriage, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, our next one which is on the 27th is on Unity.

I am facilitating the February one which is on the 24th, and when deciding what to use as a theme, I didn’t really need to think very hard. I decided to focus on Fairtrade and how we can approach it from the perspective of the Bahá’í Faith. Its also fantastic that it falls in Fairtrade Fortnight as well!

You see this year instead of making silly New Years resolutions that would be all forgotten about by the 2nd January, I instead made a single resolution, to try and really put into practice the principles of the Faith.

One principle which I think that I, and indeed all Bahá’ís can really put into practice in a very practical way is the elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty, and one of the good ways to put this into action is to buy Fairtrade products.

Late last year my LSA decided to go Fairtrade and purchase only Fairtrade tea & coffee, and I guess since then I have really been thinking about Fairtrade a lot, and what does the Faith have to say about it.

Clearly during the time of Bahá’u'lláh and `Abdu’l-Bahá, the concept of Fairtrade that we have today did not exist. So when looking at the writings, I didn’t expect to come across a bit saying, “oh and by the way, Fairtrade is good”!

But when reading the Writings a particular Hidden Word springs to mind straight away.

“O YE RICH ONES ON EARTH!

The poor in your midst are My trust; guard ye My trust, and be not intent only on your own ease.”

Bahá’u'lláh, The Persian Hidden Words No. 54

So this is Bahá’u'lláh saying that if you are well off, just looking after your own needs is not good enough. We have a responsibility to look after the poor as well, and if we remember that in his youth in Tehran he was known as “Father of the Poor”, then we should realise already have an example that we must follow.

Talking of examples, we have ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as The Perfect Exemplar, the person whose behaviour we should look to emulate, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was very kind to the poor. One of the things that really speaks to me are the stories of the Master giving away coats to the poor and needy of Acre, one in particular speaks to me:-

The wife of the Master was about to depart on a journey. Fearing that her husband would give away his cloak and so be left without one for himself, she left a second cloak with her daughter, charging her not to inform her father of it. Not long after her departure, the Master, suspecting, it would seem, what had been done, said to his daughter, “Have I another cloak?” The daughter could not deny it, but told her father of her mother’s charge. The Master replied, “How could I be happy having two cloaks, knowing that there are those that have none?” Nor would he be content until he had given the second cloak away.”

His reasoning can be applied to Fairtrade. How can we be happy sitting at home drinking our cuppas made with bargain tea bags, when the farmer who grew that tea is having to sell some of his land as he can’t afford to grow on it all, thanks to the low prices that tea buyers demand, even though he has already pulled his daughter out of school, and is skipping as many meals as possible, in order to ensure he is able to survive?

We Bahá’ís also believe that productive work is a form of worship and Bahá’u'lláh instructs us to work:-

“Please God, the poor may exert themselves and strive to earn the means of livelihood. This is a duty which, in this most great Revelation, hath been prescribed unto every one, and is accounted in the sight of God as a goodly deed. “

Bahá’u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u'lláh, p. 202

But he says “strive to earn the means of livelihood”, now an awful lot of the world live in poverty, because we won’t pay a little bit more for our tea, these people are working and are trying to earn a livelihood. But because of our insatiable demand for cheaper and cheaper products, they are denied the ability to earn a fair income, and Fairtrade products look to redress that. Bahá’u'lláh wrote:-

“They who are possessed of riches, however, must have the utmost regard for the poor”

Bahá’u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u'lláh, p. 202

‘Abdu’l-Bahá also said:-

“Service to the friends is service to the Kingdom of God, and consideration shown to the poor is one of the greatest teachings of God.”

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 27

So from two of our central figures we can quite clearly see that we have a real obligation to help and assist the poor amongst us, and remembering that Baha’u'llah also wrote:-

“It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.”

Bahá’u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u'lláh, p. 250

So it is not just about helping the poor in our country, it’s about helping all the poor in the world. And that’s what Fairtrade is all about. By making that choice to spend a little bit more on our tea, coffee and even our rubber gloves, we can all play a part in working to close the gap between the rich and the poor.

But I think we can pretty much sum it all up when we think of the “Golden Rule”, a value which is present in all of the major world religions, and in the Bahá’í Faith, its:-

“Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself.”

Bahá’u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá’u'lláh, p. 71

But in Christianity, you will recognise it as

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Matthew 7:12

And in Islam as:-

“No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself.”

Sunnah

So going forward the theme for the February evening will be “Fairtrade – A Bahá’í Perspective”. I have some samples of Fairtrade products that I am going to take along for people to try, and hopefully I will show the friends, and other members of the wider community, why we should use Fairtrade products where we can.

Fairtrade isn’t the answer to the problem of poverty, its only part of the solution. In order to fully eradicate it we need to work towards eliminating poor governance, an end to the marginalisation of women, halting environmental degradation, and the provision of universal education. And only when we have achieved all of these goals, will the eradication of the extremes of wealth and poverty be possible.

But let’s start with this small step.

God Bless

Michael