Dialogue City Episode #013: Erin Bird and Emilie Maine (Maine Ethics and Fair Trade Calgary)
A conversation with Emilie Maine of Maine Ethics and Erin Bird of Fair Trade Calgary. They are committed to ethically made products and consumption.
Ethical consumption in our world
Conscience consumerism.
Have you ever considered how your clothes were made? Where do your food products come from? Who is behind all of this? Is there a price we pay or not pay when it comes to products?
These can be tough questions to ask, and the answers can yield even tougher questions. Erin and Emilie asked some of the questions above and their journey now gives them the opportunity to help others trying to get answers to those questions. Along the journey, they have discovered the intersection of social justice and ethical consumerism as well, allowing them to branch out, make new connections, and also understand the work that others do. Often times, there’s great activist work happening in Calgary, but the silos that are inadvertently established makes it difficult for a concerted effort in progressing society forward.
Our discussion also revolved around how companies don’t always start off on the ethical and sustainable tract. Their initial goal is profit and selling their product, often times green washing their messages. Some companies have evolved from that to practise some of the things they preach. In addition, when a company does implement socially and ethically sustainable practises, they can see higher growth, higher worker retention, lower turnover, and happier and more productive workers
Events
Fair Trade Fashion Showcase (March 2–4, 2018) is part of the National Fair Trade Convention hosted in Vancouver. Taken from the website, “The Canadian Fair Trade Network, Fair Trade Calgary and Fair Trade Vancouver are pleased to announce that three Vancouver and three Calgary fashion designers have been selected to participate in a Fair Trade Fashion Showcase as part of the Canadian Fair Trade Network’s National Fair Trade Conference 2018! The six designers will create unique designs using fairtrade material for the Showcase, which will highlight the supply chain of the material from fibre to fashion.” The following Calgarian designers will take part:
- Caroline Forde, of Caroline Forde Design
- Heather Schade, of Heather Schade Creative
- Becky Purdy, a recent graduate of the Fashion Institute at Olds College
Fashion Revolution YYC (April 23–27, 2018) will be a week long event happening in Calgary, with the purpose of educating the public on how our clothes are sourced, produced and purchased, and also taking a look at greater transparency, sustainability and ethics in the fashion industry.
More Questions
We welcome your contributions to the discussion on these questions, in the comments below.
- How does an individual begin their journey in social activism and addressing issues that they are passionate about?
- Are there too many labels that confuse you when you are trying to make an ethical purchase?
- Do you have friends and support groups to help you with your own activism?
Groups and resources mentioned
- Fair Trade Calgary, on Facebook and Instagram: @fairtradecalgary, Twitter: @fairtradeyyc and their website at http://www.fairtradecalgary.com/
- Maine Ethics, on Instagram: @maineethics, and their website at http://www.maineethics.com/
- Earth’s General Store: https://earthsgeneralstore.ca/
- B Corporation: https://www.bcorporation.net/
- Fiasco Gelato: http://www.fiascogelato.ca/
- Patagonia: http://www.patagonia.ca/home/
- MEC: https://www.mec.ca/en/
- Green Calgary: http://www.greencalgary.org/
- H&M: https://www.hm.com/entrance.ahtml?orguri=%2F
- Ellen MacArthur Foundation: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/
- Oxfam: https://www.oxfam.ca/
- Everlane: https://www.everlane.com/
- Market Collective: http://marketcollective.ca/
- Mandala Apparel: http://www.mandalaapparels.com/
Further Reading
End Notes
We thank Erin and Emilie (and Briana) for taking the time to share their perspectives with us. You can connect with Fair Trade Calgary on Facebook and Instagram: @fairtradecalgary, Twitter: @fairtradeyyc and their website at http://www.fairtradecalgary.com/. For Maine Ethics, on Instagram: @maineethics, and their website at http://www.maineethics.com/.
You can find this episode and more on iTunes, Google Play, Soundcloud, Stitcher, and TuneIn. Reach us on Twitter, Facebook, and via email at dialoguecity@gmail.com.
Show Notes
- What is Fair Trade?
- Earth’s General Store is not just a market located in Edmonton, but also a physical location where people can learn about their impacts on the environmental and social front.
- Public Interest Research Group, as defined by Wikipedia, “ refers to a federation of U.S. and Canadian non-profit organizations that employ grassroots organizing and direct advocacy with the goal of effecting liberal political change.
- B corporation certification, as defined by Wikipedia, “ is a private certification issued to for-profit companies by B Lab, a global non-profit organization with offices in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and a partnership in Latin America with Sistema B. To be granted and to preserve certification, companies must receive a minimum score on an online assessment for “social and environmental performance”, satisfy the requirement that the company integrate B Lab commitments to stakeholders into company governing documents, and pay an annual fee ranging from $500 to $50,000.”
- Worker cooperative model, as defined by Wikipedia, “is a cooperative that is owned and self-managed by its workers. This control may be exercised in a number of ways. A cooperative enterprise may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision-making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which management is elected by every worker-owner, and it can refer to a situation in which managers are considered, and treated as, workers of the firm. In traditional forms of worker cooperative, all shares are held by the workforce with no outside or consumer owners, and each member has one voting share.”
- Green washing, as defined by Wikipedia, “is a form of spin in which green PR or green marketing is deceptively used to promote the perception that an organization’s products, aims or policies are environmentally friendly.”
- Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), as defined by Wikipedia, “is one of the most popular green building certification programs used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of green buildings, homes, and neighborhoods that aims to help building owners and operators be environmentally responsible and use resources efficiently”
- Copenhagen Fashion Summit (taken from their website) “ has established itself as the world’s leading business event on sustainability in fashion.”
- The following is a news article on Oxfam’s report on extreme pay inequality:
- Corporatism, as defined by Wikipedia, “is the sociopolitical organization of a society by major interest groups, known as corporate groups (as well as syndicates, or guilds) such as agricultural, business, ethnic, labour, military, patronage, or scientific affiliations, on the basis of their common interests.”
- The following are links to different events and activities related to fashion:
Make Fashion: http://www.makefashion.ca/
Otahpiaaki: https://otahpiaakifashionweek.com/ - The following quote was referred to during the podcast but could not be attributed to an author: “ if it’s inaccessible to the poor it’s neither radical nor revolutionary”
