Be The Change with 10 Easy Swaps

Helping others can boost your sense of wellbeing as well as helping make the world a better place, and it can be as easy as making a few conscious swaps when you do your weekly shop. The cumulative effects can have a big impact, and this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight campaign is encouraging us all to join this growing ethical movement and Be The Change by choosing Fairtrade.

Each time you choose Fairtrade when you shop, you are acting in solidarity with farmers who grow your food. Fairtrade means producers receive a fairer price, can afford to feed their families, send their children to school, and cover their farming costs – including adopting new practices to make their farms more resilient in the face of the climate crisis.

Hannah Davis, Secretary of the Fairtrade Guernsey Steering Group

Fairtrade Guernsey has been working with local suppliers for almost 20 years to bring us lots of great products to choose from, as well as shining a spotlight on the increasing threat that climate change poses to some of our favourite food products and the livelihoods of the farmers who grow them.

With these simple swaps we can all play a part in helping to protect nature and ensure that farmers in developing countries receive a fair price and financial support to help their community invest in essential services such as education, sanitation and health care.

1. Tea and Coffee

Switch your morning cuppa to Fairtrade tea or coffee, and ask for Fairtrade when you are out and about.

2. Wine

Raise a glass with the range of award winning Fairtrade Co-op wines. Together with the Co-op, Fairtrade Guernsey is hosting a wine tasting event at The OGH with a visiting expert from La Riojana, a co-operative of small scale farmers in northwest Argentina, to showcase the growing range and quality of Fairtrade wines. You can find out more here.

3. Biscuits

Combine your favourite Fairtrade cuppa with a delicious Fairtrade biscuit.

4. Bananas

Grab yourself a healthy energy injection with Fairtrade bananas… they’re everywhere!

Here in Guernsey, we drink around 55.5m cups of tea a year and eat approximately 4.5m bananas. What if all of those were Fairtrade? There is a huge amount we can all do... By choosing Fairtrade now, you are helping protect nature now as well as the future of our food.

Hannah Davis, Secretary of the Fairtrade Guernsey Steering Group

5. Chocolate

Choose Fairtrade chocolate next time you’re browsing for a tasty treat. Back in 2020, Waitrose made the move to only use cocoa sourced on Fairtrade terms in their confectionery. Standing ovation please.

6. Beauty Products

Swap out some of your everyday beauty products for Fairtrade options, such as sustainable cotton buds. Or, of you're feeling creative, try making your own exfoliator from Fairtrade coconut oil and coffee granules.

7. Herbs & Spices

Look out for Fairtrade herbs and spices such as turmeric and pepper when you’re stocking up your cupboards at the local supermarket.

8. Baking Ingredients

If you enjoy baking, use Fairtrade certified vanilla essence and sugar for all of your homemade sweet treats.

9. Clothing

Look out for Fairtrade Cotton fashion in White Stuff and Little Ginger, two local clothing boutiques bringing us ethically sourced, sustainable fashion.

10. Flowers

Treat yourself to a lovely bunch of Fairtrade flowers. You might be surprised to learn that a study about the environmental impact of Fairtrade roses grown and flown in from Kenya showed that they had a lower carbon footprint than the equivalent bunch of flowers grown in the Netherlands.

If you’d like to support Fairtrade but don’t always know where to find their products in Guernsey, join the Fairtrade Suppliers in Guernsey group, bridging the gap between local suppliers and global farmers.