Valentine’s Day Is Coming – How Do We Help to Encourage Fair Trade Practices?

Yesterday I received my email copy of ePistle Evangelicals for Social Actions weekly electronic communication.  This article caught my attention: Ivory Coast is on the brink of civil war, and chocolate companies could play a critical role in saving lives and bringing peace. In November, former President Laurent Gbagbo lost democratic elections but is clinging to [...]

Chocolate – Worth its weight in Gold

This may be the most concerning news I have heard for a long time Fancy a bit of chocolate? An afternoon Kit Kat with your cup of tea? A chunk of fruit and nut? Go on, you’ve earned it.  Except that in the future, chocoholics might have to work quite a bit harder to pay [...]

Christmas is coming – Do we go local, buy fair trade or make our own?

Christmas is still a couple of months away though you would not think so if you saw the mountains of Christmas gear that has already hit the stores…. and Christmas music is already playing, guaranteeing that by the time the season actually arrives we will be so heartily sick of it that we take no [...]

Halloween is coming – Consider Reverse Trick or Treating

I just came across this cool idea in Green America’s magaine: Greening America As Halloween is still a few weeks away it is something that you might like to think about as you plan your parties. This Halloween, trick-or-treaters across U.S. and Canada will hand chocolate back to the homeowners they visit as part of Global [...]

Distant Neighbours Show us Jesus

This morning I was reading the weekly meditation in the the Mosaic Bible.  It is written MSA Board member Penny Carothers reflecting on her time in Calcutta.  I was profoundly impacted as I read about how some of the poor children on the Calcutta streets washed her feet and that of her friend after they [...]

Justice At the Table

Ricci Kilmer will be hosting the seminar Justice at the Table again here at the Mustard Seed House in Seattle.  I was really impacted by what she shared at this event last year and am looking forward to attending again.  I think that this is a great topic to be challenged by during the season [...]

Everyday Justice

My copy of Julie Clawson’s Everyday Justice: The Global Impact of Our Daily Choices arrived yesterday and i wanted to make sure that you all knew about it as soon as possible.  This is a book that I am really excited about, not just because I wrote the forward but because I think that it [...]

Grocery Store Wars

Well this seems to have been quite a food related week on my blog and to round it off I have just been meeting with Ricci about her workshop Justice At The Table coming up February 7th.  I was reminded of this fun video produced several years ago by Free Range Studios about organic food.  [...]

Where Does Fair Trade Take Us

Yesterday I read a very interesting post and discussion on the production of fair trade clothing on John Smulo’s blog.  He was interviewing Joe Turner of Freedom Clothing I am delighted that more companies are grappling with this issue and the need for more just production of all our goods.  At the same time as [...]

Sine Meanderings – The Netherlands in Review

I have finally downloaded all my photos and had time to catch my breath from our trip, though Tom is still on the move and I just drove him to the airport for a trip to Pittsburgh and a Youth Specialties event. It was great to be able to take this trip together.  Tom’s three [...]