Flying with Fair Trade, an Update

Published December 30, 2008 @ 10:17AM PT

Ask and you shall receive. I wrote a post wondering if Virgin America served Certified Fair Trade coffee like Virgin Atlantic does. Yesterday, on the plane, I asked the flight attendant about the type of coffee that was being served. I was told "Mother's" coffee and prompty started my research. I was coming up short when I got a note from someone working at Virgin America, who had read my post, about Virgin America's coffee (Thanks so much).

They serve Canadian coffee company, Mother Parker's coffee on board who are... Fair Trade Certified. Way to go. I checked out Mother Parker's mission statement. They use sustainable packaging, have long-term relationships with their partners, and communities and the environment are "respected and enhanced economically, socially, culturally and physically".

Aside from being Fair Trade Certified, one thing that really stood out for me was the fact that they partner with the International Women's Coffee Alliance whose goal is to

"empower women in the international coffee community to achieve meaningful and sustainable lives; and to encourage and recognize the participation of women in all aspects of the coffee industry."

I wonder of La FEM Coffee Cooperative is associated with them too.

Glad to hear that Fair Trade is being served in the friendly skies and that a company is living up to their Corporate Social Responsibility. What about the other airline carriers?

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Author

Zarah is the Operations Manager for the Global Exchange Fair Trade Online Store, a project of the international human rights organization, Global Exchange. Alongside her work with marginalized communities from all over the world to get their products into the international market, Zarah serves to educate and inform the public about a more just and sustainable trading system.