Plenty 20 Awards Honors TransFair USA

Published December 10, 2008 @ 09:05PM PT

Green magazine, Plenty, have released their Second Annual Plenty 20 Awards. The Plenty 20 list honors 20 dynamic individuals and 20 pioneering companies that are bettering the planet. One of those Plenty 20 pioneering companies is noneother than TransFair USA. Here's what they have to say about our fellow Fair Traders:

Get a whiff of this: TransFair USA, already famous for certifying coffee as Fair Trade, added flowers and honey this year to a list that includes tea, herbs, vanilla, chocolate, rice, sugar, and bananas. More than 1.4 million producers racked up $2.21 billion in sales of TransFair-certified Fair Trade products in 2006 alone. That means farmers are paid a premium for making sure they grow their goods sustainably and pay their workers fairly. Diamonds could be next, compliments of a grant from the Tiffany & Co Foundation. Wouldn’t that jewel look lovely in TransFair’s crown?

First off, congratulations to Paul Rice and the rest of the TransFair crew. We all know the story of what started out as Paul's vision to help his coffee farming friends in Nicaragua soon turned into a reality now helping millions of farmers worldwide. An idea turned movement.

Second of all, I don't know how, but this is my first time hearing about the Tiffany & Co Foundation giving a a grant to TFUSA to look into Fair Trade Certified diamonds. o rly now. Was I living under a Fair Trade rock? Friends over at TransFair. Tell me more. This sounds like a big deal. Could that blue box someday carry the Fair Trade Certified label? I must investigate. Developing! Speaking of investigation. Anyone have any word on the Greenheart Project? My curiosity still burns.

Other changemakers honored in the Plenty 20 awards? Climate change man, Al Gore, Google, Patagonia and Green Economy pioneer advocate, Van Jones. Editor's note: Van Jones really is a force to be reckoned with. Truth.

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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.