Trade As One

Now that the warehouse is dry, we’ve actually been getting some work done here at Trade as One. Last week Nathan was interviewed on “Our Global Hope,” an internet talk radio program from TalkZone. It was a long and insightful interview, and they covered a whole range of topics. For anyone interested, it’s a good way to hear a bit of the story of how Trade as One got started, Nathan’s thoughts on the challenges we’ve faced, and the future of Fair Trade. You can listen to the program by clicking here.

Every year, as we approach Christmas, the consumerism that drives our culture loses all subtlety. Companies approach the end of the calendar year desperate to meet revenue expectations and they create marketing campaigns that play on our fears and insecurities, with the simple objective of driving more purchasing.

In this post, I’ll focus on a few of the effects that this consumption fest has on us. In a couple of days, I’ll suggest something of an antidote, and then late this week (or maybe early next week), I’ll write on some practical suggestions that follow as a result of that thinking. 

So what does consumerism do to us?

•      We become fearful – fearful of losing, of falling behind, of failing compared to others, of not being as successful as we should be, of missing out on experiences and privileges that we think we deserve. We live with an unnamed anxiety that gnaws at us, that makes us restless, dissatisfied, fearful people. That guy drives a better car – he must be better than me in meetings. He probably went to a better school. She always knows what to wear. I bet she is liked by more people than I am. Her children are going to be more successful than mine. They never seem overwhelmed - my life is not as together as theirs is.

•      It reduces me to being nothing more than a collection of impulses –  the satisfaction of acquisition, the thrill of winning, the temporal and sensual satiation of cravings. After a lifetime chasing these things, you will hear people say in a moment of weakness - Is this really all there is? We were not created to be simply a complex collection of temporal impulses. There is violence done to the human soul when it is reduced to that.

•      The third side-effect of the consumerist culture is that it enslaves me to devote more of my energies to buying things and less on what is important, but it makes it feel like I have no choice. We gear our finances up and defer the payments to the future. This mountain of debt enslaves us to a degree of busy-ness and frantic activity that robs us of rest, of joy, of peace and wonder, and I feel powerless to do anything about it.

•      And finally, by taking more than I should from the world, I become an instrument of its abuse. Piles of acquired nonsense get purchased, used a couple of times and then discarded. We even pay to store all this stuff somewhere other than our homes. Guess how much stuff bought in America is still in use six months later? 1%. ONE PERCENT*. Our participation in this system can cause us a deep sense of grief. I have left enormous shopping malls with a grief that almost causes me to weep at how wrong we have got it.
Check back in later this week for a more hopeful post. Although consumerism is all-pervasive, it’s antidote lies in the quiet power of gratitude and generosity.

*More details here

We’re all back from San Antonio and thoroughly enjoying sub-100 degree temperatures back in California. Nathan George spent some time with Doug Robins, one of the teaching pastors at BRCC, and was interviewed about Trade as One and fair trade in each of their five services. The teaching for the weekend was from the book of James, and focused on the need to treat workers fairly.

Overall it was a fantastic weekend, where we got to connect with yet another amazing church in Texas, enjoyed San Antonio despite the heat, and created some desperately needed employment for our producers in the developing world. Today we’ve got an amazing team of volunteers here in the warehouse from Compassion Network helping us pack up all of the orders from the event. Now the real work begins!

A quick recap of things we learned at BRCC:

1. Texas LOVES fair trade (we already knew this, given our connections with BGCT, Woodlands, Ecclesia, Riverbend, FBC Austin, Wilshire, ChaseOaks, etc.)
2. Kelly Schuetz and her volunteer team are absolute stars
3. Shelton Green is one of our favorite people in the world
4. Olive Oil+ 105 degree heat= Corks unexpectedly shooting dozens of feet into the air. Awesome and kinda terrifying.
5. San Antonio is a really cool city
6. Bandera Road Community Church is an amazing community

Next event on the horizon is “Slavery No More” a justice night at Shepherd of the Hills in Porter Ranch, CA. We can’t wait.

We’re about 30 hours away from our event with Bandera Road Community Church this weekend, and the whole team is excited. Nathan is flying into San Antonio today, where he’ll be met by Shelton Green, who’ll be lending his considerable talents to Trade as One this weekend.

We’ve had top-notch help from Kelly Schuetz, who has been running the show on Bandera’s end. She’s interning for the summer, and was tasked with the job of bringing fair trade to their 4,000 member congregation! And to think some interns spend their summers making copies. Luckily, she’s been up to the task and it should be a great event.

The teaching pastor for the weekend is Doug Robins, and he’ll be teaching about the Biblical mandate to treat workers fairly. He’ll then interview Nathan about fair trade, trade as one, and how all of us can use our spending power to make the world a bit more fair. We can’t wait for the event to start.

Two more things. First, as I mentioned yesterday, the weather looks like it will venture into triple-digit territory. Yikes. Second, if you’re anywhere near San Antonio this weekend, come out and see us!

Our good friends at The Freedom Summit have compiled some great resources on the issue of Human Trafficking. They’ve uploaded their conference handbook, which is a really thorough description of the issue and the fight against it. They’ve also uploaded the full video of each of their plenary sessions, featuring some really talented speakers. The videos can be downloaded here, and feature Bethany Huang from the IJM institute, Francis Chan from Cornerstone Simi, David Batstone from Not for Sale, and our very own Nathan George. Click here to learn more .