Fair Trade News
Higher Grounds Helps Schools Fundraisers Go Green / Wall Street JournalBusinesses Help School Fundraisers Go GreenBy Simona Covel |The Wall Street Journal July 21, 2008 For decades, children have hawked candy and cookie dough to friends and family to help fund extracurricular activities and school playgrounds. Now a handful of entrepreneurs have set out to change that paradigm, offering ecologically friendly produ… Click here to read the rest or this article. |
Reclaiming Corn and Culture // Yes MagazineReclaiming Corn and Culture by Wendy CallYes Magazine: Summer 2008For 14 years, NAFTA has displaced farmers and spurred migration. The answer from Mexico’s grassroots: co-ops and fair trade. Coffee beans are stacked in front of a mural in th… Click here to read the rest or this article. |
Roastery Brews Up Coffee "Cupping" in Traverse CityRoastery brews up coffee 'cupping' in Traverse City Sunday, April 06, 2008 By Kim SchneiderGrand Rapids Press TRAVERSE CITY -- We're checking for undertones such as caramel or berries as we stick our noses deep into a cup and whiff, then, as instructed, take a big slurp that spreads liquid over all parts of the tongue. Do we detect chocolate, and if so, more like… Click here to read the rest or this article. |
Tours to Fair Trade Farms in the Wall Street JournalTours to Fair-Trade Farms Help Coffee Sellers Spread Word By SIMONA COVELWall Street JournalMarch, 2008 Coffee-shop owner Kileen Cleberg was already a big believer in fair-trade coffee last year when she went to Guatemala to check out fair-trade coffee farms. The trip was organized by Just Coffee Cooperative, a Madison, Wis., coffee company from which Ms. … Click here to read the rest or this article. |
Brewing Fairness
Toledo native distributes fair trade coffee and tea by Emily Rippe March 5th 2008 Toledo City Paper Mary Lee Treter still worries from time to time when her 33- year-old son travels out of the cou… Click here to read the rest or this article. |
Fair Trade and Social JusticeOpen Line with Fred Andrle WOSU Public Media Thursday Jan. 31st 2008 Fair Trade and Social Justice Fair Trade... the international effort to build equitable, long term partnerships between consumers in North America and producers in developing regions of the world, with Glo… Click here to read the rest or this article. |
Higher Grounds Trading Co. offers only 100% fair trade and organic coffeeA Traverse City area couple took the higher ground to create a politically correct and environmentally friendly cup of coffee that blends several missions. Now, five years later their business is brewing strong. 9&10'S Kimberly Purdy reports. Click here to watch.… Click here to read the rest or this article. |
Food Trends in 2008 Toledo BladeFood Trends 2008 Zoom | Photo Reprints By KATHIE SMITHBLADE FOO… Click here to read the rest or this article. |
A Giving BusinessGiving Businesses Point North on Interlochen Public Radio December 14th, 2007 Chris Treter of Highe… Click here to read the rest or this article. |
Bottoms Up: Higher Grounds Cardamom LatteHigher Grounds Cardamom LattéBy Rick CoatesNorthern ExpressDecember 10th, 2007 Chris and Jody Treter have come a long way since they arrived in town six years ago with a couple hundred dollars in their pocket and big dreams. The Treters were in their mid-twenties then and armed with college degrees that could have taken them anywhere in the world, but they decided to buck the tren… Click here to read the rest or this article. |
Broke Spoke Bike Co-op at Higher Grounds::: bike on, comrades! ::: Oct. 20, 2007 Radio Anyway Listen Here - http://www.radioanyway.org/ From a socio-economic perspective, riding a bike is a complex transportation phenomenon. It starts out as a universal rite of passage for most kids and is our first real taste of freedom and independence. But then something happens. You turn 16 and get the keys to the car. Suddenly it… Click here to read the rest or this article. |
Finally Fair 'ffeine! Fair Trade/ Organic Coffee comes to TCfinally fair 'ffeine ::: Traverse City is blessed with being one of the few cities that doesn’t have a Starbucks on every corner, but if you’re looking for an original coffeehouse experience you still might be out of luck. Nowadays just about every café feels, looks, and tastes about the same. But that’s all about to change around the beginning of Augus… Click here to read the rest or this article. |
Fair Trade Coffee on Provoke RadioFair Trade Coffee, Chocolate and More Provoke Radio May 20th, 2007 This show is about Fair Trade. No, we're not talking about the NFL draft. But we are talking about things like coffee and chocolate and arts & crafts. The demands we make - or don't make - about the every day products we purchase have a direct effect on the people who work the hardest to get these products to… Click here to read the rest or this article. |
Slurping a Cup of Fair Trade: An Audio/ Visual visit to BoliviaSlurping a Cup of Fair Trade For full audio/ visual slideshow visit: http://www.glhowe.com/cupfairtrade/index2.html From Bolivia’s high altitude capital of La Paz to it’s coffee growing mecca, a small town called Caranavi in the Yungas valley, you descend 11,000 feet along what has been named the world’s most dangerous road by the Inter American Developmen… Click here to read the rest or this article. |
The Joy of the Grind: Detroit Free Press articleSocially-conscious Leland couple cultivate beans and relationships with their 100% organic coffee BY SUSAN AGERDetroit Free Press - October 25th, 2006 Chris and Jody Treter couldn't get a loan to start their coffee roasting business because they owned nothing but a few clothes and a funky green vinyl chair. They were renting a house. They were driving decade-old c… Click here to read the rest or this article. |
Bottoms Up: Higher Grounds Ethiopian Oromia Medium Roast
Northern Express August 18th, 2006 By Rick Coates About 5 years ago Chris and Jody Treter moved to Leland with a few hundred bucks to their name and an idea. Their idea was to roast organic handcrafted coffees that were 100% Fair Trade (making sure that the farmer is paid a fair price for their beans). Today their modest roasting facility tucked in the woods 7 miles … Click here to read the rest or this article. |
Catalyzing Economic Change Through Fair Trade
By Jody Treter August, 2006 Third Eye Magazine Here in the United States we are experts at gluttony. Before children can even talk, companies vie to win their brand loyalty with appealing logos, jingles and the promise that their product will bring more fun and happiness. The de… Click here to read the rest or this article. |
Partners in Faith: Gaylord Diocese Hosts Nicaraguan DelegationBy Gretchen MurrayTraverse City Record-Eagle - May 27, 2006 Photo Credit: Record-Eagle/Tyler SipeIf the world seems a bit smaller these days, it could be due to people like those within the Catholic Diocese of Gaylord. Since 2002, the diocese has been involved in the Global Solidarity Partnership, a spiritual collaborative aimed at establishing a working relationship with a … Click here to read the rest or this article. |
Zapatistas Leave Jungle for Tour of MexicoBy Ioan Grillo La Garrucha, Mexico - Zapatista rebels aboard rickety trucks and buses streamed out of this village Sunday, leaving their jungle strongholds for the first time in four years to launch a six-month tour of Mexico aimed at reshaping the nation's politics. Thousands of supporters cheered as the Indian rights m… Click here to read the rest or this article. |
Down to the Last DropBy Eartha Melzer One of the hardest parts of being really poor, Chris Treter of Higher Grounds Trading Company said, is not having access to water. In some of the impoverished communities in the Mexican state of Chiapas, women walk two hours a day just to gather enough water to keep their families going, according to Treter, and… Click here to read the rest or this article. |
Changing the World One Cup at a Time: Higher Grounds Trading Co.By Jeff McIntire-Strasburg When most of us pour that first cup of coffee in the morning, we're concerned with shaking off sleepiness in preparation for the day ahead. For Jody Treter, the co-founder (with husband Chris) of Higher Grounds Trading Company, that morning "cup o' Joe" carries economic, social and environme… Click here to read the rest or this article. |
Fair Trade Coffee and Indigenous Rights Speaking TourGroups Encourage Fair Trade at Michigan State By Sonia Khaleel Las Abejas Civil Society President Jose Vasquez speaks about hardships faced as a coffee farmer in Chiapas, Mexico at the McDonel Hall Kiva on Tuesday evening. Vasquez and Maya Vinic Coffee Cooperative President Macario Arias Gomez, background, are touring Michigan with the … Click here to read the rest or this article. |
In Search of a Fair Deal: Mayan Coffee Growers Share their StoryBy Robert Downes Life in the coffee plantations of Chiapas, Mexico is anything but easy. For more than a decade, the Mayan descendents who live in this remote province of jungles and mountains in southern Mexico have been caught up in a rebellion with the federal government over land reform and labor issues. In between encounters with Mex… Click here to read the rest or this article. |
Many images on this site are courtesy of photojournalist Gary L. Howe.