Last week, it was 15 degrees outside and I needed bananas. I have a grocery store right across the street from my apartment, but the only place that has fair trade bananas is Outpost, which is about a mile and a half away. I could have driven to Outpost, but because I was in between jobs for a few weeks, the cash flow has been slow and I've been trying to cut costs wherever possible. Besides, walking is good exercise especially in 15 degree weather. So I bundled up and walked to get my fair trade bananas. Sometimes it requires giving up time and comfort to support fair and safe labor practices.
The United States Department of Labor states that "children as young as 8 years of age have been found working on banana plantations under unsafe working conditions". These unsafe working conditions include but are not limited to exposure to hazardous substances, use of dangerous tools, and lack of water to drink. You can read more about this here. For $.99 per pound, you can buy bananas, knowing that things like this won't happen to a child: "I went under the packing plant roof until the [fumigation] plane left-less than an hour. I became intoxicated. My eyes were red. I was nauseous. I was dizzy. I had a headache. I vomited."
Although children seem to be at a greater risk on banana plantations, the pesticides used on the plantations are also responsible for health issues in adults.
BANANAS!* trailer from WG Film on Vimeo.
Please consider buying fair trade bananas. I think they taste better anyway and they stay fresh longer.
No comments:
Post a Comment