"It is in the interest of all sectors of society that new, effective models are being implemented to close the global gap between rich and poor, not on the basis of charity but on the basis of equal exchange in dignity."
-- Max Havelaar
Fair Trade and Aid
An alternative approach to conventional international trade, Fair Trade aims at sustainable development for excluded and impoverished producers. It attempts to extend the same social and environmental protections enjoyed by consumers to those who produce the goods in developing nations. Fair Trade promotes the concept that buyers in affluent countries can and should use their purchasing power selectively to support social justice, environmental responsibility and equity the world around.
The Greenheart Project will contribute to the Fair Trade movement at several levels and in many parts of the world. Although the other non-commercial aspects of our enterprise depend on our Fair Trading for funding, we will profit from fuel-less transport, an innovative marketing model and the elimination of waste and middlemen, not from exploiting disadvantaged producers.
Greenheart will be a worldwide buyer, using recommendations and standards from existing Fair Trade organizations to select cooperatives and deserving producers in the world's poorest regions. The ship's extraordinary range and access will allow us to open new routes - connecting remote plantations and manufacturers with consumers in the world's most affluent cities.
Our efforts toward improving market access for fair trade producers won't stop at paying better-than-market price for goods. We will serve as a product promotion platform once the S/V Greenheart is docked in the developed world by using our positive media exposure and wide range of contacts to publicize and provide contacts for our sources. In this way, Greenheart will facilitate direct access to northern consumer markets for struggling southern producers.
Our high-profile port calls in prosperous cities are also intended to further the Fair Trade movement by actively calling on consumers to consider their global citizenship and exercise their purchasing power positively. We expect to reach many people in Japan, North America and Europe who are not yet practising Fair Trade consumerism.
