Stroll through your nearby Morrissons, and you’re observing the miracle of globalization. You can buy almost any item at a very low price. It could be spices from the Philippines or rum from Argentina - it’s in stock all year round. There’s never been a greater era in human history to be a shopper! This has come about through intricate stock control and logistics, large scale production, powerful market competition, and perhaps most importantly, the fact that many goods are located, and often made, in second and third world countries.

That last point is rather substantive, and very contentious. While western consumers are buying food, drink, clothing and other items located from poorer countries at rock-bottom prices, labourers and businesses in these manufacturing nations are frequently short-changed in the process, and haven’t any true sustainable business model since they’re at the end of a very long line of middle men who control what they manufacture, how much, and how often. This long chain of middle men all demand their share too - in the end there’s not a lot of cash for the actual manufacturer.

Still, there’s help for such desperate labourers and businesses. Fairtrade is a movement which attempts to give some power to these end-manufacturing business organisations in the poorer countries of the planet. It seeks to cut out these middle men, and pay the end-manufacturer a decent price for an item in a much more targeted way. You might have encountered Fairtrade items in your nearby supermarket. Sometimes they’re a little bit more pricy, but by purchasing such ethical products - for instance ethical jewellery - you will be pleased to know the manufacturer is operating in a sustainable business environment that doesn’t just pay them evenhandedly via a much more direct revenue flow, but it also grants them to reinvest in their company through higher earnings, which genuinely contributes in a positive way toward these poorest areas of the world.