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Co-op America
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 24, 2003
11:31 AM
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CONTACT:
Co-op
America
Erica Anstey: 202-872-5344
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Grounds for Concern? Co-op America urges Safeway to offer
Fair Trade Certified Coffee in the Safeway Select Line Simple
Move Would Lift Thousands of Farmers Out of Poverty
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| WASHINGTON
- March 24 - Co-op America, a national consumer education organization,
is reaching out to tens of thousands of consumers across the country
to ask retail giant Safeway to offer Fair Trade Certified Coffee
in their Safeway Select line. Currently, a worldwide slump in
coffee prices is resulting in joblessness and starvation for thousands
of coffee farmers, while corporate coffee giants make windfall
profits. Consumers will ask Safeway to help alleviate the impact
of the crisis by introducing Fair Trade Certified coffee into
their Safeway Select line, which guarantees coffee farmers a minimum
price of $1.26 per pound versus the pennies they receive on the
open market. Consumers can receive "The Fair Trade Solution,"
a FREE action guide about the crisis and the positive role that
Safeway and other supermarkets can play by contacting Co-op America
at 1-800-58 GREEN or online at www.fairtradeaction.org.
The request from consumers for Safeway to introduce Fair Trade
Certified Coffee in the Safeway Select line is part of a larger
campaign of social justice and environmental groups, led by Co-op
America, that aims at encouraging more mainstream coffee roasters
to convert a percentage of their coffee to Fair Trade, which will
dramatically help grow the market for Fair Trade coffee, and provide
a living wage for thousands of farmers.
"We are asking
consumers to let Safeway know every time they go to the supermarket
that they demand Fair Trade coffee," said Alisa Gravitz, Executive
Director of Co-op America. "Now is the time for corporate retailers
to put their considerable purchasing power to work for a brighter
future for coffee farmers."
Consumers are
being asked to use the power of their wallets when they are in
the supermarket in support of Fair Trade. In particular, Co-op
America is asking consumers to fill out consumer comment cards
the next time they are in Safeway supermarkets and ask for Fair
Trade Certified coffee to be introduced into the Safeway Select
line.
In conjunction
with the campaign, FREE copies of a consumer action guide "The
Fair Trade Solution" are available by calling Co-op America at
1-800-58-GREEN. The guide includes information about the coffee
crisis and Fair Trade as a solution, as well as action steps,
including postcards for consumers to use at the supermarket to
ask for Fair Trade Certified coffee, and a list of resources for
where to buy Fair Trade. For more information about Fair Trade
coffee consumers can also visit www.fairtradeaction.org.
For a press kit or a graphic of the Fair Trade Certified label,
call Erica Anstey at 202-872-5344.
Co-op America
is the national nonprofit consumer, business and investor organization
working to harness economic power - the strength of consumers,
investors, businesses and the marketplace - to create a socially
just and environmentally sustainable society. Celebrating 20 years
of service to people and the planet, Co-op America provides resources
to consumers and business to help choose sustainable consumption
practices; shift their purchasing and investing to socially and
environmentally responsible companies; and use their power as
consumers, investors and businesses to encourage America to change
the way we do business to one that respects people and the planet.
www.coopamerica.org
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