Bananas, body wash, and Ice cream

This week, the movie we watched on Friday really stood out to me. I feel like Free Trade affects 
every subject we touch on in Global Studies, and it inspires me to do more research. Free trade can really have a domino effect, affecting every aspect of a country. We learned about this earlier in the quarter, however going back to it now I see that it affects everything. Social structure, workers rights, politics, and economics are all affected. Right now I am in no way capable of traveling and changing the world, so what can I do? I can try to put my dollar in the right place. 





Why isn't this a bigger deal?
America is a country that focuses more on imports than exports. When we implement free trade, it increases something called our trade deficit. 

Trade deficit is an economic measure of a negative balance of trade in which a country's imports exceeds its exports. A trade deficit represents an outflow of domestic currency to foreign markets. 
-Google

Politicians and big businesses do not want an outflow of domestic currency. With America's Trade deficit higher, our GDP goes down, which makes us look bad. 

Bananaland
While every aspect of global studies affects me, bananaland had a different effect. When you're a poor college student like myself, it's hard to eat healthy and feel like you're also being a good person. When I go to the grocery store, I try to pick choices that best reflect my values and help support the world. I try to eat healthy and responsibly. One of my friends recently told me about the company Dole, and how they haven't been the greatest to their workers.

So I avoid Dole bananas.

But after watching Bananaland, I went home and realized that my bananas were Chiquita bananas. Bought from one of the companies Bananaland showed that abuses it's workers. This one really hit home. I was consuming, what one woman in the movie labeled, a fruit of violence.

So what do I do now?

Support workers
First, buy free trade. I talk about this a little more later on in this post.

Second, tell your friends. I had no idea the reality of this situation before actually doing research. Many ignorant people disagree with implementing more free trade policies because of the trade deficit. I would like to believe that if more people were aware, they would advocate for the well being of people around the world. I just told my mom to watch the movie bananaland. She called me after, incredibly upset about the situation, and told me that she was going to have all her friends watch it, too.

Third, if possible, donate. The La Isla Foundation directly supports the banana workers that were shown on bananaland


What products can I buy free trade?
I love bananas. I love my coconut scented body wash. I love coming home after a long week and eating ice cream. I love packing my chocolate granola bars in my backpack to snack on during class. And I love buying new clothes.

Where do I go to buy these products? Looking for the free trade label can help. A search on fairtradeamerica.org also brought up some brands that offer some free trade options/ingredients;

Trader Joes 
The co-op 
Lush
The Body Shop
Ben and Jerry's
Wild Harvest
Even starbucks (to an extent)

According to fairtradeamerica.org, there currently is fairtrade cotton however there is not fairtrade clothing available.

What now?
Now I need to hold myself accountable. Accountability is a word that a lot of people are afraid of. It's like a more adult version of responsibility. 


But that isn't necessarily a bad thing. 

I've always thought that I was an ethical consumer, but now I know my ignorance. Now I know what bananas to buy. I know that I should go to The Body Shop and buy free trade body wash. I know that I should pay an extra $3 for the free trade ice cream. Every decision I make may directly affect a child trying to go to school, or an oppressed city, or a poor family trying to feed several children. Now I can be a more informed citizen, hopefully impacting those around me to make better decisions for the people of the world. 

Education Around the World

Education around the world, to me, is overwhelmingly complicated. In America alone, the discrepancies from city to city, state to state, are outstanding. When we zoom out to look at the world as a whole, it makes things that much more dynamic.

Let's just look at America for a second. I personally have attended school in Ohio, Colorado, Texas, Oregon, and Washington. When we account for cities, I attended 7 different public schools prior to college. Each school I attended had vastly different standards and teaching styles. Concepts I learned in 5th grade science in Oregon, students in my 10th grade Biology class in Texas didn't know. Basic math shortcuts expected of me in Washington were never taught to me in Oregon, and I fell behind. My reading level in Colorado was at the top of my class, while my reading level in Texas was merely
average. Now don't even get me started about the standardized tests--from the WASL in Washington, to the TAKS test in Texas, absolutely nothing was the same.

Now, if the standards are different all over the United States, then we can't even expect American adults with a high school diploma to be held to the same standards. On a global scale, this means we cannot expect people around the world to be held to the same standards espacially if the aren't receiving the same education, or maybe even if they aren't receiving and education at all.

The obvious solution to this is equal education around the world. It's already acknowledged that education is a basic human right, and while huge barriers exist (including location, cultural barriers, local laws, government, women's rights, etc) we need to fight and strive for the equality that our globe needs. But what do individual communities need? Children need to be given a basic education, but they also need to be taught skills that will help them in their own reality. If they never go to school, they can't learn either of those.

We see documentaries like "Girl Rising" that we watched in class, or "Schooling the World," a documentary about the realities of what to teach children, and we see the obstacles faced by young men and women every day. Education, in some parts of the world, just isn't as simple as getting up and going to school, learning math and science. Delving into it more, we need to begin to understand the discrepancies across the world, and the complexities that lie in what needs to be taught and what will help these kids for the rest of their lives. They need to be exposed to and taught skills like respect, equality, love, compassion, teamwork, and so much more.

This isn't just teaching kids reading, math, and science. While those are important, and need to be taught, children need to be taught skills that will actually help them, too. That's one thing that didn't really stand out to me in class, but that I'm realizing more while doing outside research. Kids need to be taught more than just the basics, they need to be taught applicable skills. While here in America, we're given the option to pick electives that may help us to determine our life path, children in India or Haiti must also be exposed to things that will help them lead them on a productive journey.

If anything, we need to fight for the right for girls to go to school, education during emergencies, education throughout childhood, an inclusive classroom, and quality of schools and teachings. Ending this post on a positive note, here are some links to different organizations trying to help the education crisis our globe is facing. We see that people are out there to help, and have realized that this is a problem facing our globe, and once solved, will help communities more than we can ever imagine.
The Campaign for Education (The United States site)
Education International (A site showcasing news about reform and stories around the globe)
Global Education First (The UN Secretary General's Global Initiative on Education)