Fair Trade

Last week I was sitting around doing nothing, as I often do, when I got to thinking about whether or not Haiti grows coffee, and if so, would I be helping out the situation there if I switched all of my coffee consumption over to it. So I did a quick search on my favorite coffee supply website, the Green Beanery, and found that Haiti does indeed grow coffee. And from the description provided, it even sounded like a pretty good bean, too!

Before I go any further I do want to say that I am not suggesting that Haiti needs trade instead of aid, because nothing could be further from the truth. Right now Haiti needs a massive amount of aid to rebuild after this disaster. But in order to be self-sustaining, it will also need to engage in some amount of international trade, and it seemed to me that switching my coffee consumption to Haitian coffee would be a pretty easy way for me to help out in that area.