Nine companies set up shop in the campus center on Friday for Tufts' third annual Conscious Consumers Market, an effort staged by the Tisch College, Environmental Consciousness Outreach (ECO) and the Young Entrepreneurs at Tufts.
Patagonia, No Sweat, Naturewear organics, Starbucks, Green Mountain, Oxfam, Equal Exchange, and Oke USA bananas offered samples of products like fair trade coffee and bananas and tried to spread information about their products. Wild Oats was slated to come as well, but did not show up. None of the companies were paid for their appearance.
"The goal of the market is to promote socially responsible businesses and educate students about conscious consumerism," senior Taryn Miller-Stevens, who helped organize the event as part of her Tisch Scholars Project, said.
Students milled around the tables throughout the afternoon, drinking free coffee samples from Starbucks and Green Mountain or buying shirts from companies like Patagonia or Naturewear organics.
"Starbucks has fair trade coffee?" one student asked with more than a hint of incredulity, prompting Damon Kahwati, a representative from Starbucks' Harvard Garage location, to launch into an explanation of Starbucks' commitment to fair trade coffee.
For coffee to be certified as Fair Trade, it must meet a series of regulations designed to ensure that coffee farmers are paid at least a livable wage for their labor. Fair Trade coffee is also billed as more environmentally friendly, since "Fair Trade farmers don't have the capital input to clear forests, buy chemical fertilizers and pesticides," according to globalexchange.org, a Web site which promotes Fair Trade.
Kahwati said that people are often surprised when they hear that Starbucks sells Fair Trade coffee.
"We get that question often," Kahwati said. "A lot of times we don't respond. We know our values are in the right place and that we're doing the right things in our origin countries. We're doing it because it's right, not to make a profit off of it."
Starbucks has been selling Fair Trade coffee since 2000. And there is profit to be made, since Fair Trade coffee and other products appeal to ethical consumers and markets for organic food and clothing continue to grow.
With so much at stake, either ethically or economically, companies are working hard to promote socially conscious consumerism, as was on display on Friday.
No Sweat apparel, for instance, is a Boston-based Internet company that sells clothing and shoes billed as "100 percent sweatshop free and union made," according to Gina Williams, a No Sweat employee at the market. The company was co-founded by a Tufts alumna Anne O'Loughlin five years ago.
With each pair of No Sweat shoes, a consumer also gets an information card that lists the medical benefits, occupational standards and pension plans for the employees who make the shoes. The drawback for consumers is a few extra dollars per item, whether it is shoes from No Sweat, coffee from Green Mountain, or shirts from Patagonia.
Those companies say that students are often the most socially and environmentally conscious consumers, and represent a large chunk of their target demographic.
"Students are much more educated consumers," said Diane Isaacson, the Green Mountain sales representative for the area that includes Tufts.
Caroline Wick of ECO said that Tufts offers Fair Trade coffee in its dining halls, but that there is only one Fair Trade option. Isaacson said she is working with Tufts Dining Services to offer only Fair Trade coffee at the Hotung Caf?© when it reopens next semester.
The dining halls have also committed to using Fair Trade bananas for either the spring semester or for next fall.
