All Articles by Felicity Capon

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Fairtrade fogginess

Motion 2 proposes more Fairtrade products in Union shops, but an information campaign is needed to get people to buy ethical

Since 2005, the University of Leeds has been a fair-trade university.  This means that the university is already committed to selling a range of fair-trade products in all of its food and drink outlets on campus. In keeping with it’s Corporate Social Responsibility review, Leeds University Union promised to prioritise fair-trade products and principles and provide a range of ethically sourced products.

A new motion to go before the student body this week proposes to expand on this. The motion proposes that LUU sells ‘as the standard option in LUU's bars and clubs fair-trade juices, fair-trade wines and ONE bottled water’, makes ‘a commitment that Essentials and Extras should sell as many products from the Co-operative fair trade range as possible’,  that LUU sells ‘Ubuntu fair-trade cola as an alternative drinks choice during gigs and events in the Refectory’ and lastly, that LUU ‘sells and promotes ONE products in Essentials and Extras, including but not limited to ONE vitamin water and ONE condoms’.

This is all well and good, yet even with these admirable proposals, would we really be able… Continue reading...