Human Geo 10.4 Questions Flashcards
What is a summary of the progress made in the HDI and its components (4)?
- GNI per capita: Since 1980, it has increased more rapidly in MDCs.
- Education: Since 1980, it has increased by the same number for all.
- Life expectancy: Since 1980, it has increased by the same # for all.
- HDI: Since 1980, the gap between LDCs and MDCs has narrowed. HDI has increased more rapidly in developing regions than developed ones.
How is sustainability promoted in Fair Trade?
Sustainability is promoted by offering better trading/working conditions for producers/workers. Fair Trade organizations are backed by consumers, and raise awareness of deficiencies in international production/trade and the role of fair trade in improving conditions for producers/workers.
What is one difference between Fair Trade and International Trade that critics of the latter emphasize?
Critics of international trade say that only a tiny % of the price a consumer pays for a good reaches the individual making/growing it. The rest goes to wholesalers, importers, distributors, advertisers, retailers, and others. Fair trade, however, returns 1/3 of the price to the producer in a developing country.
Fair Trade is a set of business practices designed to advance economic, social, and environmental goals, which include (4):
- Raising the incomes of small-scale farmers and artisans by eliminating some of the middlemen.
- Distributing the profits/risks associated with production & sale of goods more fairly among producers, distributors, retailers, and financiers.
- increasing the entrepreneurial & management skills of the producers.
- Promoting safe/sustainable farming methods/working conditions (like prohibiting the use of pesticides/herbicides).
Many small-scale farmers/artisans join democratically managed cooperatives, which offer what advantages (4)?
- The cooperative can qualify for credit so funds can be borrowed to buy equipment & invest in improving farms.
- Materials can be purchased at a lower cost.
- The people who grow/make the products democratically manage allocation of resources and assure safe/healthy working conditions.
- Profits are invested in the community (not going to corporate owners).
Protection of workers’ rights isn’t a high priority of international trade. What do its critics charge (5)?
- Oversight of workers’ conditions by gov’t/international lending agencies is minimal.
- Workers allegedly work long hours in poor conditions for low pay.
- Children or forced labor may be in the workforce.
- Health problems may result from poor sanitation and injuries from inadequate safety precautions
- Injured, ill, or laid-off workers aren’t compensated.
In contrast to international trade, what does fair trade require that workers be (3)?
- Paid fair wages (enough to cover food, shelter, education, health, and other basic needs).
- Permitted to organize a union and have the right to collective bargaining.
- Protected by high environmental and safety standards.
What are most fair trade sales in?
Food (coffee, tea, banana, cocoa, juice, sugar, & honey products). In North America, fair trade products have been craft products like home decoration, jewelry, textiles, & ceramics. Ten Thousand Villages is the largest fair trade organization in North America. Buying Fair Trade products helps consumers connect more directly with the producers of the items they buy. They don’t cost the consumer much more either bc fair trade organizations work directly with producers, cutting costs.
Give an example of local groups struggling to keep alive distinctive traditions through self-sufficiency:
Women in Bihor, Romania, have practiced economic self-sufficiency by making clothing for their community. Dior recently created a copy of a Bihor coat and sold it for $40,000, and the Bihor women fought back, making a video of Dior’s theft and establishing Bihor Couture.
