People such as Orr and Jardine, and members from more than a thousand churches across the country, have made the fair-trade campaign successful beyond Ten Days' most optimistic projections, says Howlett. And although there have been no commitments yet, major chains like Loblaws, and Timothys Coffees of the World, are both interested in adding fair-trade coffee to their product lines. The challenge now, says, Howlett, will be to ensure the supply can keep meeting the burgeoning demand. The campaign has also revived the Ten Days coalition. But there's been a real upsurge in numbers this year.
Coffee is no small potatoes on the world commodity market.
In Europe, up to five percent of all the coffee sold is now fair-trade coffee. Howlett and Ten Days hope, eventually, to see similar results in Canada, as well as expanding the market to include other goods from the South, such as sugar, tea, and bananas. People have been feeling increasingly disempowered by economic globalization, says Howlett. So they seem to want to enthusiastically embrace avenues that let them politicize shopping, he says, to reclaim their political power through consumer choices. The United Church Observer.