Fair Trade Transit Victories

Dear Friends,

Every morning we make a number of choices about our morning routine, and those choices when taken collectively can have an enormous impact on our communities, our environment and people around the world.

Whether you are choosing to take public transportation to work, to ride your bike for a short trip to the store or to purchase Fair Trade Certified products when you get there, your choices are making a difference not just for your life, but for others and our planet.

The Bay Area Fair Trade Coalition is proud to partner with Bay Area Rapid Transit and the San Francisco Bike Coalition to promote a sustainable commute including Fair Trade coffee, tea and snacks to thousands of commuters this month through our BART Rider Thank You Day and Gas Free Fridays campaigns.

And people are taking notice! Please enjoy these photos, videos and news links from our last two actions and spread the word about the next Gas Free Fridays event tomorrow morning at Valencia and 17th Street in San Francisco!

BART Rider Thank You Day

Click to view the entire photo set

On Tuesday, September 23rd volunteers from the Bay Area Fair Trade Coalition handed out 50,000 coupons for Fair Trade Certified espresso and Numi Teas from Tully’s Coffee to commuters at BART’s six busiest stations.

The event was covered by NBC11, CBS5, KGO810 AM, the East Bay Business Times, the Bay City News, the San Francisco Examiner and others. A complete set of photos is available at our MySpace page along with a video of the event courtesy of BARTtv.

Thanks to the dozens of volunteers from Global Exchange, Transfair USA, Building with Books and the United Students for Fair Trade who made this event a success and to Tully’s Coffee for donating over a half million dollars worth of Fair Trade Certified espresso.

Gas Free Fridays

Click to view the entire photo set

On Friday, October 3rd the San Francisco Bike Coalition kicked off their month long Gas-Free Fridays campaign with the help of volunteers and snacks provided by the Bay Area Fair Trade Coalition.

These events will take place a different busy street corner every Friday in October, which also happens to be Fair Trade Month! So get on your bike, grab a friend or coworker and pedal on by an SFBC Energizer Station.

The SFBC tent will be set up next to bike lanes around San Francisco to cheer you on and help you "Fuel up" with free Fair Trade Certified™ coffee, tea and snacks. On Friday, October 10th, we will be at Valencia and 17th Streets from 7:30-9:30am.

Check out the coverage in the SF Bay Guardian and on ABC7 and KTVU or download the Press Release (PDF). See our flickr photos.

Help us spread the word and encourage your own friends and coworkers to bike on Gas-Free Fridays by leading a Bike Bus to an SFBC Energizer Station.

And thanks again to Adina World Beat Beverages, Lara Bar, Sencha Naturals, Tony's Coffee and Real Foods Company for the generous donation of Fair Trade Certified bananas, energy bars, energy drinks and coffee to make this event a success.

Hope to see you there!

Jamie