One of the important topics debated at the Green Days workshop was Fair Trade. And due to this platform, I lately developed a reflex to mix and match everything as related or opposed to global warming, so it came natural to think about fair trade and its possible links to climate change, if and how does it help to fight it?

To give an answer to this question, the problems of poverty and consumption should also be addressed. The world is divided between North & South, between producers and consumers, between developed and developing countries. World Bank Development Indicators show that world's richest 20% consume 76.6%, while world's poorest 20% consume 1.5% of the total private sector.

Regardless of what is going to happen in Copenhagen, even if politicians would sign a legally binding agreement, climate change will not stop all of a sudden. It may as well be a moral victory, but please tell that to any of the developing countries. Tell them that the world finally acknowledges and acts upon cutting co2 emissions.

Why would they care when they can't feed their kids? Why would they care when they don't even have drinking water and must walk several kilometers daily to appease their thirst? Developing nations have little or nothing to do with co2 emissions. Annual carbon emissions per person are 172kg in Bangladesh, 200kg in Kenya, 21,000kg in the US and 9,000kg in the UK. Even so, poor farmers and traders are at the very heart of the climate crisis and they are already feeling its impacts. Climate change is not fair at all and one of its most striking aspects is the contrast between those who have the biggest responsibility and those who will bear the greatest cost.

One area of concern is that farming communities in developing countries are notably undersupplied by insurance and credit services that could be used to help manage risk and fund adaptation. Let's however suppose that rich countries will pay and partially fund their adaptation and development. One of the most obvious strategies would be to adapt farming practices, which could involve growing different crops, at different times or in different places. Yet while climate change will make the production of some crops difficult or impossible, it may also provide the opportunity for new crops to be grown for the first time.

However, switching from what you know to what you may get is risky and can easily prove unsuccessful, but these are losses developed nations can control. But for those already on the poverty line, those struggling to provide their families with enough food or keep their children in school, these risks are often viewed as too great considering the potential cost of failure. And this is where Fair Trade proves helpful.

At its root, the concept provides us, citizens of the richer world a chance to support poor producers. Fair Trade standards balance their lives and provide them resources to adapt to climate change without perpetuating the ‘poverty trap'. By choosing Fairtrade products (being those food or clothes) where economic benefits have been distributed more fairly, we can all contribute to their development and adaptation to climate crisis.

But don't listen to me, in the end, I can't know that as I don't live in any of the developing countries. Listen to Baini Diakite of Banfara Village Cotton producers’ union of Sebekoro, in Mali who has already noticed the impact of climate change on cotton production, and expresses her concerns for the future of her family. She has a simple message to consumers: ‘Simply implement what has been already agreed: buy our cotton in the Fairtrade market and we’ll face our own problems, climate change consequences included.’ (Egalité, Fraternité, Sustainabilité pdf)

Or even better, let's forget about costs. Let's see beyond money. Soil erosion, lack of drinking water, biodiversity loss, droughts and other factors are concerns in themselves and they are accelerated by climate change. But Fairtrade also stands for sustainable practices, for protecting the natural environment. As the climate crisis looms, this social movement continues to support small farmers in developing countries to find solutions to the problems they face.

I'm aware that coming from someone who has always supported local consumption and organic products, all of the above may sound like some sort of propaganda. Hell, for some it may also sound like yet another world conspiracy against skeptics. It's not. I'm aware that Fair Trade is not going to make climate change disappear, but I am sure it would help poor countries deal with it.

So before jumping all against each other, calling names and developing climate plots that are easy to write from a comfy armchair (most of the times made in one of those poor countries), think about how lucky we are for living where we live. Put yourself in those people's shoes (oh wait, they don't have any), imagine yourself living barefoot and working for a penny a week while living the effects of that climate change you keep arguing about. And tell me who's the blind one.