Fairtrade hallmark sets the gold standard
Level 2
1
Intermediate
Warmer
Answer the questions about Fairtrade below.
1. What do you know about Fairtrade?
2. Can you describe the Fairtrade logo?
3. Name at least six Fairtrade products.
2 Key words
Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text. The paragraph numbers are given to
help you.
extract trafficking
reputable
source
hallmark
exploitative
unregulated
1. an official mark on an object made of gold or silver, showing the quality of the metal and when and where the
object was made __________________________ (title)
2. The place where something originally comes from is known as its __________________________. (para 1)
3. generally considered to be honest and reliable __________________________ (para 1)
4. treating people unfairly in order to get some benefit for yourself __________________________ (para 2)
5. not controlled by a government or other official organization __________________________ (para 2)
6. the business of buying and selling things illegally __________________________ (para 2)
7. to remove something from a particular place __________________________ (para 2)
brutal
consumers
traceable
evaporate
ethical
supply
devastating
8. able to be found or followed __________________________ (para 3)
9. the amount of something that is available to use __________________________ (para 5)
10. extreme and unpleasant __________________________ (para 6)
11. to change a substance into gas or steam __________________________ (para 7)
12. causing a lot of harm or damage __________________________ (para 8)
13. morally right __________________________ (para 9)
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NEWS LESSONS / Fairtrade hallmark sets the gold standard / Intermediate
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© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2011
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14. people who buy something __________________________ (para 10)
Fairtrade hallmark sets the gold standard
Intermediate
Fairtrade hallmark sets the
gold standard
cautious. “We are fully aware of Fairtrade gold.
When the supply of Fairtrade gold can meet
the demands required by our business and we
are presented with the right products at prices
suitable for our customers, we may consider
selling a range.”
Gold mining is linked to war, environmental
damage and poor health. Now the world’s first
hallmark for Fairtrade gold is launched in the UK
3 But something is changing. In February, the
world’s first Fairtrade and Fairmined hallmark for
gold was launched in the UK. This means that
customers buying jewellery can, for the first time,
know exactly where it came from. Each piece will
be fully traceable and come with its own papers.
4 This initiative already has the support of some
important people in the industry, including
Stephen Webster, the creative director at the
world’s oldest jewellery firm, Garrard. “One day
I want Fairtrade gold to be 100% of the gold we
sell. Even though the cost to us for such gold
is over 10% higher, we don’t want price to be
the reason not to choose a more responsible
product,” he says.
5 Signet, the company that owns British high street
jewellers H Samuel and Ernest Jones, is more
7
Then there are environmental and health
considerations. Gold can be mined in a variety of
ways, few of them pleasant. One of these mining
methods involves crushing the rock that contains
gold and mixing it with mercury, chemically
mixing it with the gold. It is then heated to
evaporate the poisonous chemical.
8
The most common method of gold extraction
is just as bad. The crushed remains the rocks
are mixed with cyanide to dissolve them. The
gold is then separated out in open pits and the
toxic chemical can get into the groundwater.
Accidents can have a devastating impact, but
the environmental impact of gold mining is not
often reported.
9
Christian Cheesman is the co-founder, with
Valerio, of ethical and fair trade jewellery
company Cred. He explains: “I went out on a trip
in the middle of the night, in the Choco rainforest
in Colombia to watch illegal miners in operation.
They cut down vast areas of rainforest to get to
the gold, then disappear before morning. These
people are getting very little money to operate
the machinery, but somebody behind the scenes
is taking that gold, selling it on to market and
making a lot of money.”
10 Valerio and Cheesman are emotional about what
they’ve seen, and this may well be what has
driven their commitment to the Fairtrade mark.
Everyone involved in the new standard hopes
that it will be a success with consumers. They
hope it will put pressure on other jewellers to sell
Fairtrade gold.
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2011
NEWS LESSONS / Fairtrade hallmark sets the gold standard / Intermediate
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2 Gold is one of the strongest symbols of wealth,
power, glamour and romance. But the industry
is often secretive, exploitative and highly
unregulated. In the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, gold and other minerals are funding a
war in which five million people have died since
1996. However, there is still no global campaign
to ban trafficking of this ‘blood gold’. In Ivory
Coast, for example, the UN has reported that
five-year-old girls are sent down into pits to
extract gold. Gold mining also causes enormous
environmental damage, with mercury and
cyanide often used in the extraction process.
Behind all of this talk, there are ordinary people
living brutal lives. More than 100 million people
around the world are dependent on small-scale
gold mining. These people often earn just one
US dollar a day, yet there are few laws to protect
them and their environment.
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1 Greg Valerio is a jeweller who has spent more than
ten years trying to persuade his industry to focus
more on human rights. He says, “You are selling
a high-value, beautiful, emotional product but the
source is ugly. The gold you are buying could be
from a completely reputable mine – or it could be
from a place of horror. You just don’t know.”
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Kate Carter
14 February, 2011
CA
Level 2
Fairtrade hallmark sets the gold standard
Level 2
Intermediate
11 “This has to happen,” says Webster. “There are
areas where parents are working with mercury,
which they know is poisonous but provides them
with money to live on. Their kids are playing
next to mercury pits. Fairtrade has helped small
suppliers in the banana and coffee trades hopefully it will do the same in our industry too.”
© Guardian News & Media 2011
First published in The Guardian, 14/02/11
3 Understanding the article
Are these statements true (T) or false (F) according to the information in the article?
1. The new Fairtrade hallmark will tell jewellers where the gold came from and how it was extracted.
2. ‘Blood gold’ is a term used to describe gold that has, in some way, led to war and suffering.
3. UK high street jewellers are already stocking a large amount of Fairtrade gold products.
4. The jewellery company Garrard hopes to only sell Fairtrade gold in the future.
5. Gold extraction can cause environmental damage.
6. Consumers can help people in Ivory Coast by not buying any gold jewellery.
7. Mercury and cyanide (both poisonous substances) are used to extract gold.
8. The workers who prospect for and mine gold are very well-paid.
4 Adjectives
Which adjectives are used in the article to talk about the topics of gold & gold jewellery and the gold
industry? Write them onto the word wheels. Then think of other words to add to the wheels.
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NEWS LESSONS / Fairtrade hallmark sets the gold standard / Intermediate
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© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2011
the gold
industry
CA
gold & gold
jewellery
Fairtrade hallmark sets the gold standard
Level 2
Intermediate
5 Discussion
• Do you think that people will be happy to pay more for Fairtrade gold? Why? Why not?
• Has your perception of the gold industry changed after reading this article?
6 Project
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How would you try to persuade people to buy jewellery made only from Fairtrade gold? Discuss, research
and make notes. Use the information you have gathered to make either a poster, a leaflet, PowerPoint
presentation, a video, etc., to persuade people to buy Fairtrade gold products.
Fairtrade hallmark sets the gold standard
Level 2
Intermediate
KEY
Teacher’s note: If possible, take a product that bears
the Fairtrade logo (e.g. chocolate or coffee) with you
to the lesson. Alternatively, go to the Fairtrade website
and copy the logo to show in class at: http://www.
fairtrade.net/ This should be shown after students have
completed the Warmer.
2 Key words
1. hallmark
2. source
3. reputable
4. exploitative
5. unregulated
6. trafficking
7. extract
8. traceable
9. supply
10. brutal
11. evaporate
12. devastating
13. ethical
14. consumers
4 Adjectives
(suggested answers from the article)
• gold & gold jewellery: high-value, beautiful,
emotional, traceable, responsible
• the gold industry: secretive, exploitative,
unregulated, (environmentally damaging)
6 Project
Teacher’s note: This task could be set in lesson time
or as a homework task. How you ask your students to
do the task will depend on their age and the technology
available. The results could be anything from a sheet
of paper containing bullet points, to a video or a
PowerPoint presentation. To extend the task, students
could present their results in class.
3 Understanding the article
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© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2011
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