The holidays are quickly approaching - get your shopping started this weekend as we participate in the 6th annual International Holiday Bazaar!

To see some of the merchandise that will showcase this weekend, click here!

Fair Earth works closely with Chicago Fair Trade, a non-profit working to increase support for fair trade in the Chicago metropolitan area through education, advocacy, and targeted consumer campaigns.

A vital part of Chicago Fair Trade’s work is educating local youth about fair trade. From fair trade soccer games to fair trade fashion shows, youth are excited to learn about the people who produce the items they purchase!

To keep this program going, Chicago Fair Trade needs your help! Help us continue to make global connections with youth through programming with schools and youth clubs.

See our campaign video and contribute today! YOU can make a difference in the lives of youth here in Chicagoland and around the world.

According to its website, “Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race.”

The founders of Playing for Change traveled to countries across the globe, connecting with and recording musicians playing their instruments and singing the same song – over and over again. Then, they created a record by mixing these individual recordings together – it’s essentially a global jam session. It makes for an incredibly unique record and several unforgettable music videos.

Take a look at the following video, of musicians from as nearby as New Orleans to as far away as South Africa, France, and Nepal, performing the song “Don’t Worry,” an original track written specifically for this record. The lyrics are uplifting in and of themselves, but to see singers, guitarists, and choirs from several different performing it “together?” It’s phenomenal.

We particularly love that there are two musicians on this track from India – one playing the sitar, an instrument that has been used in traditional Indian music for centuries, and the other on the electric guitar, the backbone of modern (and Western) rock and roll. This blend of the traditional with the contemporary side-by-side on the same track is brilliant.

As if this project wasn’t inspiring enough, the organization grew and has expanded their mission. They have, over the past five years, sponsored several concerts whose proceeds go toward building and funding music schools in the developing countries they visited during the production of their record, further unifying the world through music.

To find out more about Playing for Change’s original project and to see more videos of their performances, please click here, and to read more about the Playing for Change Foundation and the schools they have funded, click here.