Author: rainbowturtle2002

Education, Podcasts

Martin Rhodes talk on COP26 and Fair Trade Part 2

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This is the 2nd part of Martin Rhode’s talk that he gave to Rainbow Turtle at their AGM back in October. In part one he talked about the links between COP26 and Fair Trade. In this episode he answers questions from the audience and goes into some of the areas more deeply. Some of the questions he dealt with were:

  • How did we prevent the global south paying for the cost of the climate emergency, 
  • What was happening to tariffs that was preventing producers from exporting finished products rather than raw materials, 
  • And, what was the Scottish Fair Trade Forum doing after COP26?

So pour yourself a cup of tea, sit back and relax…

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Education, Shop

Global Hands Working Together

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Rainbow Turtle’s Smithhills Street window for COP26

As part of Paisley’s Windows on Cop 26 Illuminated window art trail, Rainbow Turtle was fortunate to have its Smithhills Street window beautifully decorated by artists, Rebecca Johnstone and Tzaritsa Asante. Working on a theme of Global Hands Working Together it reflects the different hands that need to work together to save our environment.

Paisley First and Renfrewshire Leisure teamed up together to create an art trail through Paisley that includes the Rainbow Turtle shop wind. They wanted to link the COP26 discussions happening in Glasgow with the climate issues that were important to the Paisley business owners. For more information on the art trail click here.

Rebecca Johnstone (aka Dainty Dora) is a writer, artist and designer creating bold and colourful hand-drawn pattern designs and illustrations – such as the iconic Paisley Pattern – to create her unique ‘Pattern Bomb Prints’, design calendars and stand-alone illustrations. More about her work can be found here.

Tzaritsa Asante is a sustainable fashion designer from Scotland/Ghana. More about her work can be found here. Tzaritsa will also be speaking at Rainbow Turtle’s COP26 event, “Climate change & fair trade: Behind the scenes” on Friday 12th November at 6pm in the Life Church in Paisley. More information on our event can be found here.

Education, Podcasts

Mauro Pereira interview

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Welcome to our 7th edition of Rainbow Turtle Rebooted podcast. In this episode we talk to Mauro Pereira from Brazil. He is the executive director of Defenders of the Planet, an environmental campaign group based in Rio de Janiero. He is attending the COP26 summit as the focal point for Latin America for the sustainable development goals.

Mauro talks passionately about our environment, especially at what has been lost or destroyed in his home country, he talks about his early influences and what led him to campaign for the environment.

This episode was recorded ahead of the start of COP26 and we were fortunate to hear from Mauro before he spoke to the conference on Thursday 4th November.

Uncategorised

Climate change & fair trade: Behind the scenes

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The United Nations Climate Change Conference COP26 is happening right now in Glasgow and as you know it is arguably the most important global leaders meeting in our lifetime to date. The future of our planet and its inhabitants is critically endangered and in need of immediate and confident action.

To mark this event and show our support, Rainbow Turtle is hosting an event in Paisley and we would like to invite you to join us. 

During the evening we will be able to hear talks and presentations from a number of guests:

  • Jennifer Sambazi – Fairtrade coffee producer and cooperative leader from Uganda
  • Mauro Pereira – environmentalist, favela educator and part of Brazilian civil society delegation at COP26
  • Tzaritsa Asante – sustainable fashion designer from Scotland.

We would value this opportunity to meet you and share with you our plans for strengthening Renfrewshire’s commitment to fair trade, social justice and climate change action.

There will be a possibility to explore a fair trade stall with a selection of ethical and fairly traded goods and some time to enjoy Fairtrade tea or coffee and some light snacks after the talks.

The event is supported by the Renfrewshire Fairtrade steering group, which supports and promotes fair trade businesses and projects within Renfrewshire.

You can also find out about the event on our Facebook page and you can book your place on Eventbrite.

Education, Podcasts

Martin Rhodes talk on COP26 and Fair Trade Part 1

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Martin Rhodes of the Scottish Fair Trade Forum recently spoke at the Rainbow Turtle AGM about the importance of fair trade to the COP26 talks starting in Glasgow at the end of October. He states passionately that there can be no climate justice without trade justice.

This is part one of the podcast. Part two will be the question and answer session that followed.

Please subscribe to our podcasts on Apple, Spotify, Amazon and Google podcasts. If you like us, please give us a 5 star rating or leave us a comment.

Education, Podcasts

Josh Brown Interview

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Welcome to the 5th episode of the Rainbow Turtle Rebooted podcast. In this episode, I’m delighted to interview former Rainbow Turtle education officer, Josh Brown.

Josh offers some interesting insights into fair trade and the concept of development in relation to developing countries. He spent some time studying indigenous peoples in Australia, which formed his thinking on the effects of colonialism. 

Josh reflects on his time at Rainbow Turtle and the work that he did in schools. He has a refreshing attitude to working with young people where he likes to encourage questioning, rather than providing answers. He also gives a shout out for some of the wonderful people that he worked with at Rainbow Turtle, in particular, Molly McGavigan, who showed him the ropes.

Finally, Josh talks about the work that he’s currently doing with teachers, to give them the tools that they need to work with young people in schools.

Please subscribe to our podcasts on Apple, Spotify, Amazon and Google podcasts. If you like us give us a 5 star rating or leave us a comment.

Charity

Rainbow Turtle Charity AGM 2021

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We’re delighted to announce our charity’s AGM on Thursday 21st October 2021 at 7pm at the Methodist Central Halls in Paisley. Tea and coffee will be provided. All welcome. Please email info@rainbowturtle.org.uk if you plan to attend.

The business of the meeting will be followed by a talk by Martin Rhodes, chief executive of the Scottish Fair Trade Forum, entitled: “What SFTF is doing for COP26 and what can we do as individuals”.

Enclosed are the papers for the meeting (please click on the link to open the relevant paper):

  1. Agenda
  2. Minutes of AGM 2020
  3. Chair’s report
  4. Financial report
  5. SCIO summary report
Shop

Saying goodbye to Gemma Elliott and Margaret Bell

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Rainbow Turtle staff and volunteers saying goodbye to Gemma and Margaret

Our volunteers and staff turned out in force today to say cheerio to our shop manager, Gemma Elliott (3rd from left), and long time volunteer Margaret Bell (pictured centre at the top of the photo).

Gemma actually left us back in March during the height of lockdown but we were never able to thank her then in person. She saw us through a difficult period when not only had we had a change in personnel but we were struggling financially. The shop often looked bare because we couldn’t afford to stock it. Then came successive lockdowns when we couldn’t open the shop and sales were badly affected. Yet, Gemma steadily steered us through these various challenges and left before we could benefit from various grants that allowed us to reopen with a fully stocked and reorganised shop.

Gemma kindly sent us the photo of a double rainbow as she left Paisley, saying that it was quite fitting seeing it after saying goodbye to Rainbow Turtle. Thanks again, Gemma, for all your hard work and all the best in the next stage of your career.

And cheerio to Margaret Bell

We also said cheerio to long term volunteer, Margaret Bell (second left). Margaret has been involved with Rainbow Turtle from the very beginning when the shop first opened back in 2002. Margaret had a real gift for making connections with customers and people still come in asking for her. She had a great reputation as a salesperson and many’s the time a politician would be in for a photo shoot with one of our products and Margaret would say to them afterwards, “I hope you’re going to buy that now!”

Margaret has moved close to the sea to enjoy a well earned rest and retirement.

Education, Podcasts

Martin Rhodes interview

rainbowturtle2002

Welcome to the 4th episode of our podcast series with our interview of Martin Rhodes of the Scottish Fair Trade Forum.

For this episode I’m delighted to introduce the chief executive of the Scottish Fair Trade Forum, Martin Rhodes. Martin is an incredibly busy person and it was hard trying to match our diaries for the interview. He is an interesting person to listen to, especially on where he thinks that fair trade should be in Scotland. He is keen that fair trade is a policy issue that is discussed at government level.

Martin became involved with Fair Trade through campaigning on a number of international, development and trade justice issues. He was a founding member of the Glasgow North Fair Trade Group which joined with Fair Trade campaigners from across Glasgow to form the Glasgow Fair Trade Steering Group. He was elected as the Chair of the Glasgow Fair Trade Steering Group and later the Glasgow Fair Trade Co-operative. In September 2010, Martin was appointed as the Director of the Scottish Fair Trade Forum. He led the Forum when Scotland achieved Fair Trade Nation status in 2013 and through the reassessment of that status in 2017.

So sit back and enjoy…

Please subscribe to our podcasts on Apple, Spotify, Amazon and Google podcasts. If you like us give us a 5 star rating or leave us a comment.

Uncategorised

See our shop stock online

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Would you like to know what Rainbow Turtle has in stock before you pop down to our delightful shop in Gauze Street, Paisley? Well now you can jump onto Google and type Rainbow Turtle into the search engine, or type a product that you’re looking for, and information about our shop and products will appear on your screen.

Rainbow Turtle’s Google entry

To search further for what we have in store, type into the search box under “See what’s in store” or click “View more” under the images of our products. Then come along to visit our shop, close to the centre of Paisley, and chat with our wonderful volunteers.

Rainbow Turtle’s stock in a Google search