Vision

All of the Earth's ecosystems are in alarming decline because of the the industrial revolution's reliance on non-cyclical and polluting technologies, putting human comfort and security at great and unnecessary risk.  Furthermore, workers and farmers who do the hardest and most dangerous work in the chain of production receive the lowest wages.

Cochabamba Exchange works to become an example of how to solve these problems.  We hereby honor both to the values of ecological sustainability and social responsibility by the following commitments:

• We pay our producers at least 10% above market price. Always. We do this because we believe both that's its the fair thing to do and because our customers want to support producer communities as well as vendors like Cochabamba Exchange.

• We donate 10% of our profits to charities both in the US and Bolivia.  We do this both because we believe giving is a spiritual and societal obligation, and because we believe our clients want to support charities with their purchases.

• We will buy as directly from producers as possible, so that customer purchases support Bolivian communities.  We currently work directly with everyone from rural Guaraní basket weavers and Quechua knitters to urban Mestizo artists, cooperatives, and small businesses.

• Cochabamba Exchange will become 100% carbon neutral by 2010.  We will do this by combining energy efficiency, renewable energy production, and carbon sequestration via contributions to conservation in the Bolivian Amazon.

• We will produce 100% more renewable energy than we use by 2013, thus actually contributing to the regeneration of the ecosystems that support us.