A fair globalization needs these 3 things | Jonathan Funke | TEDxStuttgart

So my story begins with me and my best friend Darío, we have known each other since we took our first steps on this planet and we wanted to meet just to spend a relaxed evening, but it turned out different than expected, we just wanted to watch a movie, have some pizza and we thought, why not watch a documentary? Why not discover how clothes were made? and while Pisa was finished and the last scenes of the movie ended and the sun slowly rose on the horizon, we were so devastated we were so desperate because we had just seen how our daily consumption ruins the lives of the people behind our product and we were so little ones that we thought there was nothing we could do that at that very moment we decided never to have children.

We were 14 years old and today we are a little more relaxed, but we still have the feeling that something is wrong with our consumption, the way we treat the people behind our product and natural resources. This feeling stays with us. I was very lucky to be able to travel. planet I lived a lot in Argentina for a year I gave talks in Malaysia I traveled through India but there was one experience that really stuck with me and it was the central market of Marrakech the medina because if you have ever been to this magical place and smelled the spices of everyone if you have ever heard here the thousands of voices praying and negotiating and singing and chatting and laughing if you have ever seen the magical colors of the spices and the rugs that you fall in love with and as you go down the small streets you can Seeing people making the products, the rugs and the lamps, you get a little glimpse into the world of their life and work, and buying something is very different from the supermarket in Berlin, where everything ends with a beep, the first thing you do when buy a product is to sit down and have a cup of tea and then the owner of the store will tell you this story of his whole life, where he grew up, how his family is doing, where is his where is my wife from and then he will tell you everything about the product, the history and how the history was made, the whole history of this product since forever and that is really interesting to me, you understand that there are no fixed prices in this market, you decide yourself how much the product is worth to you and then you decide who of the two parties

needs

it,

needs

more money and I took this impression to Berlin.

Darío dragged me directly to a demonstration against Primark because we thought thank you because for us it was the symbol of fast fashion, consuming without even thinking about it, it was the first Primark that opened in Germany and in Berlin and, in fact, it was quite an image funny because, on one side, there were masses of people waiting for the countdown to At the end the doors opened and they came in to flood and grab everything, shirts that are worth less than a cup of coffee and on the other side there were us, about 15 students with the long hair and guitarists trying to convince them to change something. their life and it may not surprise you, but it was very surprising for us, they didn't even look at us, so at that moment Dario and I were so desperate again because we had really done everything we could to convince these people to change something. in their lives in their consumption and as we were sitting there and we were 14 year old kids again we thought no, we're not going to give up that easy, maybe it's not our job to tell people how to live their lives, what's going on. wrong in this world maybe our job is to listen first to talk to people and try to understand them and that's what we did, we crossed sides and asked people why they shop here, well there aren't many affordable alternatives ok .

Do you know anything about how this product is made, how the people behind the product live, no idea, I never thought about that, how do you feel when I tell you that only 1% of the price you pay actually goes to the people behind the product ? I wouldn't do it if I could ensure that the money actually goes to the people. I would pay more and this idea stuck with me, so a few days later, while I was sitting in a cafe paying the bill and tipping the waiter, I thought why can I only tip the waiter, what if I could give the money? to the supply chain?

What if I could tip the people who plucked my coffee, the coffee farmers themselves? I fell in love with this idea and I am very, very proud to be standing. on this stage and say that from this very moment I have worked days and nights with an incredible team to make this become a reality. We gave me a tip. We are trying to establish global gratuity. Imagine you could tip those who made your product next time. You buy coffee, you tip those who divert it because we believe that the first pillar of

fair

globalization

is not only telling people what's wrong in the world, but also giving them the opportunity to make a difference.

The obvious question here is how do we create transparency? Can we make sure the money actually gets to the people it belongs to? How do we know who they are? Who are the people? The companies themselves don't know. That's part of the problem. I have struggled with this for quite some time. Over time and happily I discovered that there are many people who are smarter than me, for example, there is the amazing startup called ever lege. They have been able to trace the entire supply chain of a diamond from the mine to the jewelry store. I can trace every hand it has passed through and I don't actually have any diamonds and I don't know if they will do me a favor but if I do I want this symbol of love to not cause conflict or even war in another region and we are seeing that The same thing happens with coffee, food and fish because we believe that the second pillar of a

fair

globalization

is transparency and a beautiful side effect of this is that for the first time we, the consumers, really understand the entire journey of a product. , this shirt I'm wearing here has probably seen more of the world than I have.

Statistics say this t-shirt has gone through 140 stops before reaching my rack. I'm actually pretty jealous of my shirt right now, so maybe we should keep it in mind next time we buy something if we really need it, but I still think that's not enough. We can give people transparency. We can give people the choice to do the right thing to make a difference, but we still don't live in the Madina we have. I can't sit and have chai with everyone who made this shirt. I don't know about you, but I know what my friends had for breakfast this morning thanks to social media.

I know when you graduated from high school you show me where you've been on vacation. I know their whole life and even people I have never met I have the feeling that I know them as pop stars, founders and activists, they carry me in their pocket and every time they share a valuable moment of their life and their lives. work, in fact I have the feeling that I really understand them and if that's possible for pop stars, why shouldn't it be possible for the people who made their product? Because even people my age in Pakistan who pick cotton there have smartphones and are connected. social media I am very happy to be here right now and do my part to make this globalization fair meanwhile Daario studies in Lima how to live a sustainable life in the 21st century and I feel like I am trying very hard.

I have been working. on this for months and they are trying really hard to find a beautiful ending with nice red rakes and a beautiful drawing that I can draw. I couldn't find one, so I think the best thing is that I speak from my heart and think and I tell them that I just believe that we can do this. I simply believe that we can make this globalization fair. We can make the next century amazing. We can make the next century essentially a place I can proudly put my children. We can make the following space. century I think it is the most beautiful in the history of humanity and the most important thing is not the last, thank you