In the year 2000, Garstang, Lancashire, UK proclaimed itself the world's first officially recognized Fairtrade town.

Set on the banks of the River Wyre, surrounded by forest and natural beauty and abundant wildlife, lies the sleepy little town of Garstang, Lancashire, England. It's the perfect place for a qiet country getaway. It's a small market town with a lot of history. Garstand has a weekly market every Thursday which has been there since 1310. There is Greenhaigh Castle and it's even mentioned in the Doomsday Book, referred to as Cherestanc.

So what makes this town so special?

In the year 2000, Garstang proclaimed itself the world's first officially recognized Fairtrade town. It is not particularly know for its liberal lifestyle or as a leader in alternative lifestyles. Garstang simply has a heart, and people who have become aware of the plight of the free trade market.

The idea of a Fairtrade town started with Bruce Crowther, campaigner and passionalte Oxfam supporter of fair trade and its principles.

One by one, he started persuading the town's counsil, schools, restaurants and shops to stock and buy Fairtrade products. His persistance paid off with over 90% of the town's businesses finally coming around to pledge that they'd either buy, sell or use Fairtrade products.

Now, nearly 10 years in, many European towns have followed this model, and there are 448 officially recognized Fairtrade towns spread across 18 countries. While most are European, the trend has spread to the

Brazil, Australia and Japan more recently.

The US has been slow on the uptake, but one man, 85 year old Hal Taussig, ititiated the Fairtrade town movement in the U.S in 2005, and by 2006, the small town of Media, near Philadelphia, became America's first officially recognized Fairtrade town. Another grass roots movement, began by one man's efforts.

Twelve more locations have now joined in the effort, including my home town of San Francisco.

If more towns in the U.S. join in the movement, the impact of the will be huge. The world is now looking to the U.S. for its support and committment.

Fair trade supporters are looking forward to it becoming mainstream, and with companies like Starbucks jumping on board and doubling their Fair Trade coffee inventory in 2009, there is hope for such a world.

The idea of Fairtrade towns started on a grassroots level with one man appealing personally to each business until he had an entire town on board. The idea has since been spreading around the world, and I believe the people want to help, they just don't know how.

My goal is to educate. If everyone made a commitment to switch just one item they buy regularly to fair trade, think of the impact. There are 130 million coffee drinkers in the U.S. alone. Think of the impact we could make if we could commit to eating and buying only fair trade certified chocolate. We use chocolate for cakes, cookies, frostings, pudding, chocolate bars, hot chocolate drinks, syrup--the list is practically endless.

How many bananas do you eat? How much tea do you drink? How much rice?

I'm asking anyone who reads this article to pledge just one thing today.