“Save money. Live Better.” So says the current Wal-Mart ad campaign. Who could argue with that? Wal-Mart certainly doesn’t want us to question this ideal, but what is really involved?

For instance, what does “save money” mean? Spend less — the best way to save money? No, it means keep spending your money but buy from Wal-Mart with its lower prices. But where do those lower prices come from? Largely, from lower costs Wal-Mart can get for its products. And how does Wal-Mart minimize their costs?

Here let me shift my attention, because I am taking Wal-Mart with its catchy jingle as just one notable example of what is called free trade. Free trade all too often means a system in which corporations are free to exploit people and the planet in order to increase their profits — free from efforts to ensure worker well being and environmental protection, and free of any sense of social responsibility on the part of the corporation.

The result has been that many of our fellow human beings in the developing world work in inhumane conditions and chronic poverty, while the environment is being devastated. Take the example of coffee. While coffee plants were formerly grown as part of a forest ecosystem, corporations learned that they could produce more for less if they clear-cut the trees, planted coffee intensely and used chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This has been disastrous for the land, water and wildlife. The chemicals also have made coffee cultivation more dangerous to growers, who are given the lowest price the corporations can give them. As the international market has fluctuated, the growers live in economic insecurity with little power to gain a better life.

Save money, live better. Prices may be lower for us, but the cost has been that the lives of others are made worse and the planet is pillaged. There is, however, an alternative. It is fair trade, a movement gaining ground in the U.S. fair trade coffee producers, for instance, are paid a living wage, are given economic power through the formation of cooperatives and gain economic security through long-term contracts and loans. At the same time, they are required to practice gender equity and abide by strict environmental standards.

So far, coffee and chocolate have been the most common fair trade products, but more are becoming available: tea, bananas, crafts and even wine and flowers. In addition to online sources such as Equal Exchange and Global Exchange, some stores in Oshkosh now carry fair trade products, such as Planet Perk, Festival Foods and Pick-n-Save – yes, even Wal-Mart.

Because UW-Oshkosh believes that a university should manifest social and environmental responsibility, on opening day of fall semester Chancellor Wells declared that the university is a “fair trade university,” committed to buying and selling fair trade products as much as possible while promoting the fair trade movement. The university is the first in the nation to make that commitment. There is a similar movement in terms of cities, with Milwaukee one of the growing number of cities that have declared themselves a “fair trade town.”

So, I would offer an alternative to Wal-Mart’s jingle: Spend your money in a way that helps others live better. October is fair trade month, a great time to learn more about the movement. One way to start is to check out the UW-Oshkosh fair trade web site: www.uwosh.edu/sustainability/fairtrade. More importantly, ask your grocer, department store, and coffee house whether they offer fair trade products.

If they don’t, ask them to. If they do, live better by buying fair trade.

David Barnhill, is a professor and director of the Environmental Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. You can reach him at barnhill@uwosh.edu or (920) 424-0644.