- Playing
- Hope for Panama hat weavers in Ecuador
- From
- Round Earth Media
Some of the finest straw hats in the world come from Ecuador. The best sell for hundreds, even thousands of dollars. Most of that money goes to hat dealers and retail stores -- the weavers themselves don’t earn even enough to live on. But now a retired US advertising executive says he has a plan to create more demand for the hats and pay the best hat weavers a decent wage. That’s a combination designed to get more money for the weavers. Mary Stucky reports from the central coast of Ecuador.
More from Round Earth Media
Roger and Jacqui
(04:44)
From: Round Earth Media
Per capita, Laos is the most bombed country on earth. For nine years, every day, around the clock, the US rained bombs down on much of the country. The bombing was intended ...
What's cooking? Dosas.
(04:45)
From: Round Earth Media
Dosas are a a sort of thin crepe wrapped around a filling -- often potatoes -- as popular in India as pancakes here. Savory. Crispy. Eaten all day long. Making the perfect ...
The profile of a ragpicker in India
(04:30)
From: Round Earth Media
Throughout the world it’s sometimes surprising to find people still doing jobs that disappeared in wealthy countries centuries ago. One example: rag pickers. Men, women and ...
Jhai computers
(06:13)
From: Round Earth Media
Back in 1966 Lee Thorn was a young American serviceman in the Vietnam War. His assignment: loading bombs onto planes bound for Laos, a small country west of Vietnam. The ...
Chocolate, gift of the gods
(04:39)
From: Round Earth Media
Mexico is the birthplace of chocolate. The story goes that the Mayan god Quetzalcoatl presented his people with a gift from the garden of paradise: the cacao tree from which ...
Bioprospecting in Chiapas
(07:56)
From: Round Earth Media
Traditional Mexican healers have stopped "bioprospecting projects of foreign pharmaceutical companies.
Roads on the Isthmus
(07:39)
From: Round Earth Media
Improved roads were supposed to be a side-benefit of NAFTA, but some poor Mexicans are convinced that highways won't improve their lives.
Corn in Oaxaca
(07:44)
From: Round Earth Media
US corn imports in Mexico are making it hard for traditional farmers to maintain precious biodiversity.
Timber in Durango
(07:03)
From: Round Earth Media
Community-owned forests in Mexico are tapping into the demand for eco-friendly wood -- at least for now.
Mangroves on the Yucatan
(07:24)
From: Round Earth Media
Mexico is trying to balance its lucrative tourism industry with the need to protect fragile coastal ecosystems.
Related Pieces
Piece Description
Some of the finest straw hats in the world come from Ecuador. The best sell for hundreds, even thousands of dollars. Most of that money goes to hat dealers and retail stores -- the weavers themselves don’t earn even enough to live on. But now a retired US advertising executive says he has a plan to create more demand for the hats and pay the best hat weavers a decent wage. That’s a combination designed to get more money for the weavers. Mary Stucky reports from the central coast of Ecuador.
