World Fair Trade Day (was May 12)

I missed it. Nuts.

But we can all support fair trade year-round. The Fair Trade Resource Network is a great place to get started. Also check out TransFairUSA, which certifies products that comply with strict international standards and thereby promote “a more equitable and sustainable trade system for producers.”

Coming soon: Fair Trade Month in October. Start lobbying your local organic markets and stores to plan promotions.

What’s on your shopping list?

Sweet tooth

I was supposed to have an appointment with a new dentist today, but thanks to the DC area’s ice storm (and freezing rain and sleet and snow and whatever else goes into a “wintry mix”), it’s going to be rescheduled. Sweet.

Meanwhile, an update on my exploration of Fair Trade Chocolate:

Mindy Pennybacker, aka Worrywart, writes about Divine Chocolate on the Green Guide. Parent company is in London, and a Washington office has recently opened. Wish I’d known about them sooner — they completed several tasting events in and around DC just this past week, and of course I missed them all for lack of knowledge!

Oh well. The company is founded by the Kuapa Kokoo farmers’ coop in Ghana, with farmer reps on the board and part owners of the company. Transfair USA gives Divine the Fair Trade certification, with some of the proceeds being invested back in the community, for things like education and health programs.

Sometime during the past couple of weeks I stumbled across a church class that’s selling another brand of Fair Trade products on eBay to raise money for Heifer International. This is nothing short of a brilliant win-win concept: Faith community + Fair Trade products for sale + one of the world’s most meaningful charitable organizations. Everyone’s a winner!

Here’s the Who-What-Where-When-Why and sometimes How: The 7th grade class at St. Anthony’s of Padua School in Perma, OH, decided to do a project to help small farmers and to make the project national to help let more people learn about the equal exchange concept. The product line they are supporting is actually named Equal Exchange, in particular, coffee, tea and chocolate. It’s a year-long project. The class is also learning about marketing and other business procedures including advertising, brochures and purchasing.

I ordered some of the organic Very Dark Chocolate (71% cocoa) and also the organic Mint Chocolate bars (67% cocoa), which arrived just in time for me to mail a couple on to a friend. Have tried the mint, which strike a refreshing balance between just a hint of sweet and the satisfaction of dark. Mmmmm…

Be aware, if you’re ordering from overseas sources, some places that are currently in their summer season (like Australia) won’t ship to the U.S. because the chocolate could melt in transit depending on their choice of shipping method.

Now that my awareness of Fair Trade Organic Chocolate has been jostled, I’m finding more producers every week. The Green Guide offers a convenient round-up in its Chocolate Product Report. Read up on and compare Oxfam, the Sierra Club, Endangered Species, Equal Exchange and several others.

Wonder if having a sweet tooth for dark chocolate makes any difference at the dentist’s. Guess there’s no escape from brushing and flossing.

3 cheers for organic chocolate that supports its producers!

I said a few weeks ago no more Hershey’s for me after the last few bars in my freezer disappeared, at least until or unless the company changes over to supporting fair trade and a decent livelihood for the small farmers who source cacao. OK, I’ve been sampling several “qualifying” brands easily available at Whole Foods. So far my fave is the Endangered Species Extreme Dark Chocolate bar, with 88% cocoa content. Sublime! The darker the better!

This company’s philsophical commitment is to Albert Schweitzer, the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize winner who espoused living with Reverence for Life — a simple motto yet filled with elegance and respect for literally everything that lives. It’s “the first spiritual act in man’s [sic] experience.” That’s special to me for a personal reason:  Schweitzer was one of my gurus during high school, figuring prominently in my graduation speech.  To be honest, I haven’t adhered to his high standards throughout my lifetime, but they’re a worthy goal to keep on striving toward.

Schweitzer wrote that reverence for life is the ultimate, and universal, ethic. “As we know life in ourselves, we want to understand life in the universe, in order to enter into harmony with it.” At a young age he was moved to action by the sight of cruelty to animals, so much so that he composed a short prayer to add to his bedtime prayers:

“O heavenly Father, protect and bless all things that have breath; guard them from all evil, and let them sleep in peace.”

Funny how something that influenced me several decades ago as a kid has resurfaced as such a powerful motivator for my interest in animal care and human interactions with animals today.  And it took a chocolate bar to remind me!

All I wanted for Chanukah was some fair trade gelt…

 

Chanukah 2007 update: Eureka!  Divine Chocolate has a great solution!  Buy!  Enjoy!  Mmm!  This is from the Ghana farmers’ co-op mentioned below.

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Only a few short weeks ago I became aware that Hershey and Mars, two of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world, purchase cacao (cocoa) from sources that in essence run child slave labor operations. Alas! I have a freezer full of Hershey’s Extra Dark bars — the new ones they introduced about a year ago, with cranberries, blackberries and almonds, or macadamia nuts. Mmmm! But no more for me, until or unless Hershey starts doing the right thing for the right reasons, i.e., purchasing fair trade cacao.Hope may be on the horizon. Hershey acquired Dagoba Organic Chocolate in October, and while this may appear to be yet another case of a creative small business being inhaled by the Big Corporation, one can hope Dagoba will be a positive influence on steering Hershey toward more socially responsible practices rather than profit for profit’s sake.Meanwhile, the National Havurah Committee reports on its Dec. 15-17 retreat in Cape Cod, which included a workshop on “Sahar Hogein,” A Jewish Approach to Fair Trade.Here’s how the retreat’s promotional text described this session:

Learn how to apply standards of fairness taught by the great Jewish sages in support of “fair trade,” an innovative approach to commerce that ensures that those who pick the coffee we drink at kiddush, who gather the cocoa in our chocolate Chanukah “gelt,” who harvest the sugar in our hamentashen, or who embroider our kippot, are paid living wages, given a voice in their work, and afforded an opportunity to improve their lives. Participants at this workshop will also be able to partake of the world’s first Fair Trade Chanukah gelt [enhancement by WebOfLife] via a farmers cooperative in Ghana.