Fair Trade Chocolate

Look what I found!

Fair trade dark chocolate raspberry medallions.  Yum!  I will be ordering some of these when they come back in stock.

From Everyday Justice:
"The majority of the world's cocoa beans grow in West Africa...nations struggling to overcome poverty and unrest.  Farmers sell these beans to the world's major chocolate producers like Hershey's, Nestle and Mars.  So the beans from these countries are the source of most of the chocolate those of us in Western countries consume.

...there are high numbers of children working to harvest cocoa beans.  These children typically aren't family, or even local, but instead have been trafficked in from neighboring countries.

A report by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture revealed that an estimated 284,000 children are working on cocoa farms in hazardous tasks such as using machetes and applying pesticides and insecticides without the necessary protective equipment.  The report also indicated strong evidence of human trafficking.  Yet these practices are often overlooked or ignored by the companies that the farms supply.  The result?  Much of the chocolate we consume has its roots in child labor, often forced or slave labor."

This shocks and appalls me!  But you know me, I love my chocolate.  A life without chocolate is sad!  So what's a girl to do?  It turns out you can buy fair trade chocolate online!  It's less convenient and more expensive than what you can get at the grocery store, but to me it is worth it.  Fair trade guarantees that my money is not going toward companies that exploit their laborers and it also (I hope) sends a message to those companies that there are people out there willing to pay more for slave-free chocolate.  Maybe they will get the message.

Here are some links for places to buy fair trade chocolate in case you are interested.

http://www.serrv.org/ has chocolate bars and treats (the raspberry chocolates are from here).
http://www.greenheartshop.org/organic-baking-cocoa.html has organic fair trade baking cocoa.
http://www.amazon.com has Guittard fair trade chocolate chips.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

Christmas is officially over in the Shepherd house.  We took the tree down last weekend and I packed up my nativity scene yesterday.  I'm always a little sad to take the decorations down; they just make the house look so festive and inviting. 

It seems winter has arrived for good.  It is cold, dark, and rainy right now.  We're drinking hot cider and tea a lot these days.  I have found that I am not too miserable outside until it gets into the 30s and then I'd really just rather stay inside.

My running is still improving slowly.  I'm now running 15-20 minutes at a time.  I'm almost at the end of the Couch to 5K program - 2 more weeks to go if I don't repeat anything.  I'm running indoors all the time now due to the cold, and while I am proud of how far I have come, I still do not enjoy it.  Yesterday in particular made me grumpy because I was extra tired and achy the rest of the day.  I can deal with achy muscles but this feels like my bones actually hurt.  And my productivity for the rest of the day is zapped.  At this point, I want to finish my goal of running a 5K but then I think I'm going to stop.  I keep waiting for that feeling to change and for me to magically start to enjoy running like people say I will, but so far it's not happening.

So my 2012 new year's resolution was to live intentionally, and I already have a chance to start applying it.  In our household, James pays the bills and I manage the budget, and 2011 was an expensive year for us.  Finally, 5 months after moving halfway across the country, the expenses related to that have mostly settled down, so we no longer have a good excuse to spend so much money.  So I reevaluated our budget and we jointly came up with some areas where we need to cut back so that we can start saving money again.  It feels GOOD!  Even though it meant that we couldn't go out to lunch with our friends after church on Sunday and it means that I can't go out and immediately buy the new couch pillows that I would like.  But the promise of having a nice little sum of money to put into our savings account at the end of the month is worth it!

Also, as you may have noticed, my focus on fair trade and human justice has taken a back burner since we moved.  My passion for it has not waned, just my actions.  However, I recently bought several books on the subject and I want to get back into it.  I still haven't found a way to physically help in this area through volunteer work, but purchasing fair trade items is a start.  I found that our grocery store carries Newman's Own and Green Mountain fair trade coffee and it is good!  And it's not even more expensive than the Starbucks that we usually buy, so that will be my coffee of choice from now on.  It's a very small thing, but coffee is one of the worst industries in terms of exploitation and oppression, so having a clean conscience in that area is great!

The book I am reading currently is called Everyday Justice by Julie Clawson and so far I highly recommend it.  If you are looking for a place to start getting educated about justice issues, this is a good one.  The author uses lots of scripture, practically addresses the biggest problem areas (coffee, chocolate, clothing, etc.), gives lots of extra resources for more in-depth digging, and best of all, approaches this sometimes difficult and overwhelming subject with lots of grace and understanding. 

Links

Today I have a lot rumbling around in my head, so I am going to share with you some thought provoking links. Enjoy!

On Fair Trade

• Chain Store Reaction - This site has a form letter that you can sign your name to, asking major brand name companies to join in the fight against human slavery/trafficking by ensuring that their products are fair trade.  It is an easy way to let companies know that ethical sourcing matters to you.  You can also see the responses from some of the companies listing their efforts in this area.
• Trade As One - This is a company that is dedicated to selling fair trade products from around the world.  They have food, clothing, jewelry, and lots more.  You can even sign up for a fair trade basket of goodies every month which looks very tempting.  They also have a blog.
• Fair Trade USA - This site certifies and promotes fair trade items.

On Counter-cultural Living

• Pondering the CounterCulture Child - I could not agree more with this blog post at SortaCrunchy.  We as Christians are supposed to be in the world but not of it.  Sadly, it seems even popular church culture is often more worldly than not and teaches messages that are not scriptural.  I pray that I will be able to view the world through the lense of the Gospel, and not be swayed by false teaching whether in the world or in the church.

Conscious spending

As you can tell, the human exploitation problem in this world is something that God has been impressing on both of our hearts.  But it is such a big, scary problem that it is overwhelming!  How can one, insignificant girl like me make any difference?

One thing that we have been convicted about is how we spend our money.  It turns out that a lot of common, mainstream brands are owned by big companies who are not socially responsible.  They sell cheap clothes because they buy their products from sweatshops in India.  They sell cheap food because they don't even pay minimum wage to their harvesters.  It makes sense if you really think about it, though up to this point, I never had.

When I first started thinking about changing what companies I buy from, I got all defensive.  First of all, how am I ever going to know how companies operate?  I still struggle with that.  Second of all, how is it my problem?  I mean, I'm not directly sending money to the owner of the sweatshop, or the guy that forces people to pick coffee beans all day for no pay.  Right?

It all came down to fear and selfishness. I was afraid that if I started looking into this issue, that I would have to stop buying some things that I like buying.  And I didn't want to do that.  I like my options and my comfort.  So I kept pushing it out of my mind. 

After a while I knew that justifying myself to God just wasn't going to work anymore.  So with hesitancy, I bought some books.  And I was right: I am going to have to stop buying some things that I like.  But now that I am informed about what my money is going to support, I can't ignore it.

So we have been slowly changing our spending habits.  And I do mean slowly.  It is overwhelming, y'all.  So I am just taking it one step at a time and asking God for wisdom.

For example, I bought Revlon mascara instead of CoverGirl mascara, because CoverGirl is owned by Proctor and Gamble, a company that has been known to source from sweatshops.

I bought Newman's Own salad dressing instead of Kraft.

But then I bought a whole bunch of other stuff that I have no idea about.  I doubt that we will ever get to the point where everything we spend money on is guaranteed to not hurt anyone down the line.  There's not a whole lot of information, and there is a whole lot of corruption and greed out there.  It is probably not possible to buy everything we need without supporting something bad inadvertently.  And some of the alternatives to the "really bad" companies are not 100% shiny and clean themselves.

But at least I am working towards it.  At least I know that those $8 for mascara went toward a company that (to my knowledge) is not exploiting people.

Here are some resources that have really helped me out.

The Better World Shopping Guide is a nifty little booklet that rates companies in all kinds of product categories.  If you want a quick, easy reference tool, this is a good one.  What I don't like about it is that while they rate the companies based on 5 different categories, they don't tell you why the companies received their grade.  You know it's one or all of the 5 categories, but not which one.  They seem to have a lot of research behind their analysis, but they don't share it with you.

This Responsible Shopper website goes more into depth about each company, siting complaints that have been filed against them and what they are known for.  However, it is not as comprehensive.

If I find anymore, I will post them.