Here’s a sweet little animation from my favorite chocolate maker.
Chocolate Apparently Not Recession-Proof After All
Quite a few reports recently claimed that chocolate is recession-proof. It made sense, sort of. When everything else is going down the tube, there’s always chocolate–a little treat in hard times and not too expensive. But it it turned out to be just hearsay.
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Trading Visions Posts Q&A on Mars and Cadbury
Why did Mars and Cadbury recently decided to seek third-party verification for some or all of their chocolate products? Trading Visions, a UK web site devoted to increasing information and education about fairtrade, wanted to find out. They contacted both Mars and Cadbury and number organizations to provide their answers to this and other questions. I was invited to contribute my own thoughts as well.
You can find the all questions and answers on their web site.
Dairy Milk Chocolate to go Fairtrade
Cadbury, the British chocolate maker, has announced that it will pursue fairtrade certification for Dairy Milk, its best-selling chocolate bar. Cadbury and the Fairtrade Foundation, the British arm of the the global fairtrade movement announced yesterday that the certification will be achieved by the Summer of 2009.
Make it a Fair Trade Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is around the corner and it’s the day (though by no means the only one) to buy chocolate and flowers for your sweetie. How about making it a fair trade Valentine’s Day. It’s easy and you know that you will be supporting farmers who have organized to escape the relentless onslaught of the “free” market.
Transfair USA, the fair trade certifier for the U.S., has created a handy website that provides links to places where you can order fair trade chocolate, fair trade flowers and fair trade wine.
Global Exchange, the education and action resource center for an alternative globalization, goes a bit farther. They have organized the National Valentine’s Day of Action to reach out to educators so that they can introduce their students to the concept of fair trade. There’s even a lesson plan for k-6th grade teachers. But if you just want to get some fair trade chocolate, they also offer a variety of fair trade chocolates including my favorite, Divine.
Finally, there are the friends at Equal Exchange who distribute fair trade chocolate as well.
But in the interest of shopping local, why not got to your local store and ask them to stock fair trade items. That way, you save postage and have your fix nearby. Happy Valentine’s Day.
