Fair-trade chocolate

[Moon]

Sign a pledge here

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/155/343/985/

to buy only fair-trade chocolate. For anyone not familiar with the situation (as I wasn't until recently--and then I went 5 days without chocolate, before I could get to a fair-trade source; there are modern miracles), there are slavers who run around Africa and kidnap children from their families beat them, starve them, etc., until they'll do anything, and then "sell" them to cacao ranchers to work without pay, harvesting the cacao beans for chocolate.

I don't know why I can't get anything I type here anywhere near a link to stay black and without underline.

[Dixon]

How can I determine what chocolate is fair-trade and what chocolate isn't? Is there some sort of stamp or label on the truly fair-trade stuff? Is it hard to find around here?

Oh, and my condolences re: your having to go 5 days without chocolate recently. That's brutal.

[Moon]

How can I determine what chocolate is fair-trade and what chocolate isn't? Is there some sort of stamp or label on the truly fair-trade stuff? Is it hard to find around here?

Oh, and my condolences re: your having to go 5 days without chocolate recently. That's brutal.

Alas, it's not easy being an abolitionist. (Say, you know who wrote "Amazing Grace"? A former slaver.)

Yes, if chocolate, coffee, sugar, etc., is fair trade, it will definitely say so on the package, since that's a selling point. Community Market carries fair-trade products in all the aforementioned categories, as does Whole Paycheck. Also, Raley's carries Sunspire fair-trade chocolate chips, and Slice of Life uses Sunspire chocolate in their chocolate mousse pie.

[EmeraldMatra]

Boycott Hershey's!
That includes Dagoba which is owned by Hershey's.
Boycott all chocolate that is not fair-trade.
Recommended brands include:
Theo, Equal Exchange, Alter Eco, Endangered Species, Divine, and many others.
Brands to boycott include Green & Blacks.
For a partial list of recommended chocolate go to: https://occupysonomacounty.org/?q=gmo-heroes
Emerald
Occupy Sonoma County

Sign a pledge here

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/155/343/985/

to buy only fair-trade chocolate. For anyone not familiar with the situation (as I wasn't until recently--and then I went 5 days without chocolate, before I could get to a fair-trade source; there are modern miracles), there are slavers who run around Africa and kidnap children from their families beat them, starve them, etc., until they'll do anything, and then "sell" them to cacao ranchers to work without pay, harvesting the cacao beans for chocolate.

I don't know why I can't get anything I type here anywhere near a link to stay black and without underline.

[GinaWillis]

Boycott Hershey's!
That includes Dagoba which is owned by Hershey's.
Boycott all chocolate that is not fair-trade.
Recommended brands include:
Theo, Equal Exchange, Alter Eco, Endangered Species, Divine, and many others.
Brands to boycott include Green & Blacks.
For a partial list of recommended chocolate go to: https://occupysonomacounty.org/?q=gmo-heroes
Emerald
Occupy Sonoma County

Fair Trade principles are extremely important, and we should all use our buying power to get the food industry to do the right thing.

But your post about Hershey and its subsidiaries is outdated and misleading, because it leaves out some important facts. Hershey committed a year ago to a whole multi-year plan for putting cacao sourcing for all its products under certification.

The whole point of boycotts and consumer action is reward and punishment. Hershey responded, but instead of recognizing that, you're still calling for an endless, mindless boycott.

Here are the facts (from a Hershey official statement on October 3, 2012):
---
Subject: Hershey to Source 100% Certified Cocoa by 2020

https://www.businesswire.com/news/ho...ied-Cocoa-2020

Today Hershey announced a commitment to source 100% certified cocoa for its global product lines by 2020 and accelerate its programs to help eliminate child labor in the cocoa regions of West Africa. The attached link takes you to the press copy released early this afternoon.
Highlights specific to the Artisan brands include our current Rainforest Alliance certified Dagoba and the commitment to see Scharffen Berger produced with 100% certified cocoa no later than the end of 2013.
Today's announcement from The Hershey Company to source 100% certified cocoa by 2020 is in addition to the current public/private partnerships and programs in place. We are continually active in our dialogue with our distributor and retailer customers on any and all actions taken on behalf of the Artisan brands in support of certification and audit verification of production of sourced cocoa.
---

[The A Team]

For a super deal on Equal Exchange chocolate, coffee, tea, cocoa etc, I sometimes stop by First United Methodist on Montgomery Dr. in Santa Rosa Sunday mornings. During their social hour in the auditorium they have a table where they sell Equal Exchange, it is less than half of retail (as a way to promote fair trade).
They are great people too.

[EmeraldMatra]

Dear Gina;
Thank you for raising this important point - that putting pressure on companies like Hershey's can have an impact towards social justice when public outcry is strong enough. I appreciate your positive response to the promises made by Hershey's. I do not share your positive response towards them and I will boycott Hershey's forever because of their heinous history of child slavery in the Ivory Coast. Also they did not promise to stop their horrible practices immediately. Their promise will not be fulfilled for many years. And promises like these are often not kept. I enjoy chocolate from companies like Equal Exchange where the product comes from a small community of local people who make the most excellent chocolate. Hershey's chocolate tastes like wax next to Equal Exchange, Alter Eco, Theo, and other fine chocolates that are organic, sustainable, non-GMO, and socially responsible from day one. And let's not forget also that Hershey, Pennsylvania is next to the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. I have been boycotting Hershey's chocolate since that nuke was built next to their factory.
I hope that you will continue to send encouraging and positive responses to Hershey's so that they feel the pressure of the public on them to be decent human beings, because I will not be doing that. I find them to be despicable for exploiting children in Africa and they will not be getting any thanks from me for promising to stop in 2020.
Sincerely,
Emerald

Fair Trade principles are extremely important, and we should all use our buying power to get the food industry to do the right thing.

But your post about Hershey and its subsidiaries is outdated and misleading, because it leaves out some important facts. Hershey committed a year ago to a whole multi-year plan for putting cacao sourcing for all its products under certification.

The whole point of boycotts and consumer action is reward and punishment. Hershey responded, but instead of recognizing that, you're still calling for an endless, mindless boycott.

Here are the facts (from a Hershey official statement on October 3, 2012):
---
Subject: Hershey to Source 100% Certified Cocoa by 2020

https://www.businesswire.com/news/ho...ied-Cocoa-2020

Today Hershey announced a commitment to source 100% certified cocoa for its global product lines by 2020 and accelerate its programs to help eliminate child labor in the cocoa regions of West Africa. The attached link takes you to the press copy released early this afternoon.
Highlights specific to the Artisan brands include our current Rainforest Alliance certified Dagoba and the commitment to see Scharffen Berger produced with 100% certified cocoa no later than the end of 2013.
Today's announcement from The Hershey Company to source 100% certified cocoa by 2020 is in addition to the current public/private partnerships and programs in place. We are continually active in our dialogue with our distributor and retailer customers on any and all actions taken on behalf of the Artisan brands in support of certification and audit verification of production of sourced cocoa.
---