Sustainable Ideas...

Happy Fair Trade Month! This October, as you stock up for Halloween and heading into the holidays, consider what Fair Trade means to you:

Fair Trade certification is, according to Transfair USA, “a market-based model of international trade that benefits over one million farmers and farm workers in 58 developing countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.” Basically, look for the Fair Trade label and you’re telling the world what’s important to you one dollar at a time.

Among the principals of Fair Trade that you can advocate for: fair prices for farmers, including a living wage, safe working conditions, direct trade that keeps the money in farmers’ pockets and out of those of middlemen, and environmental sustainability.

How is Fair Trade chocolate environmentally sustainable, you ask?

1. Fair Trade products help maintain small ecosystems by working with small-scale farmers, which means better farming practices that protect the environment.

2. Many Fair Trade farmers also use organic practices, so no pesticides or chemicals.

3. After the harvest, Fair Trade farmers are encouraged to compost and find safe ways to dispose of farming waste.

Want to have a bar to celebrate Fair Trade month? Here’s where to find green chocolate.  And, Candy Blog reviewed fair trade chocolate, Divine Chocolate or “heavenly chocolate with heart,” and what about that doesn’t sound delicious?

Image from Candy Blog.