Green Sanctuary Program
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Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship
Green Sanctuary Program |
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National Geographic's Green Guide http://www.thegreenguide.com/buying-guide/chocolate?source=email_gg_20090204&email=gg Choosing better chocolate means that you’re keeping harmful pesticides out of waterways and you’re showing support for farming methods that encourage biodiversity. You also allow farmers to get paid more equitably for their efforts, which in turn keeps child labor off chocolate plantations. Certified Organic: Chocolate labeled USDA "Certified Organic" has been grown without the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers on land that was free of such chemicals for at least three years prior to certification. Fair Trade: The "Fair Trade Certified" label is a third-party certification administered in the U.S. by TransFair USA, which means that cacao beans were purchased directly from growers or their cooperatives for at least $0.10 more than the current market price, allowing farmers to invest in community developments such as education and healthcare. Currently, Fair Trade-certified farmers are paid at least $0.80 per pound, $0.89 if it's certified organic. Certification also imposes some environmental-protection standards on growers, including a ban on the most hazardous pesticides and the use of integrated pest management techniques, such as growing cacao under shade canopies. Rainforest Alliance: Combining aspects of the certifications above, the Rainforest Alliance (RA) focuses on how farms are managed rather than how beans are traded, and covers all aspects of production including environmental protection, worker rights and welfare and the interests of local communities. Certification requires that at least 40 percent of the cacao-growing plantation has to be covered in shade at all times in areas where the original natural vegetative cover is forest, which allows for wildlife preservation and a reduction of pesticides, but they do allow the use of some agrichemicals when pest-related damages would be greater than the farmer could cope with economically. RA-certified cacao farms must also pay workers, including minors, at least the local minimum wage, provide safe working conditions and implement measures to reduce minors' participation in the harvest. Consider the source of your cocoa even when chocolate isn't the main ingredient. Ben and Jerry's now carries Fair Trade Certified chocolate and vanilla ice cream, and Green and Blacks offers a rich organic chocolate ice cream. For your next batch of cookies, try Sunspire's organic and fair-trade chocolate baking chips ($4.39/9 oz.; www.worldpantry.com). Cacao is grown primarily in the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Indonesia and Brazil, where market instability has led to underpaid labor and even child slavery. And, to compensate for growing demand, more and more conventional cacao farms have transitioned to "full-sun" farming, leading to deforestation, increased reliance on synthetic pesticides, and loss of wildlife habitat. Environmental Issues Cocoa farms are traditionally planted under a canopy of rainforest trees, producing cocoa beans while also serving as a diverse habitat for migratory songbirds that winter in the tropics and other rainforest- dwelling birds, mammals, insects and reptiles. Sadly, farmers are clear-cutting these biodiverse shade farms into "full-sun" farms, destroying wildlife habitats in the hopes of getting higher crop yields. Although full-sun farms do produce higher yields, they also produce beans that are more susceptible to disease, insects and stress from the heat and dry air, requiring high doses of fertilizers and pesticides that threaten nearby bird and aquatic populations. This, of course, is to say nothing of clear cutting's contribution to global warming. Personal Health Issues Pesticides used by cocoa growers include chemicals, such as paraquat and lindane. Once sprayed, pesticides inevitably wind up in groundwater, in the air and in the chocolate itself: According to the UK Pesticide Action Network, residues of the insecticide lindane were detected in all 20 chocolate samples tested by the food industry there in 1998. In 2005, a chocolate industry test detected lead levels as high as 0.275 ppm in dark chocolate and 0.222 in milk chocolate, among the highest reported levels in foods. Lead exposure can disrupt brain development and can lead to kidney problems and even aggressive behavior. Chocolate can also contain genetically engineered food ingredients, such as rBGH. Social Issues Since 1998, investigations by UNICEF and other international organizations have found boys as young as nine years old toiling for no pay on cocoa plantations in the West African nation of Ivory Coast, where approximately 43 percent of the world's cocoa is grown, and in 2002, the U.N.'s International Labour Organization found that nearly 12,000 of those children were victims of trafficking. Another 2002 study by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) found an estimated 284,000 children performing dangerous jobs, such as working with machetes and applying pesticides without protective equipment, on cocoa farms. Adult laborers don't fair much better. While chocolate is a booming $13 billion industry, the average annual cocoa revenues in West Africa lie between $30 and $110 per household member, forcing farmers to cut back on expenditures, including labor—a need that may have fostered the emergence of child slavery in recent years. Resources: Global Exchange: www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade Rainforest Alliance: www.rainforest-alliance.org USDA National Organic Program: www.ams.usda.gov/nop/indexNet.htm Transfair: www.transfairusa.org |
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