This year Global Exchange Fair Trade purchases helped install a water treatment plant in India to filter 2,000 liters of water each hour. We created a new month of activities for Halloween and Fair Trade month, delivered kid’s Valentines to the Board of the Hershey’s company, made delicious Fair Trade S’mores in the summer and had a significant victory when Hershey’s agreed to go 100% certified by 2020.

The end of the year is always a good time to take stock, express our gratitude and prepare to meet the new year with renewed energy to make Trade Fair! Here are a few of our suggestions for this year.

1. Buy less stuff: Our good friends over at The Story of Stuff (and winner of the Global Exchange 2012 Human Rights Award) encourage us to choose family over frenzy this holiday season and to think carefully about the full life span of the products we consume. Where does your gift come from? Who made it and where will it go when we don’t want it any more? A gift of time and love doesn’t have to clog our landfills and exploit labor to be meaningful.
2. Shop Fair Trade: When you shop Fair Trade you set an example of responsible consumption rooted in the celebration of craftsmanship; the enforcement of workers rights; and the empowerment of artisans and their communities around the world. You get quality, beauty and tradition in one-of- a -kind, hand-made products. From gemstone earrings set in hand-etched sterling silver in Bali, to messenger bags hand-cut from the inter tube of big rig truck tires in El Salvador, and 100% cotton table linens block-printed in India, there are many beautiful and functional gifts. At the origin of each piece, is a story of preserving culture, supporting community and sustaining the planet.
3. Don’t buy SodaStream: One of the most popular gifts this season is the do-it-yourself soda machine made by SodaStream which carbonates water at home. But don’t do it! People who care about human rights should know that the product is made in an illegal Israeli settlement on stolen Palestinian land in violation of international law!
4. Give the Gift of Membership: A great way to give a gift that doesn’t take up space but keeps on growing is to give a Global Exchange membership. When you do that you’re connecting someone you care about with an international movement to build a better world.
5. Be Generous: Times are still hard for many people who are struggling to recover from storms, from the economic downturn and from personal trials. If you can afford it, give as much as you can to those who are making things better and if you don’t have a lot of money, share your smiles, time, songs and encouraging words.

What are your Fair Trade Holiday ideas? Tell us in the comments.

Have a Happy and Fair Trade Holidays!

Happy Fair Trade Month!  For 31 days we’re setting out fun ideas and activities  (and a contest!) to have you eating Fair Trade bananas, hosting movie screenings, baking delicious Fair Trade goodies, recycling Halloween costumes, and giving out Fair Trade chocolates to trick-or-treaters. For more, visit Fair Trade Your Halloween.

Breaking news! 

Hershey’s has announced its commitment to source 100% certified cocoa by 2020.

This is a huge step for Hershey’s to improve its supply chain accountability and shows that it is responsive to consumer pressure and you helped us get here!

While we welcome today’s announcement, we continue to urge the chocolate giant to go 100 percent Fair Trade with incremental benchmarks.

As suggested in a joint statement from the Raise the Bar, Hershey! coalition, to truly address child labor, Hershey’s needs to make sure it is certifying all of its cocoa Fair Trade — the only certification that adequately addresses the Worst Forms of Child Labor.

Join us in thanking Hershey’s for taking this monumental step forward and urge the company to choose a 100% Fair Trade certification for its chocolate and truly raise the bar.

For more information about Hershey’s path toward certified cocoa, please see our blog post from earlier year when Hershey’s made its first announcement about going with Rainforest Alliance and its Bliss Bars.

For 31 days we’ll set out fun ideas and activities (and a contest!) that will have you eating Fair Trade bananas, hosting movie screenings, baking delicious Fair Trade goodies, recycling Halloween costumes, and giving out Fair Trade chocolates to trick-or-treaters.

So Oct. 1st, check out our website for the whole list of actions, or follow us @GXFairTrade or on Facebook where we will deliver your daily action each morning at #fairtrade31.

We’re thrilled to announce that Equal Exchange is selling organic milk chocolate minis and organic dark chocolate minis in bulk, so this Halloween you can support cocoa farmers (including children!)  by passing out delicious, socially responsible chocolate to trick-or-treaters. Equal Exchange will be taking orders starting October 1st.

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Also, consider joining me at the second National Fair Trade Campaigns Conference Oct 26-28! Fair Trade enthusiasts from all over the country will come together to share experiences and resources, sharpen leadership skills, and build momentum for Fair Trade. Register for the event.

Looking forward to working with you to Fair Trade your Halloween!

On Labor Day, join activists from around the country in a fun Facebook action to demand that Hershey‘s and the rest of the cocoa industry END the grinding poverty and abusive child labor in the cocoa fields…by making a statement with s’mores!

We are close to our goal of making at least 1000 Fair Trade S’mores by Labor Day on Sept 3. Will you help us?

Here’s how:
1. Dig into some s’mores: Now through Labor Day weekend, include Fair Trade s’mores in your barbeques and campfires, or plan a We Want More from Our S’mores picnic in the park (or in the kitchen) or other event with friends, family, coworkers, or neighbors. Check out these videos to see how much fun you’ll have.
2. Let the s’mores be counted! Count the s’mores you eat and register them online.
3. Collect petition signatures: During your s’mores gathering, collect signatures on petitions asking Hershey to step up and become Fair Trade Certified.

Then On Sept. 3rd, participate in the National S’mores Day of Action!

Here’s a screenshot of the s’mores pic that Tex shared on Hershey’s Facebook page.

On Sept 3, we’ll have a Day of Action where we’ll blitz Hershey’s Facebook page with our important message that we want fairness now!

To get involved, photograph your Fair Trade s’mores festivities anytime now, then post photos of the action to Hershey’s Facebook page on Sept. 3rd.

If you don’t have a camera, (or you’re on a diet:) no worries. We’ve been collecting photos all summer long, so feel free to use one from our Facebook page. You can find them here and here.

Can’t wait until Labor Day? Once you’ve registered your s’mores, feel free to post your photo to Hershey’s Facebook page anytime, though on Sept. 3rd is the ideal time if you want to join others for the Day of Action.

Here’s how to post your own photo to Hershey’s Facebook page:

Via mobile: Take a photo with any mobile device that allows you to Share on Facebook, go to Hershey’s Facebook page and post your photo and comment to the Hershey’s Facebook Wall.

Via personal computer:

1. Log in to your Facebook account;
2. Go to Hershey’s Facebook page and click “LIKE”;
3. On the left-hand side click “photo/video” then “Upl0ad Photo/Video” then “Browse”;
4. Find the photo on your computer that you want to Share and double click it;
5. Write a comment, e.g. “Hershey stop using child slave labor/go fair trade” — you can get ideas from this page: http://www.raisethebarhershey.org/why-hershey/;
6. Hit “post” and watch your photo and comment appear on the Hershey Facebook page! And don’t worry, you can “unlike” the Hershey Facebook page after your post has been up for a while.

Here’s how to post a Global Exchange photo to Hershey’s Facebook page:

1. Go to one of our Facebook s’mores photo folders (here and here) to find a photo you like, then click on it to open it up;
2. Save to your desktop (mac users click, hold and drag the photo onto your desktop, pc can right click and click ‘save’);
3. Log in to your Facebook account;
4. Go to Hershey’s Facebook page and click “LIKE”;
5. On the left-hand side click “photo/video” then “Upl0ad Photo/Video” then “Browse”;
   
6. Find your saved photo on your desktop and double click it;
7. Write a comment, e.g. “Hershey stop using child slave labor/go fair trade” — you can get ideas from this page: http://www.raisethebarhershey.org/why-hershey/;
8. Hit “post” and watch your photo and comment appear on the Hershey Facebook page! And don’t worry, you can “unlike” the Hershey Facebook page after your post has been up for a while.

Together we can make a difference! Here’s to 1,000 registered s’mores and a Hershey’s Facebook page filled with all of our Fair Trade s’mores photos on September 3rd!

It’s summertime – time for some Fair Trade s’mores!

Join activists nationwide in calling on Hershey and the rest of the cocoa industry to END grinding poverty and abusive child labor in the cocoa fields…by making a statement with our s’mores!

Your delicious s’mores will help raise awareness and hold Hershey accountable for failing to eliminate child and forced labor from its supply chain and encourage the company to achieve Fair Trade certification.

Please help the Fair Trade cocoa campaign reach the goal of making at least 1,000 Fair Trade S’mores starting this Fourth of July through Labor Day weekend.

How to participate:

1. Include Fair Trade s’mores in your barbeques and campfires this summer. Or plan a We Want More from Our S’mores picnic in the park (or in the kitchen) or other event with friends, family, coworkers, or the neighborhood.  
2. Let the s’mores be counted! Count the s’mores you eat and register them online.
3. Collect petition signatures asking Hershey to step up and become Fair Trade Certified during your s’mores gatherings.
4. Screen The Dark Side of Chocolate. Before or after you make your tasty Fair Trade s’mores, show this film to educate others about child labor in the cocoa fields.

Get more resources, including where to purchase Fair Trade certified chocolate for your s’mores, a Fair Trade campfire song, suggestions for summer camp counselors and youth group leaders to integrate We Want More from Our S’mores and other Fair Trade activities into summer programming.

Don’t have a camera? Are on a diet?
No worries – just download a photo of one of our Fair Trade s’mores eaters and share it along, with your message, to Hershey’s Facebook page wall.

Stayed tuned to our Fair Trade blog as we report on our S’mores action throughout the summer. Subscribe via RSS and the fresh content will come to you!

With only 3 years to go, how are we doing?

According to the ILO 215 million children are still in the labor market with more than half of those employed in the worst forms child labor.

The ‘worst forms of child labor’ include:

• slavery
• debt bondage
• serfdom, trafficked for prostitution or for other illicit activities
• or work which is harmful to health, safety or morals of the child.

Instead of being in school, playing with friends or in the safety of their own homes these children are forfeiting their futures and the futures of their communities for the benefit of a few people in the global economy.

Lets make this year’s World Day Against Child Labor be the year we make it stop.

Global Exchange and its Raise the Bar Hershey Campaign allies (Green America, International Labor Rights Forum, and Oasis, and other organizations) have been pressing Hershey to end child labor in its cocoa supply chain and start sourcing Fair Trade certified cocoa.

All over the world children understand the concept of fairness. Children in the US who adore a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup or are rewarded with a Hershey’s kiss are no exception.

So let’s band together and tell Hershey’s to go Fair Trade!

Today in honor of World Day Against Child Labor *five groups called on Hershey’s Chief Executive Officer, John P. Bilbrey, and the Hershey Trust to take action to end a range of appalling practices affecting children and students at both the Hershey School and the Hershey family of companies.

*the five groups are: AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Global Exchange, Green America, the International Labor Rights Forum, and the National Guestworker Alliance.

Check out the letter we sent and join the coalition to take a stand for fairness.

TAKE ACTION!

You Can Get Involved: Sign a petition, make a phone call – do a holiday action! Coming soon “We want from Our S’mores” Actions for the summer! We have a whole page of ways you can get involved right now, right here.

Thanks to all your support, the Hershey Company has taken a first step to trace its supply chain and prevent child labor, however, the company still has a long way to go to ensure all of its products are free from abusive child labor. With our “encouragement” it just might happen.

Here are four things you can do to make this Spring a Fair Trade one.

1) Passover Seder: At this year’s Passover Seder use this Haggadah Supplement: Next Year, an End to Forced Labor in the Cocoa Fields and tell the company about it.

2) Easter Bunny: For Easter, children can send a message to Hershey’s that they want Fair trade by coloring and writing postcards to send the message that Every bunny loves Fair Trade.

3) Sign the petition: At this time of year, there is no more popular product than Cadbury Chocolate Easter Eggs. While Cadbury has demonstrated its commitment to selling Fair Trade chocolates in the UK, Ireland, Japan, South Africa and Australia—the same cannot be said of Cadbury chocolate in the United States. Join us in telling Cadbury and Hershey to sell Fair Trade chocolate in the US!

4) Host a party: Show the movie Dark Side of Chocolate to learn more about child labor in the West Africa cocoa industry. This powerful film is a great way to recruit new Fair Trade Activists so that next year will be the year Hershey’s Raises the Bar.

Happy Spring!

Colored-in Valentine for Hershey

Valentine’s Day is a major chocolate buying holiday, but gifts for your sweetheart should not come at the expense of worker rights. Forced labor, child labor and trafficking continue in the cocoa industry in West Africa.

Here’s how YOU can make a difference:

Tell Hershey to Have a Heart

Make Valentines for members of the Hershey trust calling on Hershey to end child labor, forced labor and human trafficking in its cocoa supply.

• Create your own personalized Valentine telling Hershey to use Fair Trade cocoa for its products, like the iconic chocolate Kiss. Address your valentine to Hershey Trust at 100 Crystal A Drive, Hershey, PA 17033. Please mail your Valentines to Hershey by February 17, 2012.
• You can also download a Valentine to color and send here.
• If you make your own Valentine, please scan it and send the image to the Fair Trade Project at fairtrade@globalexchange.org. We’ll post some of our favorites online.

Why Hershey? Almost all major chocolate companies have begun to commit to using independent, third-party programs to certify that their cocoa suppliers comply with international labor standards, but Hershey continues to lag behind the industry.

Collect signatures on the Raise the Bar Hershey petition calling on Hershey to eliminate the child labor, forced labor and trafficking in their cocoa supply. Download a petition here.

Make your Valentine chocolate Fair Trade!

Fair Trade provides a solution to global economic injustice! Fair Trade principles include a fair price for producers, the prohibition of child labor, community development, environmental sustainability and direct relationships between consumers and producers. See Green America’s chocolate scorecard.

Host a Screening of The Dark Side of Chocolate

You can raise awareness by hosting a screening of The Dark Side of Chocolate in your school or community. This important documentary exposes the ongoing use of trafficked child labor in the cocoa industry. Visit our Dark Side of Chocolate page to obtain a copy and toolkit, including discussion guide and background information. Visit Fair Trade Towns USA to download a list of more films about Fair Trade.

Educate students about Fair Trade in the classroom with these Fair Trade curricula resources. These classroom activities are great for audiences of ALL ages.

Give a Global Exchange Valentine Gift Membership.

Show your love of social justice by giving those you love a Global Exchange Valentine’s Day gift of membership. (Hurry, these are available only while supplies last, and they’re going quickly!)

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Happy Valentine’s Day, from all of us here at Global Exchange!

Cocoa tree ripe with pods

On January 30th, after years of being targeted by organized consumer Fair Trade actions including creative holiday kid’s actions, brand jamming contests, protests and rallies at flag ship Hershey store and shareholder meetings, Hershey has finally made a move!

The Raise the Bar Hershey’s campaign which has been calling on Hershey to go Fair Trade, collected over 100,000 petition signatures through Change.org and other sources, and organized petition deliveries, shareholder resolutions, and Facebook actions to blanket Hershey’s wall with messages.

Two days ago Hershey’s announced that it will make a commitment to purchasing Rainforest Alliance Certified cocoa for all of its Bliss Chocolate products and it will invest $10 million dollars in education and its smart-phone CocoaLink project to teach West African farmers to be more efficient.

So what does this actually mean?  Have we won an important first step or are we being duped?

*The following sentence was updated on 3/27/2012 for clarification.

Original sentence: Hersheys’ CocoaLink, funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is a project that aims to increase yields and productivity on small cocoa farms by introducing new plants, techniques and inputs to small farmers and provide them with real-time advice through a cell phone network.

Updated sentence: According to World Cocoa Foundation Communications Manager Marisa Yoneyama, “CocoaLink is possible through a public-private partnership between The Hershey Company, the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) and The Ghana Cocoa Board.” In early 2009, the World Cocoa Foundation announced a new, $40 million program funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and 14 chocolate industry companies to significantly improve the livelihoods of approximately 200,000 cocoa farmers in Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia and Nigeria.

The (cell phone network) idea is that by increasing yields, farmers will have more income and the need for child labor will decrease.But will this work, and how would you know for sure?

Since passage of the Harkin-Engel Protocol over 10 years ago, Global Exchange’s Fair Trade program, along with the Raise the Bar Hershey’s Coalition, has been calling for a code of conduct for suppliers that would ban child labor and put measures in place to enforce such codes. Following Harkin-Engel, the whole chocolate industry committed to ending child labor, forced labor, and trafficking in their cocoa supply chains. A decade later, hundreds of thousands of children continue to labor in hazardous conditions in West Africa, particularly in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, and the US Department of Labor has noted five West African nations whose cocoa may still be tainted by forced and/or child labor.

It’s not clear how increased yields would actually eliminate the worst forms of child labor but monitoring is a good first step.  This is the first commitment that Hershey has made to using an independent, third – party certification system to ensure that its cocoa is grown sustainably, including the monitoring of forced and child labor.

This commitment is a welcome first step for Hershey to improve its supply chain accountability and shows that it is responsive to consumer pressure.

You did it!!  Your petitions, actions, questions and demands were heard!

This announcement also demonstrates that The Hershey Company acknowledges the severity of the labor abuses that taint the West African cocoa sector, where Hershey’s sources the majority of its cocoa.

So why aren’t we happier?

Well, Global Exchange has been committed to Fair Trade since its beginning in this country, and we believe that Fair Trade certification is the best way to achieve the goal of supply chain transparency, a fair price for farmers, and the elimination of forced child labor in the production of our chocolate.  There is a difference between Rain Forest Alliance Certification and something that is Fair Trade certified.

Fair Trade independent third-party certification addresses poverty, sustainability and empowerment of producers (and workers) in the world’s poorest countries through guaranteed minimum prices plus an additional social premium to be invested in community development.  Rainforest Alliance certification, also independent third-party, encompasses all aspects of sustainability as well, but does not offer guaranteed prices, relying instead on the farmers’ capacity to increase yields and efficiency and negotiate for themselves in the global marketplace. According to Rainforest Alliance’s own website:

Fairtrade labelling standards are designed to tackle poverty and empower producers in the world’s poorest countries, giving them a guaranteed price for their products. Rather than emphasizing how products are traded, Rainforest Alliance certification…focuses on how farms are managed.

Cocoa (or cacao) pods, where chocolate comes from

Increasing yields and efficiency may be a way to increase income temporarily, but without price guarantees it only means more cocoa for Hershey’s.  Relying on the market to set prices and farmers’ incomes means that when yields increase, prices will drop.   What will the efficiency and higher yields cost in terms of chemical inputs, strain on water resources and natural sustainability? Rainforest Alliance focuses on management rather than workers, on efficiency rather than justice. Hershey’s, you picked the wrong one!

Any model that is not truly sustainable, that chooses short-term gain for individual farmers over community development will not produce the conditions necessary to eliminate trafficking and forced child labor.

So is this a victory or not?

Yes, we should recognize this as a positive step forward but we can’t overstate it or we risk becoming too complacent and leaving the public confused.

Hershey’s has taken a step forward by:

• Responding to consumer pressure and Fair Trade activism: WE have convinced the largest chocolate company in the U.S to change the way it does business!
• Acknowledging the problem.
• Agreeing to third party verification.

We would like Hershey to continue taking more steps. Yes, we can celebrate. And then get back to work.

The holiday season always seems to take over like a train barreling down the tracks faster than you can control. You want to live up to your values, appreciate your friends and family and have fun during this season.  Here are five ways you can accomplish all three:

Equal Exchange Singing a Fair Trade Carol

1) Fair Trade Caroling is a great way to share the message of Fair Trade with your neighbors and community, so put on your Santa hat and have some fun!

To get you in the spirit, here are some clips of carolers making music and sharing the ideals of Fair Trade:

• Equal Exchange Carolers
  
• Teen Carolers in the News
• Fair Trade USA Carolers
• Granny Carolers
• Global Exchange Carolers

Ready to Start Caroling? Great, here’s all you need to know: First, download lyrics from our web site or make up your own. Next gather your carolers and start singing. Don’t forget to film it and send us the short video clip link of your Fair Trade Caroling adventure so we can share it with the world.

Fair Trade Gift Membership Package

2) Shop Fair Trade.  Yes you probably had thought of that, but did you know there is a way to give a Fair Trade gift that won’t take up much space in your friends tiny apartment but will still make a big difference in the lives of small producers and farmers? It’s true. Simply give a Fair Trade Membership Gift Package. Your gift supports Global Exchange’s Fair Trade program and commitment to growing the Fair Trade movement and includes all sorts of cool perks. Check it out online here!

Of course, if you are looking for unique Fair Trade products, pop by one of our Bay Area or DC stores to find a wide selection of Fair Trade products. Or use the Fair Trade Federation product locator http://www.fairtradefederation.org/ to search for Fair Trade products throughout the US.

3) Petition Hershey– With all those bowls of chocolates at holiday parties wouldn’t  it be nice to be able to nibble without worrying about whether a child’s forced labor was used to produce it?  Over 50,000 signatures have been collected encouraging Hershey’s to “Raise the Bar” by making the switch and they have heard us. We’d like to reach 100,000 by Valentine’s Day. Add your name here.

4) Bake Something Delicious – Instead of Hershey’s kisses or guilty gelt in your stocking, try making your own delicious Fair trade treat – Here is a recipe for Zarah’s own mud pie as featured in our sister organization CodePink’s cookbook Peace Never Tasted So Sweet:

Fair Trade Mud Pie

Pie Crust:
1 1/2 cup vanilla wafer crumbs
1/4 cup Fair Trade cocoa powder
1/3 cup Fair Trade powdered sugar
6 tablespoons melted margarine

Mix all ingredients thoroughly and press it into a 9 inch pie plate. Bake at 350F for 8 minutes. Cool.

Pie:
1 cup Fair Trade powdered sugar
1 cup (6oz) Fair Trade semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
3/4 cup chopped nuts (Fair Trade almonds)
1 1/2-2 pints Fair Trade coffee ice cream (Ben & Jerrys!) make sure it is slightly softened. [If you want, can make one pint FT chocolate, one pint FT coffee ice cream. !! yum]
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

Heat up the FT sugar, FT chocolate chips, butter, cream & corn syrup in a small heavy duty saucepan over low heat. Stir constantly until butter is melted and the mixture is smooth. (Can look online for good tips on how to melt chocolate and get to a good consistency.)
Once smooth, remove it from heat and stir in the organic vanilla. Cool it down until it is slightly warm.

Drizzle 1/3 cup of chocolate mixture in bottom of crust, sprinkle FT chopped almonds. Layer 1/2-1 pint of FT coffee ice cream, using thin scoops. Freeze for one hour to one hour and a half.
Repeat layering with remaining mixture, nuts and ice cream until ingredients gone or no more room in pie crust.

Freeze for two more hours or until pie is firm then enjoy! You have yourself and Fair Trade mud pie. Yum.

5) Be Generous – It’s been a rough year, many of us don’t have a lot of money to spare, but generosity of spirit enriches. Donate what you can afford to your favorite Fair Trade organization or if you can’t do that, share your time, your attention and your good energy.

What else haven’t we thought of? Share your Fair Trade holiday ideas that we’ve left out.