The Chocolate Fudge Cafe

World Fair Trade Day is almost here, with events taking place May 4 – 19, 2013.  The following is a list of films that you might like to see in honor of Fairly Traded products around the world.

FAIR TRADE FILMS from The Fair Trade Resource Network

FILMS ABOUT FAIR TRADE COFFEE

(In order of film duration)

Films are great educational tools, offering viewers opportunities to better understand the ways in which products are grown and/or processed. More importantly, the films below exhibit the strong connections that we have with those who make the goods we use and the food we eat.

• After the Harvest: Fighting Hunger in the Coffeelands

By Optic Nerve Productions ~ 20 minutes ~ 2010 ~ General Audience

FTRN says: “The film illustrates how small-scale coffee farmers, even if active in FLO’s Fair Trade Certification system, in Latin America go hungry, get insufficient nutrition, and increase personal debt 3-8 months of the year. A recent survey of small-scale coffee farmers in Central and South America found two-thirds of the farmers saying they were hungry during ’the thin months’, after the harvest. Apparently this food insecurity is widely unknown in the global coffee industry.”

Summary/Review: This documentary was created to accompany a Consumers International report: “A short film that brings the day-to-day challenges of ‘the thin months’ to life in the voices of coffee farmers from Mexico and elsewhere. Stories show the successes of creative projects that have been established to eliminate this annual period of food insecurity.”

See or download the film at After the Harvest

• From Crop to Cup

Lutheran World Relief ~ 22 min ~ 2009 ~ General Audience

FTRN says: “This accessible video gives a good introduction to the coffee process and how Fair Trade makes a difference for farmers and the environment.”

Summary/Review: Video explains that consumers can do right by  Nicaraguan farmers by purchasing Fair Trade coffee like Equal Exchange, partner of the Lutheran World Relief Coffee project.

Watch it online, OR get a free DVD by calling 1-800-LWR-LWR-2.

• Coffee with the Taste of the Moon

Organic Consumers Association ~ 30 minutes ~ 2005 ~ General Audience

FTRN says: “This film explains the effects of the Fair Trade and Organic movements in the coffee market.”

Summary/Review: The documentary film introduces viewers to the people who are producers and consumers of the most traded commodity in the world after oil- coffee.  From the point of view of the narrator, who one day wonders about the impact of his morning cup, we learn about the powerful and promising sustainability efforts of the rapidly growing Fair Trade and Organic movement.

To acquire the film, contact the Organic Consumers Association.

• Buyer Be Fair: The Promise of Product Certification

John De Graaf ~ 55 minutes ~ 2006 ~ General Audience

FTRN says: “This high quality documentary offers a balanced look into product certification – of Fair Trade coffee and timber – and the essential role it plays in today’s global economy.”

Summary/Review: Buyer Be Fair takes viewers to Mexico, the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden, the USA and Canada to explore how conscious consumers and businesses can use the market to promote social justice and environmental sustainability through product labeling, with a focus on Fair Trade coffee and Forest Stewardship Council certified wood. This television special reaches beyond the choir to present the promise of product certification to a wide audience.

Buy the film

• Birdsong and Coffee: A Wake Up Call

Old Dog Documentaries ~ 56 minutes ~ 2005 ~ General Audiences and Academic Settings

FTRN says: “Birdsong and Coffee is a high-quality, moving and informative documentary exhibiting the interdependence of producers, consumers, and the ecosystem.”

Summary/Review: Birdsong and Coffee uses a series of interviews to communicate the sincere, respectful relationship that exists through Fair Trade among the parties involved in coffee production. In this film we hear from experts and students, from coffee lovers and bird lovers, and-most importantly-from coffee farmers themselves. We learn how their lives and ours are inextricably linked, economically and environmentally.

Buy the film and access its companion discussion guide.

• Black Gold

Mark and Nick Francis ~ 77 minutes ~ 2005 ~ General Audience

FTRN says: “This documentary has captured the dilemma of the coffee farmer: how to get a fair price for quality coffee in a market that is set up only to make money for powerful international traders in cities far from the farm.”

Summary/Review: Black Gold follows Tadesse Meskela, the leader of an Ethiopian coffee cooperative, on his travels through Africa and around the world seeking a fair price for the coffee grown by cooperative members before they are forced to declare bankruptcy. Meskela travels to London and Seattle in an attempt to find a coffee buyer willing to pay a fair price, while the film documents the enormous power of world coffee traders and the double-dealing of trade ministers during World Trade Organization talks.

Buy the DVD Find out more online

FILMS ABOUT OTHER FAIR TRADE PRODUCTS

(In order of film duration)

• Fair Trade: The Story

TransFair USA ~ 8 minutes ~ 2006 ~ General Audience

FTRN says: “Produced by TransFair USA, this short film provides an excellent overview of Fair Trade certification – how it works, what it does, and what it means to producers around the world.”

Summary/Review: TransFair USA talks with farmers in countries of origin to understand how Fair Trade has benefitted them personally, allowing them to send their children to school or to work without chemicals. The producers also talk to retailers in the United States to understand the power of the consumer to effect change just by paying attention to the products they buy every day.

Watch the video online

• Traidcraft in Bangladesh

Mark Batey ~ 9 minutes ~ 2007 ~ General Audience

FTRN says: “Produced in the UK, this short presents a colorful look into the process of getting Fair Trade products from villages to warehouses to retail outlets, following a volunteer as she looks at the process firsthand.”

Summary/Review: A Traidcraft volunteer gets a chance to meet a group of women in Bangladesh who produce some of the goods she sells. She discovers that Fair Trade has empowered communities like the one she visits where community members have installed proper sanitation facilities, better housing, schools, and proper meals. The film also highlights the way Fair Trade has contributed to women claiming their voice in their community.

Watch the video online

• Calcutta Hilton

Sinclair Enterprises ~ 23 minutes (plus 2 hrs. extra) ~ 2005 ~ High school and above

FTRN says: “This film evidences the power of Fair Trade businesses to radically improve people’s lives. As with many Fair Trade businesses, Freeset offers training, literacy, community, fun and support for vulnerable people.  An inspirational and empowering film showing the many roles people play and benefits they get in a jute bag business.”

Summary/Review: The Hiltons are just your average Kiwi family, but the textile manufacturing business they have established is anything but average. Located on the fringes of Calcutta’s largest red-light district, it gives the women of the area something they have long been denied – the option of leaving the sex trade. “Calcutta Hilton” tells the story of this inspirational business.

Order the DVD from Sinclair Enterprises

• A Thousand Fibers: Binding Together through Fair Trade

H. Bruce Wilson and Partners for Just Trade ~ 33 minutes ~ 2009 ~ General Audience

FTRN says: “This video is most useful for showing the impact of Fair Trade on producers’ lives. It also is one of the few films that introduces how Fair Trade works in the world of commodities (like chocolate and coffee) as well as in handcrafts, with a special focus on the lives of handcraft artisans in Peru.”

Summary/Review: This film shows real life examples of the Fair Trade Federation’s principles for Fair Trade Organizations. A second version on the same DVD can be used with a Bible study program.

Buy DVD from Partners for Just Trade

• The Dark Side of Chocolate

By Miki Mistrati and U. Robert Romano~ 45 minutes ~ 2010 ~ General Audience

FTRN says: “This video is most useful for showing the horrors of child labor and trafficked children in W. African cocoa farms that supply major corporations and brands. It also demonstrates the lack of interest by major corporations to solutions like Fair Trade.”

Summary/Review: This film goes undercover to Mali and Ivory Coast to document child trafficking, forced labor and other worst forms of child labor that should have been eliminated under the Cocoa Protocol signed by major chocolate industry groups in 2001. It also shows footage of major chocolate company executives in Europe uninterested in the transgressions and solutions presented by the film.

See trailer and background at The Dark Side of Chocolate

Buy DVD and screening kit from Green America

• Pa Pa Paa

Comic Relief ~ Multiple lengths ~ 2005 ~ Children

FTRN says: “Recommended for its appeal to audiences of all levels, including children.”

Summary/Review: This DVD accompanies a series of educational tools and photographs produced for British schoolteachers to aid in teaching primary school children about Fair Trade and Ghanaian cocoa growers. “Pa Pa Paa” is an informative film presenting facts about the process of harvesting, processing and selling cocoa.

Available to order on DVD

• A Powerful Noise

Sheila C. Johnson ~ 80 minutes ~ 2009 ~ General Audience

FTRN says: “This film focuses on women’s issues in the developing world, which are an important part of the Fair Trade issue.  One of the three women protagonists in the film starts a Fair Trade agricultural cooperative to provide employment to widows of the Bosnian War.  An inspirational and empowering film .”

Summary/Review: Hanh is an HIV-positive widow in Vietnam. Nada is a survivor of the Bosnian war. And Jacqueline works the slums of Bamako, Mali. Three very different lives. Three vastly different worlds. But they share something in common: Power. These women are each overcoming gender barriers to rise up and claim a voice in their societies. Through their empowerment and ability to empower others, Hanh, Nada and Jacqueline are sparking remarkable changes.

Order the DVD

• The Price of Sugar

Bill Haney~ 90 minutes ~ 2007 ~ General Audience

FTRN says: “This award-winning film shows the efforts to bring Fair Trade to Haiti and exposes the conditions of developing countries without Fair Trade practices.”

Summary/Review: Narrated by Paul Newman, “The Price of Sugar” follows Father Christopher Hartley, a charismatic Spanish priest, as he organizes some of this hemisphere’s poorest people to fight for their basic human rights. This film raises key questions about where the products we consume originate and at what human cost they are produced.

Order the DVD

OTHER ONLINE FILMS

More Fair Trade videos are available on YouTube.

Just a few YouTube videos to recommend:

• Fair Trade: Improving Lives (2009, 2 min.)

The CEO of Fair  Trade USA, Paul Rice, explains how Fair Trade impacts farmers and workers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tvLHDxv4B4

• Fair Trade Advert (2007, 1.5 min.)

This minute and a half video features a man trying to get change.  When people don’t have enough change to repay the man in full, they are unwilling to exchange with him even though he doesn’t mind.  It is an interesting analogy to FT prices worldwide, since 86% of people wouldn’t make an unfair trade.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfVS1vbXyXo

• Fairtrade Coffee in Uganda (2007, 3.5 min.)

This video by GreenTV explains the process of FT approval for coffee growers in Uganda.  Through interviews, it shows the positive effects in the lives of Ugandan coffee growers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEVozJa13po&feature=related

• Inside Fairtrade fashion – a day in the life of People Tree (6 min.)

This is a really interesting video about a Fair Trade fashion company.  It interviews the founder and other employees, who explain why their work is positive and different from other clothing companies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amVmhSaRgnk&NR=1

• Santiago’s Story (2000, 6 min.)

Made by TransFair USA, this is the story of one farmer.  He discusses the challenges in getting a fair price for coffee and the effects of switching to FT coffee.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9U1q1g8oDc

• Free Vs. Fair Trade (2007, 10 min.)

This is a really well put together video, with lots of interviews from leaders of the FT movement and some celebrities.  For a 10 min. video, it deals with lots of the issues, like food security and the role of international organizations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlT9atfuhOE

• Trade Aid: Alternative trade in a conventional world (2007, 20 min. in 2 parts)

Trade Aid does a good job in this video explaining what is Fair Trade and why it works in the developing world.  It discusses the problems with international trade regulations and gives the history of their organization.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNodTqHw9Eo

Please visit this website for further information about World Fair Trade Day 2013 : http://www.ftrn.org/wftd/

The Rainforest Alliance’s little green frog is recognized by consumers around the world as the symbol of environmental, social and economic sustainability. Click on the froggy logo to go to a listing of products bearing the Rainforest Alliance Certified™ seal that are available for direct purchase by consumers.

These days – thanks to the combination of concerns about the environmental issues of transporting foodstuffs around the globe, coupled with the harsh economic climate, there is a tendency for people to choose growing and eating their own locally grown produce. Does this also apply, you may ask, to the cacao plant?

Of course, chocolate lovers would  probably delight in having a plant which provides produce which can be made into cocoa and chocolate products. In terms of the natural habitat for the cacao tree, it grows in a tropical climate such as South America or Central America  and also in Africa and Asia. As a rule, this evergreen plant prefers temperatures around 68 degrees Fahrenheit. However, if you fancy growing your own cacao plant in a more arid country, why not try growing one in your greenhouse?

The cacao plant is not especially hardy so it is worth taking the time to learn how to take care of the plant. Here are a few tips as to how to get going.

The easiest way to get started is to buy a baby cacao plant from a nursery. If you are really hard core and want to do everything yourself, you could take a stem cutting (the cutting should have a few leaves on it and one or two buds) and, once you`ve dipped it in rooting hormone, pot it into a well-drained pot, keep the soil moist and covered with a plastic bag. Keep the plant warm and in a shaded space. The plant can take more light, the bigger it grows.

When you have your baby cacao plant, by whatever means, it needs to be planted in a shaded place. It has been said that, because cacao plants need shade, they can be planted in rainforests which has the environmental advantage of protecting these important habitats. For home use, make sure the hole for your plant is three times the diameter of the root ball and three times the height.

Expert gardening sites recommend that the plant is watered immediately with a slow soaking and that mulch is spread 3 – 6 inches thick  around the tree (about half a foot away from the trunk). The plant should then be watered according to the soil type but remember the cacao grows naturally in tropical climes.

There is a debate as to whether to use fertilizers and chemicals on the plant. Some say yes, some say no. If you choose to apply fertilizer, follow the direction on the pack. The tree should be pruned once it reaches a couple of feet in height. It has been recommended to allow four branches to develop and to prune away others.

In due course, you should begin to see the produce of the tree! Of course, for life’s other little treats, it may be easier to pop to the shop to buy your goodies.  And for coffee lovers, rather than going to the trouble of buying a coffee plant, it may be better to buy your coffee beans online: http://www.caffesociety.co.uk/coffee-ingredients-sundries/coffee/fresh-coffee-beans.

It has been said that the beginnings of chocolate production,which is now a food product that delights and teases the taste buds of adults and children alike the world over, originated in Mesoamerica. It is said to date back to 1900 BC and was used in Maya and Aztec ceremonies and events. In fact, sometimes during the Aztec civilization, cacao beans were paid as a sort of tax by those who were conquered. Once the beans travelled to Europe, however, the form of the food product changed. Chocolate had additional ingredients added – refined sugar and also milk. In the 1800s, the Cadbury chocolate producers found a way to emulsify the process of making chocolate to turn it into a solid form, which then became the product that we would recognise today – the chocolate bar. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, things changed further to refine the making of chocolate goodies including the squeezing out of cocoa butter to create hard chocolate. And of course, once the processes relating to chocolate production were mechanised, the levels of output increased considerably and chocolate was made available to a much wider consumer base. These days, West Africa produces most of the cocoa used in the globe, especially Cote d`Ivoire. Published statistics suggest that this continent is responsible for the production of nearly two thirds of cocoa.

These days, chocolate consumption is – as you no doubt are aware – very popular. However, although it is a much loved food stuff, not many of us realize the conditions within which it is produced. There have been arguments that those who produce cocoa (and coffee for that matter too) can be exploited and live in poverty. Some commentators have described these labourers as modern day slaves. Sadly, many children are included in this definition. Reports by some journalists in 2000 said that children, aged between 12 and 16 years old, were enslaved and sold to plantation owners. The work is hard and the hours are long – in addition, the cocoa bean farming process uses dangerous machinery and equipment such as machetes and pesticide. In response to awareness of this problem, consumers have an option to opt out of supporting these practices. The Fair Trade organization will certify chocolate (or coffee and other products) with its seal of approval when the products comply with their standards. For instance, these criteria relate to the wages paid to labourers, their working conditions and health and safety procedures and the use of environmentally sustainable methods. If you make the Fair Trade choice, this means that when you bite on a certified Fair Trade bar of chocolate or put Fair Trade coffee in bean to cup coffee machines you can enjoy the product even more.

Fair Trade coffee is a very important topic; this type of coffee production ensures fair working conditions for those who supply the product. The concept of supporting coffee producers who are poor with trading has been present for many years. However the labeling of fair trade products really started to take off in the year 1988. The idea was a solution to the fall of coffee prices all around the world, which of course was a threat to a huge number of poor farmers’ livelihoods. The idea, which began in the Netherlands, soon gained popularity and spread to many other countries. Other produce also began to be labelled as Fair Trade, such as tea, bananas and chocolate.

What is fair trade coffee? Well, any product which has been traded in an ethical manner could be considered “Fair Trade”. But for products to have the official Fair-Trade label, they must adhere to a set of strict criteria. For a packet or jar of coffee to have a Fair-trade label, it needs to meet certain standards; these standards were created so as to make sure that trade and production of coffee and other goods are socially responsible. Criteria like this helps to assist marginalized and disadvantaged famers who work on a smaller scale, as well as those who work on plantations. The criteria for Fair-Trade is related to three different areas of development which is sustainable. These areas include economic development, social development and environmental development. The standards must be met by both the producers of coffee as well as their organizations and the traders.

The main aims of these standards are to make sure that there is a fair minimum price for the coffee which is agreed upon by the producers. The minimum price which is paid by the buyers covers sustainable production costs. The standards also provide a premium as an additional cost; this money is then spent on projects which benefit the economy, society and environment of the producers. These projects are decided upon in a democratic manner by a farmer organizations as well as those who work on the plantations. The Fair Trade standards also help to give financial aid to producers who need it and encourage partnership between the traders. Fair Trade guidelines also help to create healthy relationships between producers and traders so that sustainable production and long term plans can be made as well as setting up progressive rules to make sure that coffee which is produced and traded is economically, socially and environmentally fair.

So the next time you’re in a cafe or a supermarket, deciding which coffee to buy, make sure you choose fair trade coffee; then you’ll know you have done your bit today to make the world a better place.

This article contributed by Caffe Society.  Here’s their link:

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Rich Rainforest Coffees

These aromatic blends from the rainforests of Peru, Columbia and Mexico can’t help but fill your morning or afternoon coffee cup with the most delicious tasting coffee you’ve ever had.  They are organic, fair trade, bird-friendly and shade grown, so you can ease your conscious about helping the planet while you enjoy something you love.  Great gift idea too.  Visit www.earthssweetpleasures.com to order.