The Chocolate Fudge Cafe

EARTH’S SWEET PLEASURES, makers of the Gourmet Fudge Bar, want to celebrate Earth Day 2013 by acknowledging all the farmers who make our product possible, from the cacao farmers in Ecuador to the sugar cane growers in Dominican Republic. Our product is 100% organic and fairly traded. Our home-compostable wrapper is made from corn-based cellulose.

We endeavor to make our deliciously rich Gourmet Fudge Bars as earth-friendly as possible.  Our 70% dark chocolate comes from Ecuadorian farms certified by The Rainforest Alliance.  L. Hawk Cargo, “The Fudgemeister” feels this is the best tasting chocolate he’s ever found.  The fudge is hand-crafted into bars from an old family recipe, but all the ingredients have been converted into a mouth-watering, healthier combination.

Please visit our website for more information or call 888-999-3191

www.earthssweetpleasures.com

“The Fudgemeister”  Gourmet Fudge Bar

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 US Supreme Court has denied a bid by Chevron to block an $18.2 billion judgment against the company in a pollution case in Ecuador.

A lower court threw out an injunction blocking enforcement of the judgment. Chevron appealed to the supreme court, which rejected the appeal without explanation. On 26 January, the 2nd US circuit court of appeals in New York said Chevron had been premature to challenge the judgment, which residents of Ecuador’s Lago Agrio region won in February 2011 over pollution of the Amazon jungle and resulting damage to their health. In July, damages in the case were increased to $19 billion.

Chevron claimed that the judgment was fraudulent and unenforceable under New York law.

But the 2nd Circuit said the oil company, based in San Ramon, California, could challenge it “only defensively, in response to attempted enforcement,” which the Lago Agrio residents had not attempted and might never attempt.

The vicious legal fight dates back to the 1970s and 80s when Texaco, now part of Chevron, discharged billions of gallons of toxic waste into an area affecting over 1,500 square miles of what has become known as the “Amazon Chernobyl”.

Full article at Amazon Watch:  http://amazonwatch.org/news/2012/1009-us-supreme-court-rejects-chevron-appeal-in-ecuador-pollution-case?utm_source=Amazon+Watch+Newsletter+and+Updates&utm_campaign=cce898d4a5-post-luncheon_20121017&utm_medium=email

Watch the video here: http://chevrontoxico.com/take-action/

From Rainforest Alliance website: http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/kids/facts/tropical-forest

What is a Tropical Forest?

Tropical rainforests are home to over half the world’s species, all squeezed into a narrow strip of equatorial land. They are also home to millions of human beings that have been a part of forest ecosystem for thousands of years. Together, tropical forests form a gallery of the most beautiful, awe-inspiring places and creatures on Earth.  Since the beginning of history, humans have relied on tropical forests.  The “jungle” provided our ancient ancestors with a steady supply of wood, plants and animals, and it gave us many of our first fruits, fibers, grains, medicines, cloths, resins, pigments and other materials. As the millennia passed and many human communities moved farther and farther away from the Tropics, our ties to the forest did not weaken. Major trade routes, and even empires, developed to control the flow of the tropical forest’s treasures.

Today, most of the industrialized world senses little connection to the tropical forest, living in large, busy cities far away from these fertile ecological powerhouses. We forget that the forest regularly saves our global food supply by offering new, disease-resistant crops. We forget about the hundreds of billions of dollars worth of trade in tropical timber, non-timber forest products and forest-derived drugs. We forget about things that are ultimately beyond value: the livelihoods of millions of forest peoples, a stable and livable climate for us all, the existence of most of our fellow species, and simple things we take for granted, like regular rain and clean air.

In tropical nations, many developing and debt-ridden, the forest is cleared in the hope of securing an economic future. Huge industrial interests, including timber, agriculture and mining, see an “endless,” profitable supply of cheap resources just waiting to be taken. Meanwhile, family farmers and loggers feel they have no option but to deforest in order to feed their families. However, innumerable studies and recent history show that little security can be found in tropical deforestation.

Thus far, our human family has erased half of our original endowment of tropical forests. Our world is now facing the greatest extinction crisis since the fall of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. The future of over 50 percent of Earth’s plants and animals — and hundreds of human cultures — will be determined within the next few decades. Since our lives are so dependent on the forest’s bounty, our future is at stake as well.

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.

Mother Earth News and GRIT magazines will be hosting International Homesteading Education Month this September 2012.  http://www.naturalnews.com/036261_free_healing_summit.html

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.

By now most of us know the benefits of eating dark chocolate…after all, it’s been all over the mainstream news lately…but,  have you ever eaten raw cacao nibs, the natural source for chocolate?  They are quite good for you, and likely better for you than eating a chocolate bar.  Since it is the natural fruit (bean) from which the processed chocolate is made from, it makes sense that eating it in its original form would give you more of the benefits being touted by the mainstream media.  These studies and reports are most likely funded by big chocolate manufacturers who have an interest in advertising the health benefits of dark chocolate so they can sell more of their bars which are taking up quite a bit of space on grocery shelves now.  Many health practitioners of all modalities are recommending a little bit of chocolate every day for their patients.  The next time you’re in a health food store, ask if you can try a sample of the raw cacao nibs.  The health benefits per gram are much more pronounced minus the sugar, additives and fillers used in some dark chocolate bars.  Here is the nutritional information for raw cacao nibs from David Wolfe’s book “Superfoods”:

Raw Cacao Nibs – Nutritional Information

Protein      15.4 grams

Carbohydrate (Total)  29.4 grams

Fat (Total)     48.0 grams

Moisture     3.9 grams

Ash     3.3 grams

Calories      611

Calories from Fat     432

Saturated Fat     27.6 grams

Trans Fat      0.25 grams

Dietary Fiber     22.3 grams

Sugars     53 mg

Calcium     58 mg

Iron     202 mg

Magnesium     342 mg

Vitamin A     20 (IU)

Vitamin C     44 mg

Raw Cacao has a host of other beneficial constituents that are bio-available.  You can visit www.sacredchocolate.com for more information.