The Chocolate Fudge Cafe

Equadorean Protestors in Lago Agrio near the Columbian border

Cacao pods on trees

  Did you know that some of  the best chocolate comes from Equador?  Small family farmers are growing some of the best cacao in the world and the chocolate from those trees is delicious!  It is pure, organic and fair trade without the “greed energy” of some of the other cacao growing regions.

   This is why we must do all we can to protect the Equadorean rainforest and its farmers.  One way is to get Chevron to clean up its mess from an oil spill by Texaco.   The plaintiffs in a huge lawsuit in the Ecuadorean oil boom town of Lago Agrio, located just across the border from Colombia, allege that Texaco, which operated in Ecuador from 1964 to 1990 and was acquired by Chevron in 2001, poisoned their lands, rivers and ground water with toxic chemicals.

http://mobile.globalpost.com/dispatch/the-americas/090429/chevron-ecuador

If you interested in signing a petition regarding this issue:

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/chevron_ecuador/

There is also activity in Tena and the Kallari, where Ivanhoe, a Canadian oil company, has leased rights from the Ecuadorian government to prospect for oil. The form of oil that is found in the area does not lend itself to conventional drilling, instead, a form of strip mining must be used. Naturally, the consequences of unrestrained exploitation of oil in the region could be devastating not only to Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest, but to large amounts of acreage planted in cacao, and to many members of the Kallari community. One only has to visit the town of Coca to see the potential for problems.  Keep updated:  http://www.thechocolatelife.com/group/tenadiaries

valentine’s day simplify your holiday (from New Dream.org)

Do you sometimes feel that traditional displays of love and caring for the planet just aren’t in harmony?  This Valentine’s Day, you don’t need to buy expensive jewelry or chocolate to show someone how much you care.  New Dream’s new Simplify Your Valentine’s Day Guide, an expansion of our perennially popular Simplify the Holiday’s guide, will show you how to celebrate a simpler and less consumption-oriented Valentine’s Day this year.  The guide is filled with concrete advice on how to find environmentally and socially-responsible alternatives to traditional Valentine’s Day gifts, as well as recommendations on how to organize a memorable, non-material oriented holiday.  New Dream also extends a very special thank you to everyone who submitted their personal stories for inclusion in the guide!

Change the Way We Celebrate Valentine’s Day:     

Every year, do you think to yourself, “I really want to get ny loved ones something special for Valentine’s Day, but I’m tired of the same old consumer junk?”   Why not treat your loved ones to really special gifts this year?  Give Valentines from the heart.  Choose something that makes you feel good inside.  For example, why not plant a tree in your loved one’s honor?  Visit the Arbor Day Foundation for the gift of a tree.  Or, perhaps you could give a donation in your loved one’s name to one of the many Haiti relief efforts, like Mercy Corps, my personal favorite.  If you feel like you want to put something more tangible into your loved one’s hands, try fair trade, organic chocolates and/or flowers.  Earth’s Sweet Pleasures makes delicious organic, fair trade fudge.  Visit It’s Only Natural Gifts and Kate’s Caring Gifts for all natural, fair trade gift baskets.  Try Organic Bouquet for delivered flowers, or Google a local organic flower grower.  You can also visit websites such as TransFair, Rainforest Alliance and New Dream for more ideas.  These sites will lead you to ever more information on sustainable gift giving and continue to open your horizons to a new way of being. 

        Make your bucks count!  Shop from the companies featured in this Fair Trade Holiday Gift Guide.  Hundreds of companies with amazing fair trade gifts, including delicious Rich Rainforest dark chocolate fudge from Earth’s Sweet Pleasures.

Click on the link below to access the latest short clip by three prominent DJ’s on the SCENE!  They are giving us the scoop on Fair Trade the White House.  Have YOU signed the petition yet?  Watch DJ’s for Fair Trade, featuring:

Frank Aceves - Frank (e)

Darrell Palacio - Concise

Derrick Ah Sam

http://www.youtube.com/FairTradeWhiteHouse