That’s my pink bike there parked out front, waiting patiently while I was grocery shopping for fair trade yummies at Co-opportunity.
Co-opportunity rocks. And I’m not just saying that cuz I own part of it. Luckily for me, this grocery store’s just like 4 blocks from me now, so I can even walk over –
If you wanna celebrate fair trade month, go grocery shopping here — You’ll find:
Fair trade teas! You can get Choice bagged teas, or chilled bottles of Honest Tea in the refigerators.
Of course, there’s lots of fair trade coffee, mostly from Cafe Altura and Newman’s Own Organics.
Then there’s fair trade yerba mate from Eco Teas and Guayaki. I’m actually not a big fan of mate, but some people love it –
And fair trade cocoa from Dagoba –
Pick up a couple bars of fair trade chocolate from Divine and Endangered Species.
More dessert: Some of Ben & Jerry’s ice creams in the freezer are fair trade :)
There’s also fair trade sugar, just below the fair trade cocoa.
In the bulk area, you can get fair trade, organic basmati rice, both white and brown.
As you check out, you’ll see fair trade snack bars from Alpsnack and Maya.
And lastly, you can buy some pretty fair trade crafts from World of Good — They’re displayed on a stand near the cosmetics counter :)
For the record in the last 6 months or so Endangered Species has removed all mention of Fair Trade from their website and new marketing materials and is no longer participating in the Fair Trade certification system. Any certified chocolate you might have found was probably older stock. For example, their new 1.3 oz bars and “Bug Bites”, etc. in Boston lack the seal. If you’re curious that might be willing to give you their reasons.
Comment by Rodney North — October 15, 2006 @ 7:57 pm
For reals? I’m concerned both ’bout the fair trade certification AND the old age of the chocos I’m eating — Will investigate –
Comment by Siel — October 16, 2006 @ 11:37 pm
Endangered Species had their certification yanked… Transafair, the certifying body, pulled ES’s certification because of the blatent “greenwashing” which is the practice of certifying one product but using blanket market material to leave the impression that all their stuff is certified.
This is a concerning trend. The only way to ensure you are eating FairTrade chocolate is to look for the label (for example, Dagoba – has one FT certified bar).
Comment by MhD — October 18, 2006 @ 12:42 pm
Well, the nice thing ’bout fair trade labels on the chocolates is that the choco companies are usually all ’bout fair trade practices, vs. coffee companies that often use it to greenwash.
I am rather concerned about Dagoba already though — now that they’ve been bought by Hershey’s…
Comment by Siel — October 22, 2006 @ 5:39 pm
my bar of Wolf, Endangered Species says that it is 100% Ethically Traded. How is that different from Fair Trade? It also says that they donate 10% of net proceeds “to help support species, habitat and humanity”…how much does that count for a responsible company????
Comment by Kim Hover — July 15, 2007 @ 9:46 pm
Endangered Species used have some fair trade certified bars, but no longer. I heard a rumor that their certification got yanked for some reason, but haven’t had the time to investigate yet — will do so soon and find out more.
Basically, the conundrum with all chocolate without certification is that you have to just trust the company at their word. Some, of course, are good companies that really are trading ethically; others are greenwashing — and without certification, there’s no way to tell which is which –
For now I’d opt for the fair trade certified chocolate over Endangered Species, but if your options are Endangered Species or a Hershey’s bar, go with Endangered Species.
Comment by Siel — July 16, 2007 @ 10:08 pm