Halloween is likely my favorite holiday of the year. I get to dress up (you're never too old to dress up!), kids get yummy candy, and the spooky/gothy/arcane is IN in a fun way!
Global Exchange has just made it even more special with its "Fair Trade Trick or Treat" package. It's a campaign designed to promote Fair Trade awareness. It comes with Fair Trade chocolate and postcards to hand out. How awesome is that?
The chocolate industry is a pretty scary one. We're used to thinking of slavery as a thing of the past--let alone child slavery! Yet on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast, children between the ages of 5 and 14 are stolen from their homes and forced to work on plantations that harvest cocoa . That cocoa is then bought by companies such as Nestle, Hersey's, and M and M's. (You can read a PDF of Global Exchange's 2005 report here.)
Fair Trade chocolate isn't easy to find. Global Exchange has a list of online vendors. Trader Joes may also sell fair-trade chocolate. (I'll have to double-check that. It's a good excuse to go chocolate-shopping.) ;) But if you plan to be passing out the goods this Halloween, please consider offering Fair Trade treats!
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