If you can do ONE thing to protect children

[tortoiseSHELL]

have a look here

If you want to do ONE thing to protect children (and it really will), buy only fair trade chocolate, or that on the 'good chocolate guide' here. This is a concrete thing you can do which WILL help protect children.

I don't want this to be another of 'those' threads, but it seems we all want to protect children and this is a really easy thing we can all do. Read the webpage, and have a think. It will make a difference to children!

Did anybody see this in the Guardian over Easter weekend? Scroll down and look for point 4. I meant to complain but didn't . I hope they had a full mail bag.
brainless article

also, this is interesting info on the difference between organic and fair trade. fairtrade v. organic

to summarise the fair trade v. organic info, it is not easy to make a fair trade product that meets both fair trade and organic criteria - if you don't meet all the criteria of each of the 'certifying' bodies you won't be able to use the logo.

that was annoying MadameP. Don't know anything about the accuracy of it tho. Interesting your second link. It seems then organic is closer to fairtrade than ordinary choc.

M&S do a fairtrade organic chocolate that is actually delicious, especially the rose petal scented one.

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ahh wow thats made me think about all the choc we buy here; cadburys, Valrhona, G&B (although I really dont like its taste).

Wonder what Valrhona's ethics are or other top chocolate makers. Some of their product is grown and harvested in Trinidad.

We buy co op cookies , wonder if the chocolate used in them is fair trade?

makes you think about all your biscuits too.

just looked at hotel chocolat as also buy from there hotel chocolat

They seem to have thier own ethic policy not affiliated with the fair trade council.

I dont think we can discount every producer withought the fair trade logo.

Traidcraft Choccy wafers 99p for ten in tesco, easy option for biccys I think

Its amazing how much stuff is available now if you look- but how many people have time to these days? Not everyone's a lazy student like me

If we're out and about and they want choc, we often pop into Oxfam if there's one as they sell fairtrade snacks in there

When I need a sweet fix I usually buy a bar of something, I will make sure I grab something fairtrade in future. I have not clicked the link, but by the reactions on here I don't think I need to. x

what a great thread TS.

UNICEF also do great work working with some of the big corporations to encourage protection of children. Buy birthday cards/Crimbo cards etc from them.

maya gold is lovely. I like the fairtrade juices too in tesco. more and more is springing up.

Thanks for your responses, I just wanted to raise awareness of this issue, particularly the fair trade chocolate as that particularly affects children.

I'm sure none of us would want our money to unknowingly go to finance child slavery! So thank you for reading this thread!

Did my shop today and bought:

Fairtrade choccies (yum - sometimes buy FT)
Fairtrade bananas (don't usually buy FT)
Fairtrade coffee (always buy FT)
Fairtrade hot chocolate (don't usually buy FT)

Thanks for the reminder about the power of the consumer to change the world, tortoiseSHELL

Fantastic, thanks Rantum! If everybody on MN bought fairtrade, and told their friends to it really would make a HUGE difference - the only reason the chocolate manufacturers carry on financing this child slavery is becuase it is cheaper and means they get higher profits. If they see those profits sliding away as consumers choose fair trade, they will go for the fair trade option! It's in our hands!

I'm glad for that link. Thank you.

Great link. I saw that site mentioned on BBC. Good idea about Oxfam peachy.

dd loves Osfam for that reason peachy, whenever we go into town her firstwords are "Can we got to Oxfam"

Dont let Xenia know that this fat working class mother buys so much chocolate - dd does say thankyou to the shop assistan though.

Have just found this

It's an article from last year but does this mean Divine and Dubble and co-op fairtrade are off the menu?

Interesting SugaryBits - I don't know - I guess it's up to your own ethical conscience, and what you decide. I'm more bothered by the Fair Trade status than the Nestle - by which I mean I'd rather buy Fair Trade Nestle than non Fair Trade Cadburys iyswim.

I'll bump this again on Monday, just to get a different crowd of people - thanks for reading again!

If you do change your chocolate habits as a result that's fantastic, and as www said, dropping G&B a line to say why you are doing is brilliant!

That is why I no longer shop in body shop tbh.

I try as hard as I can to only buy fairtrade and to not buy nestle, although it is hard as they ahve grubby fingers in so many pies.

Yeah, I found out that Nestle owns the company that supplies my contact lens solution!!

If they are changing some of their practices to be more ethical, I sometimes wonder if it is better to buy those sorts of products from it and support attempts to improve rather than fight a losing battle against a monstrously powerful global company - and when twinsetandpearls says "many pies" she is SOOO right it is frightening.

I ahdn't thought of supporting nestle in a selective way like this.

Thabks for this thread TS! does anyone know where you can get FT peppermint tea?

clipper do organic peppermint tea in most supermarkets or health shops

meant fair trade peppermint tea although it may be organic as well.