The dark side of chocolate

That cheap stuff tastes nasty anyway. I stopped buying it a long time ago. Sharfen Berger for me! All the way!

That is exactly what i am talking about . I do think there is certification process to being labeled fair trade similar to that of organic . If there isn't , there should be .

this is the funniest comment on current right now!!! ^d

i had a boss from sweeden and he brought back the best chocolate.....he also let us eat all the chocolate covered coffee beans we wanted too...for free....

Funny, however have you ever mixed good dark chocolate with coffee? It makes you sillier than RuPaul

...better than peanut butter cups...lol...

chocolate covered coffee beans will jack ya up.

Where did you work ?!

never heard of it :D

i would love to make my own chocolate some time :D

Yes, ever wonder why most stores you go that in the candy section, it's dominated by Hershey's chocolate? That's what I don't like. I don't monopolies. I thought monopolies were supposed to be against USA law.

...I love Cadbury chocy...but I must google oogle about that...sorta puts a bitter taste in my mouth now, dammit...matey...

I don't think so.

well that just goes to show how little you know of me. You see I will do a little research and see for myself. I can and will pay a higher price for free trade or for a product that is not made off the sweat of Children.

Seeing as i buy very little new. I'm willing to say I put a litttle more into the local market than I do the pockets of those on foreign soil

Umm I have been on the raggy edge all my life so it's nothing new to me.

I worry about every thing.

Well it does now. Thanks for giving me something else to worry about.

Yep thats now something else for me to worry about being a hypocrite.

Milk chocolate doesn't have any nutritional benefits and certainly doesn't have as much flavor. But it will pack on the pounds for sure. Eat sparingly

Could you offer up some of the names?

TEST one two three Test one two Test one test TeSt ? can ya hear me now??

...sad, but hugging your duck will give you a greater high...(sorry, loved your comment elsewhere)...

I think the your comment of:
"doing without chocolate for a few months is not going to do anything for an issue this huge."
is generally correct.

I think that a boycott of a few months time wont really cause much of an impact, as industry and growers could just ride it out. To really cause a change a year long boycott would be necessary.

You are right except for the "live in the woods like the Amish". What we actually need is less greed. There's no need for the super-rich -wealthy to exist. However, they will never let it go w/o a fight, and things will never change w/o a fight.

It's more complex than that. It's easy to blame the super rich, and we all love scapegoats, but this issue pervades every aspect of our lives.

Go to your closet- how many full outfits of clothing do you have?
If you are like most people, you wear something different every day.

Think of a simple t-shirt. Now, a simple one costs about $10, a nice one about $25.

Imagine if everyone involved in making it- the people who picked the cotton, milled the cotton, made threads, wove fabric, dyed the fabric, cut the fabric, sewed the fabric, boxed it and shipped it- were all earning actual minimum wage, working reasonable shifts with breaks, and getting medical coverage.

I would not be shocked if a plain solid t-shirt would cost $400.

Think of your food: fruits, vegetables, meats, eggs, cheeses- not to mention the manufactured foods. All use slave labor, or at least horrid working conditions, at some point.

It's not just the super rich who are to blame, but the average consumer.

If a typical person has to choose between paying $400 for a plain white t-shirt with a label that says "slave free", vs a $25 one that's even nicer, which do you think they would pick?

It would require everyone boycotting everything, not just chocolate.
Just try to organize that.

No, it's not. The whole problem is greed. And we will probably never get rid of greed. But greed being the problem, it should be easy to resolve since the majority of the population in the world has some sort of religion, which usually advocates that we should not be.... greed!

Yeah, that's right- religion is the answer!
We all know how religious people always follow the nicer aspects of their faith, never the savage parts!

These countries are so poor the children have to work. There is no option. And all the parents are lied to when they are given up to some scheister that comes knocking on their door, or they are kidnapped.

You are absolutely correct. That is why most people still don't buy organic foods. They simply cost too much.

I don't have an answer.
This problem is huge- not just Chocolate.
Solving it requires major cultural and economic changes both here and in the third world.

A few generations from now the problem may solve itself through increased agricultural technologies- a fully automated hydroponic vertical garden would be even less expensive than maintaing slave labor- but until then, I don't see a solution.

An Organic T-shirt, fair trade costs a bit more than a regular one. They start at twenty dollars.
We pay less for regular clothes partially due to the fact that we are subsidizing the cotton industry with our TAX MONEY.
This is also valid for the food industry.
You might want to read this:
http://current.com/news/92058326_organic-food-is-cheaper-than-conventional-food....

and this below:
"* Subsidies must end to millionaire and billionaire farmers who are obviously poisoning the land, poisoning consumers and bankrupting small farmers and rural communities in the US and around the world. Subsidies for the mega rich corporate farmers should be immediately put on a fast track to sunset.
* The current subsidies to the corporate rich should be redirected to existing water quality, pest control, and fertility management programs that have been enacted by Congress but which are currently under-funded."

http://www.organicconsumers.org/clothes/224subsidies.cfm

Also if the the organic fair-trade market would expand, our subsidies would go to them and we would pay about what we pay now for regular clothes but without the environmental destruction and slavery tag attached to it.
I will soon offer a take action solution to attempt to change that.
Thank you.

I get clothes at thrift stores , so I an afford organic food .

Organic vs not-Organic was not the topic under discussion.

For those organic t-shirts, who picks the cotton?
Who makes the thread?
Who weaves the cloth?
Who cuts the cloth?
Who sews the garments?

Where do these people come from, how much do they get paid, and what are their working conditions like?

It's about the labor costs, not just if they use pesticides or not.

You mentioned fruits and vegetables come from slave labor and I wanted to explain that this does not happen with fair trade standards.
Chocolate, food and cotton do not come from slavery if they are fair trade, and they do not cost $400 like you mentioned but just a bit more than conventional prices, that was my point.

And again, if the fair trade market expands, it could take over and our subsidies would make it affordable, environmentally friendly and slavery free!

You can find companies out there that sell union made clothing, that only work with manufacturers meeting fair trade standards, each player and all workers of the production chain earn higher wages and benefits and do have a voice on the job (knitting, dyeing, sewing etc).
With a bit of research, online, you can find these manufacturers your self, you can explore their missions and goals. For advertising reasons I can't and do not want offer you any links.

The reality is different than what they want you to think. They want you to think that this is the only system where people could have a job and where a society, a nation gets wealthy, educated and strong. Centralized power is what we are all witnessing, corporate control, monopoly and the small business and local agriculture gets killed, leaving us poor, dependent and with NO CHOICE than having to buy the "T-SHIRT" or the "CHOCOLATE BAR" at Walmart, because that is all people can afford and see.

I am working on finding a strategic solution to this and will love your future support.
Thank you very much UtopianSky.