ktnorlander – Page 28 – Kate Norlander

Make a Difference: Buy Fairly Traded Halloween Chocolate

fair-trade chocolate — *Here’s what I’ve been able to find at local stores. So far I have resisted the temptation to eat these.*

Confession: I am a chocoholic. Because I am a chocoholic and have fond memories of peanut butter cups and other chocolaty delights in my childhood Halloween pail, I like to give out chocolate to trick-or-treaters. The fact that I find the leftover candy enjoyable may have something to do with my choice, as well.

There’s an unfortunate problem in all of this: More than 40 percent of the world’s cocoa beans are grown in West Africa, and many West African cocoa plantations, particularly those in Ivory Coast, use child slaves.

I’m not comfortable with that. Especially not when chocolate is a luxury good (much as I’d love to call it a necessity).

Since I can’t ignore the problem, I’m left with two options: (1) Don’t give out chocolate candy on Halloween. (2) Pay more for fairly traded chocolate. I’ve chosen the latter option, because, well… chocolate.

I use the term “fairly traded” instead of fair-trade, because there is more than one possible certification for products that are supposed to meet certain social and ecological standards, including fair labor practices. Certifications are by no means perfect, but they do signal a commitment — on the parts of both the company that pursues certification and the consumer who seeks out certified products — to business practices that are fairer and more sustainable.

Fair Trade USA logos International Fairtrade logo Rainforest Alliance logo UTZ certified logo

When I first set out to buy Halloween chocolate from a company committed to fair labor practices, I found packages of Endangered Species Bug Bites at Whole Foods. They were perfect — small, but not too small. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen bulk quantities of that candy in stores since then. You can buy them online in milk or dark chocolate.

For the next year or two, I could only find bulk quantities of small, fairly traded chocolate online. I like to buy the Equal Exchange Halloween kit, because it includes coupons for chocolate that I can hand out; I usually give them to parents who are with their young trick-or-treaters, and I end up with several that I can leave out at work after Halloween. The downside to these minis is that they are really, really small. If you give out just one or even two to your trick-or-treaters, you’ll seem stingy.

Divine Chocolate also offers extremely small minis in bulk quantities. Again, you can buy them in milk or dark chocolate. I like to buy some of their larger 1.5 oz. bars, which I give to the older trick-or-treaters. Perhaps it isn’t fair of me, but I think the little kids won’t appreciate them as much.

Last year I found bulk packages of full-sized, individually wrapped Justin’s peanut butter cups at Target. This year they no longer have those, but they do have packages of mini peanut butter cups in milk or dark chocolate, which I also found at Whole Foods.

Yes, your selection is limited, it’s expensive, and most of it needs to be purchased online. But if you are a chocolate-lover and want to buy fairly traded chocolate for Halloween, it’s good to know you have options.

Something Wonderful: Bruce Cockburn

If the name “Bruce Cockburn” doesn’t bring certain songs to mind, take some time this week to sample his music. He’s prolific, original, and a brilliant lyricist and musician… my favorite singer-songwriter, hands down. U2 gave him a nod in “God, Part II” when they (mis)quoted possibly the best line from all of his lyrics:

“Heard a singer on the radio
late last night;
He says he’s gonna kick the darkness
‘Til it bleeds daylight.”

(The actual line, from his 1984 song “Lovers in a Dangerous Time” is “Got to kick at the darkness ‘til it bleeds daylight.”)

Bruce bares his soul through his music. He rages. He lusts. He hopes. Even before I really became aware of him, I’d heard one of his most famous songs, “If I Had a Rocket Launcher,” which seethes with anger at injustice.

“On the Rio Lacantun, one hundred thousand wait
To fall down from starvation — or some less humane fate.
Cry for Guatemala, with a corpse in every gate.
If I had a rocket launcher…I would not hesitate.”

This song, like much of his work, was borne from his own experience — in this case, he was inspired by a visit to a Guatemalan refugee camp in 1983. Bruce is well traveled, and he’s written lots of songs about different places around the world, including Central America, Mozambique, and Nepal.

Bruce considered himself to be a Christian for many years, and that, too, seeped out in songs like “Cry of a Tiny Babe,” as well as influencing his concern for justice and the environment. Be warned, though: His songs are not the stuff you’ll hear on your local Christian station. Bruce isn’t afraid of swearing if he thinks it will help him make his point, and his songs sometimes frankly treat topics like sex and violence.

“When two lovers really love, there’s nothing there
But this suddenly compact universe of skin and breath and hair.”
— from “The Coldest Night of the Year”

While most of Bruce’s music is heartfelt, he isn’t above a little silliness. He’s covered Eric Idle’s “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” and he pokes fun at our fear of death in his own song, “Anything Can Happen.”

“I could have been hit by a falling pane of glass.
You could have had shark teeth write ‘finit.’
We could have been nailed by some vigilante type
In a case of mistaken identity – obviously.”

I love Neil Gaiman’s quip, “Picking five favorite books is like picking the five body parts you’d most like not to lose.” I feel this way about many things, including picking my favorite songs by Bruce. I can say confidently that one of them is “Tibetan Side of Town” from Big Circumstance. Every time I listen to that song (and I listen to it a lot), I take a motorcycle ride through Kathmandu.

“Through rutted winding streets of Kathmandu,
Dodging crowded humans cows dogs rickshaws –
Storefronts constellated pools of bluewhite
Bright against darkening walls…”

You can find 13 of Bruce’s songs on his VEVO channel on YouTube.