The Chocolate Revolution

Yesterday afternoon and evening I tabled at Lehman Alternative Community School (LACS) and Castaways, representing GreenStar Cooperative Market, showing our support for fair-trade at The Chocolate Revolution tour.  This tour is sponsored by Equal Exchange, a leader in fair-trade products, and is propelled by the band Left on Red and Grace Stumberg, who are traveling from New York City to Buffalo spreading the message of fair-trade chocolate to New York State schools/communities through music and education.

Left on Red & Grace Stumberg performing at LACS

It was both overwhelming and refreshing to set foot in a middle/high school during school hours after a long time being out of that environment.  I have been on a college campus for the past 4.5 years, but there is an overall shift in mindset that comes with the difference of education level.   Although college campuses are bustling with motivated young minds, the youthful aspect can too often be buried beneath too much caffeine, too little sleep, and endless to-do lists.  It was great to see so many young people full of life and energy at this event for an extremely important cause.

According to FINE (an informal association of the four main fair trade networks) fair-trade is "a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers – especially in the South. Fair trade organizations, backed by consumers, are engaged actively in supporting producers, awareness raising and in campaigning for changes in the rules and practice of conventional international trade".  Fair-trade is ultimately working to ensure that workers get paid - especially those at the lowest level who most often get forgotten in the larger picture, and beyond that, get paid well enough to survive and support themselves.  Furthermore, fair-trade companies also support and fund community development projects (building roads, houses, etc.) in these predominately low-income areas.


In America it is easy to forget about where our food comes from and it comes as a shock to many that people who are producing this food may not even be getting paid at all.  Fortunately this awareness has been increasing and is coming to a forefront in the food industry.  However, we still have great leaps to make in order to ensure all food is fair-trade and/or organic.  I am not normally one for labels, but unfortunately in the food industry (especially in regards to fair-trade) this is currently the only way we can truly tell that products are being produced in a humane way.  Unlike organic products where we have more accessibility to visiting local farms to see how they grow their crop/raise their livestock, most fair-trade products are produced in faraway countries (coffee, chocolate, tea, etc.), which many of us are simply unable to go to and check out first hand to see how the workers are being treated.

During the afternoon presentation at LACS, GreenStar marketing manager, Joe Romano, made a very interesting point about fair-trade, worded in a way that expanded upon and solidified my perspective.  He briefly talked to the students about how this truly is a revolution in the sense that fair-trade is a revolutionary way of thinking; for the first time in human history (or at least since the agricultural revolution) we are thinking about the wellbeing of other people, whom most of us will probably never meet, instead of just our own personal gains.  

Spending the day tabling and getting to know the wonderful girls touring this event across my home state was so motivating.  It was definitely one of the days that served to remind me why I believe what I do and inspired me to keep working toward this food revolution, even if it sometimes feels like my lonesome decisions won't add up.  I know they will.  But sometimes it takes organizations, events, and people like these to remind me not to give up and that this movement truly is something bigger than myself.