GreenPlan Philadelphia -- A planning project to help provide a long-term, sustainable road map for using, acquiring, developing, funding, and managing open space in the city’s neighborhoods.
Philadelphia Sustainability Awards -- The awards celebrate Greater Philadelphia's environmental innovation, economic development and vibrant communities.
Pennsylvania Buy Fresh Buy Local-- Organization creates food guides, coordinate tasting events, organize farmers' markets and sponsor farm tours, among other activities.
PhillyCarShare --A non-profit organization that provides members with access to a fleet of vehicles on an hourly basis.
Philadelphia Green: The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society -- A not-for-profit membership organization that provides events, activities and publications for novice gardeners, experienced horticulturists, and flower lovers of all ages.
Over the past year or so, there’s been a velvety, yummy buzz: Chocolate may just save the planet!
[caption id="attachment_8970" align="alignright" width="176" caption="Divine Hearts are actually good for your heart"][/caption]
Actually, that’s a stretch. But in the months leading up to the Copenhagen climate talks last December, several chocolate-makers claimed they were venturing further into fair trade practices, including Nestle, Mars and Cadbury.
Add to that the promising method of “cabruca farming” in Brazil — a way of supplementing rainforests with valuable cacao plants to offset wholesale slash-and-burn techniques. Then multiply those happy developments by now-abundant data showing that chocolate — dark chocolates and bittersweets, specifically — are good for our health, and you’ve got a growing body of evidence that semi-sweet, Fair Trade chocolate is not only good for body, heart and soul; it could be good for the environment.
“Chocolate is considered to be a super food,” says Steven Flood, co-owner of Fat Turkey Chocolates, an organic chocolatier based in Austin, Texas. “You could actually live and sustain yourself on chocolate alone and get everything you need. And you wouldn’t get fat. Because there’s not a lot of fat in dark chocolate.”
I’d be a hypocrite if I advocated for Buy Nothing Day (this Friday in the US and Saturday internationally). For one, I just got done compiling and editing some green gift lists.
Granted, this consumer boycott being advocated by AdBusters has its appeal. It says no to what has become an embarassing grab-fest of shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
I like the concept of the boycott: Send a message to those corporations that want to hijack your wallet this holiday season. Refuse to shop. We really do need to cool it on the consumerism to help re-chill our warming planet. It’s painfully obvious now that our rabid consumption of limited natural resources coupled with our willingness to trash stuff is destroying our planet. Here in the U.S., we’ve got a TV or computer in every room in many households, and they’ll be in the landfill soon because tech wizards come up with the next gen of electronics about 28 minutes after we’ve purchased the very latest “thing”. We’ve got food, and clothing and large houses enough to sustain multiple families. And it’s not just us. Asia’s got a taste for luxury. Sharks are being killed for their fins. Really?
This month, Starbucks locations in the United Kingdom and Ireland began serving “100% Starbucks Shared Planet and Fairtrade Certified Espresso” to the local clientele –an average of two million people per week. So figure that’s a lot of cappuccino contributing to better wages and working conditions for small-scale farmers.
Starbucks, already the largest producer of fair trade coffee in the world, is making an even bigger promise: In partnership with Fairtrade Labeling Organizations International (FLO), the company intends for every espresso-based drink to be Starbucks Fairtrade-certified within the next six month at all Starbucks locations in Europe.
Starbucks Fairtrade Certified Espresso is grown mostly in Latin America, specifically Guatemala, Costa Rica and Peru. Their farming communities will immediately benefit financially from the transition, according to Starbucks, which estimates the switch will contribute over $4 million annually to these smaller farmers.
Oak is such a trendy fashion Web site, just perusing their lineup of hip indie designers will elevate your cool factor substantially. Mixed in with all that fabulousness are three design lines that are exotically earth-friendly.
A Peace Treaty: This line was created by partners Farah Malik, a Muslim from Pakistan, and Dana Arbib, a Jew from Libya. Their scarves, stoles and bandanas are made by artisans working in war-torn parts of the world.
From electronics powered by the sun to plates made from corn, towels woven from bamboo and suits spun from recycled plastic bottles, green products are crowding into stores. Never before has the green consumer enjoyed such a dazzling, dizzying…and completely confusing array of treats.
How does one choose? Should you get the locally grown zucchini or the organically farmed summer quash? The bamboo towel from Asia or the organic cotton bath sheet from Texas? Organic face cream or natural? Disposable or reusable? Plastic or stainless? Is it green, sustainable, FSC and Fair Trade?
We are the owners of an artisanal organic coffee roasting company.
How it helps:
We source 100% organic, ethically traded coffees from farmers who practice responsible land stewardship and fair trade. Shade grown organic coffee farming discourages rainforest destruction, protects the watershed and the eco system and the farmer. Shade Grown organic coffee tastes better and retains more of the healthful benefits of coffee.
Organic products are much easier to come by these days. Items with the Fair Trade Certified label also are expanding and taking up more precious real estate on store shelves.
So far this year, more than twice as many Fair Trade Certified products have been introduced in the U.S. compared to last year. Some 284 products with the Fair Trade Certified designation have been launched compared to 130 in 2007, and as few as 17 in 2003, according to a report this month by Mintel, Chicago – a market researcher focused on consumer behavior and product innovation.
The Fair Trade food items include a virtual gift basket of treats: a variety of teas, cocoa, fruits, flowers and chocolates.
TransFair USA, headquartered in Oakland, California, is the governing entity in the U.S. behind products deemed Fair Trade Certified. The nonprofit is one of 20 member organizations worldwide that comprises the Fairtrade Labelling Organizations (FLO) International. TransFair audits agreements between U.S. companies and international suppliers to guarantee that farmers in developing countries around the world use environmentally friendly practices and are paid a fair price for their goods. Farmers in Costa Rica and Ghana have reinvested profits in their communities to build schools, develop improved sustainability practices, and establish health clinics.
Since its founding in 1998, TransFair USA has certified more than 74 million pounds of Fair Trade coffee, which in turn has given coffee farmers in Latin America and Africa more than $60 million more than if they had sold their coffee locally, according to the organization.
Most U.S. consumers were introduced to the concept of Fair Trade Certified products with the help of coffee marketers. Fair Trade, which asks consumers to buy products at a “fair price” to be socially responsible, initially seemed like a niche market. But it has gone mainstream. From 2001 to 2006, retail sales of coffee grew tenfold to $730 million, cites TransFair USA, in a recent Brandweek article. When worldwide retailer Wal-Mart joined the fold, Fair Trade Certified coffee sales really began to percolate.
Fair Trade products were available only at specialty retailers, such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, as well as online, when they were introduced to the U.S. In recent years, however, Fair Trade products have moved onto store shelves in big-box discounters Costco and Target, and mainline grocery stores like Kroger. See the Transfair website for where to buy products.
After more than a decade in existence, TransFair USA now certifies tea, cocoa, sugar, fruit, rice, and flowers. With the organization’s fifth annual Fair Trade Month, held in October 2008, it’s counting wine among the products it recognizes and certifies. Certified chocolate bars are available in many grocery stores, as well. Look for Green and Black’s chocolate made in the Dominican Republic and Belize, El Rey from Venezuela, and Valhrhona from Trinidad.
For consumers who are taking copious notes on the growth of Fair Trade, there are businesses like Divine Chocolate, based in the United Kingdom, that are entirely farmer-owned.
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making an even bigger promise: In partnership with 
