Valentine’s Day the Fair-trade Way

• Shop in our store for fair-trade products.
• Green & Black’s organic chocolate recently announced it would source all of its cocoa through fair trade. With Kraft Foods’ recent acquisition of Cadbury, Green & Black’s parent company, some fair-trade organizations are concerned that Cadbury’s new ownership may jeopardize its commitment to ethical sourcing. However, Kraft Foods has publicly stated that it will honor Green & Black/Cadbury’s commitment to fair trade.

Valentine's Day is a time to get cozy with the ones we love, showering them with heart-warming gifts like flowers and chocolates. In fact, about 50 million pounds of chocolate candy will be sold during the week of Valentine's Day. Perhaps it's the belief that chocolate can coax your sweetheart into a state of bliss through its decadent, seductive qualities. Indeed, with more than 1,500 distinct flavor characteristics, chocolate is one of the most complex food compounds — you might even detect undertones ranging from blackberry to hazelnut to tangerine in your chocolate bar. But do you know where your chocolate comes from? And what about the flowers, one of the most sublime symbols of pure beauty, which encapsulates how much you appreciate your significant other — do you know who grows and picks those roses?

Currently, the $13 billion chocolate industry is heavily consolidated, with just Hershey's and M&M/Mars controlling two-thirds of the chocolate-candy market in the United States. While the vast majority, about 90 percent, of cocoa is grown on small family farms, giant chocolate companies pay so little for the cocoa that farmers resort to running their operations on cheap labor. Over two-thirds of the world's cocoa is produced in West Africa, with Cote d'Ivoire accounting for more than 40 percent of global production. Thousands of children in West Africa and other cocoa-producing regions are forced to work on these cocoa farms, with some children being trafficked into forced labor under the guise of an opportunity for a good job to support their families.

Harvesting cocoa is dangerous work with long hours. Children laboring on cocoa farms must cut cacao pods down from high branches with machetes, split them open, and scoop out the beans, while they are also exposed to harmful pesticides without the necessary protective equipment. What's more, the children who labor under these conditions are unable to attend school or to pursue other avenues for safe and sustainable work that could bring them and their families out of extreme poverty.

A similar picture emerges when it comes to flowers. Many of the roses and carnations grown in South America are exported to be sold in American florist shops. In many of the flower plantations in countries with big cut-flower industries, such as Colombia and Ecuador, pervasive problems include poor health and safety conditions (especially pesticide exposure), the use of child labor, sexual harassment, and targeting of union organizers.

When it comes to fighting for economic justice in the chocolate and floral industries, the most viable solution we have at the moment is fair trade. UUSC's colleague organizations Global Exchange and the International Labor Rights Forum have taken leadership on the issues of child labor in the cocoa industry and the rights of cut-flowers workers. Fortunately, these organizations, along with other human-rights organizations, faith-based groups, and fair-trade chocolate companies, are working to ensure that big companies that sell products like chocolate, coffee, and tea uphold their obligations under international labor standards.

So, what can you do to support fair trade and economic justice? International Labor Rights Forum has a resource on buying flowers [PDF] that gives suggestions on which ethical-sourcing certifications you should look out for, and Global Exchange is once again holding a National Valentine's Day of Action for teachers and religious educators to bring the topics of fair trade and child labor in the cocoa industry into the classroom.

To support UUSC's efforts to promote fair trade, you can shop for gifts, including bundles of fairly traded chocolate, tea, and pecans from Equal Exchange. Or, for a fun and delicious dessert activity, try a chocolate and coffee pairing inspired by Equal Exchange's recommendations of which fairly traded chocolate and coffee flavors best complement each other. No matter how you celebrate this Valentine's Day, making a personal commitment to fair trade is one way you can show someone what a gift of love means, by supporting the workers and producers behind your gifts.