Support the Green Innovators
Consciously support companies that talk the talk and walk the walk. Here are a few personal faves who endeavor to shrink their ecological footprint...Dagoba Organic Chocolate is the first American manufacturer to produce only organic chocolate and to acquire its cocoa through fair-trade co-ops under conditions that preserve the rainforest. Nature's Path, an organic breakfast food & snack-maker contributes regularly to conservationists, recycles un-usable spilled ingredients to local farmers, and powers itself partly from renewable sources. Founder Arran Stephens is working to make his company 100% waste-free by 2010 and climate-neutral by 2020...hey, these moves require time (and money).
Seeds of Change cultivates and disseminates more than 600 varieties of organic vegetable, flower and herb seeds. They also help gardeners preserve numerous plant varieties that are in danger of extinction.
To find out which manufacturers: preserve natural resources, reduce waste, conserve energy and restore the environment, check Co-Op America's Green Pages.
It's high time for all businesses to alter their manufacturing practices in order to minimize their impact on the Earth. Wield your consumer-power and reward eco-friendly product manufacturers by purchasing products from those who practice eco-friendly measures. Buy Green /m
posted by Galli Galli Sim Sim @ 10:40 AM
3 Comments:
Dagoba chocolate with chili, is the best food on earth..
Some of the organic cacao used in Dagoba chocolates are provided by the National Confederation of Dominican Cocoa Growers (Conacado) in the Dominican Republic (DR), a pretty good co-op that I have written about in my other, DR-oriented blog, The Green Team. Conacado is one of those rare Dominican organic ops that has certification from just about anyone who matters (including Fair Trade Certified), and work hard to maintain it.
You can visit their website at www.conacado.com (although they still do not have the English version pages up, ARGH!), and I particularly recommend visiting their gorgeous photo gallery at http://garabatoyflor.com/Conacado/Spanish/Shows/Intro.html
If you ever visit the DR, try some "agro-tourism" -- go on the tour of their co-op (they love having guests!), and they'll show you how the cacao is grown and harvested and you can lunch with a cacao-growing family and see how they live (very modestly, believe me!). Low-income, humble folks but very warm and giving.
And no, they don't pay me to say all this. LOL I just think they do good work and I know before they formed the co-op, they were very poor farmers in danger of being pushed out of the market and off their lands.
If anyone is interested about how organic agricultural production is operating (good and bad -- yes, there is a down side!) in a developing country like the DR, check out the Green Team's series on the realities of Dominican organics at http://www.dr1.com/blogs/?u=environment&category=sustainable%20agriculture
The entries include a note to us from famed fiction author Julia Alvarez, who is working to help the poor coffee farmers there become successful organic coffee producers.
I'm scheduled to soon do a series on organics in Latin America and the Caribbean (struggling with it right now). Organic production has many positives for developing countries, but it is not quite what many of us North American consumers think it is and some of its main beneficiaries are not who we tend to think they are (ie, small farmers are not quite getting out of it what you think they are when you buy that organic chocolate bar or organic coffee or organic banana).
Well, sorry for running on like this, but this obviously is s a subject that gets me excited! LOL
Best Regards,
Keith
Interesting comment Keith. Thanks! Chocolate is something dear to my heart..
You can also buy great cacao beans, that are really good!! No sugar added, just the basic ingredient. LIke munching coffee beans but better, and apparently really good for you!!
Sort of off topic, but I've just been over there and thought about it.. Would love to tip you off to Lucy from Boulder Belt Farm. A great organic farm in Ohio that deserves a bit more blogosphere space.
http://www.boulerbelt.blogspot.com/
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