Ethical Flowers and Chocolate

 @taprootflowers

Let's make a difference!  Americans spend over $1billion on chocolate and $2billion on flowers each year for Valentine's Day.

chocolate: There are over 1million children working on cocoa farms, spraying hazardous chemicals on their crop, and unable to attend school, making the cocoa industry the "worst form of child labor today" according to the ILO.  

• We have the power to make a change in exploiting children in the cacao fields.
• Our advice, ONLY buy fair trade chocolate.  The fair trade label means a farmer was paid a "fair" price for his or her product and in buying this chocolate, you aren't willingly participating in exploitation.
• Companies like www.mama-gauche.com is made in the USA using fair trade cocoa from South America, but contributes a portion of their profits to West African cooperatives in their efforts to become organic.

flowers: 78% of flowers sold in the US were imported from overseas.  The conventional flower business also has shipping emissions, packaging waste, and toxic preservatives involved in flying flowers around the world, as well as the worker exploitation and heavy use of carcinogenic pesticides that occur on industrial flower farms.  (pic and copy from @taprootflowers)

• We believe in supporting our community
• ASK where your flowers were sourced.  If a florist doesn't know, let them know that YOU want to know.  If your florist does know and it is somewhere abroad, give them a chance to make a change to a local supplier before you jump ship.  If they do make a change, you will have made an even bigger impact!
• Support companies like www.taprootflowers.com, whose entire mission surrounds supporting local florists 

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