Attendees of the Green Festival were also particularly
astonished to hear that a chocolate company based in their own city, World’s
Finest Chocolate, was complicit in child labor in the cocoa fields. Global Exchange had petitions for attendees
to sign asking World’s Finest to start sourcing Fair Trade chocolate. Green
Festers were happy to sign their name and were ready to buy Fair Trade
chocolate from now on.

 

Green Festival attendees also got to learn more Fair Trade
chocolate from a panel discussion that talked about the larger issues behind
chocolate and Fair Trade. The panelists were form diverse backgrounds and
organizations including Global Exchange, ILRF, Chicago Fair Trade and United Students for Fair Trade.

Global Exchange also had the opportunity to speak with some
Girl Scouts and their troop leaders about what other brands of chocolate they
could buy as a treat, instead of buying Hershey’s, Nestle, or M&Ms. They
were thrilled to learn about the Fair Trade label and that there are other easy
to find chocolate options that are slave-free.

 

The Green Festival was a great opportunity for the people of
Chicago and the surrounding Mid-West states to learn about alternatives and
find easy ways to change their daily habits to make their life more Green—like
buying Fair Trade chocolate!

PS: Don't forget about World Fair Trade Day TOMORROW (May 12!)