Very Scary, Very Real

An Editorial from Green America: Keep Child Slavery out of the Cocoa Supply Chain

Sorry to scare you, but on Halloween, much of the chocolate Americans will hand out to trick-or-treaters will be tainted by the labor of enslaved children.

Hershey's, Nestlé, and the other big chocolate companies know this. They promised nearly a decade ago to set up a system to certify that no producers in their supply chains use child labor. They gave themselves a July 2005 deadline for that, which came and went without meaningful action. A second voluntary deadline sailed by as well in 2008. There's a new deadline for voluntary action at the end of this year. Don't hold your breath.

Few Americans had heard of this problem before reporters Sudarsan Raghavan and Sumana Chatterjee exposed the scandalous conditions under which most U.S. chocolate is made, in the summer of 2001.

In one of their articles, a slave described his 13-hour work-days on the 494-acre plantation as brutal, filled with harsh physical labor, punctuated by beatings, and ending with a night of fitful sleep on a wooden plank in a locked room with other slaves.

“The beatings were a part of my life,” said the boy, who was sold into slavery at not yet 12 years old. “Anytime they loaded you with bags and you fell while you were carrying them, nobody helped you. Instead, they beat you and beat you until you picked it up again.”

The reports shocked some members of Congress into action. That fall, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) and Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) prepared bills to require U.S. chocolate companies--by force of law--to certify their products as slave-free. Engel’s bill passed the House, but before Harkin’s bill could pass the Senate, the chocolate industry had announced a voluntary four-year plan to clean up its own supply chains, without legislation.

Meanwhile, evidence that child slavery still bedevils the chocolate industry isn’t hard to find. For example, in late September, a research team from Tulane University (specifically charged by Congress with oversight of the voluntary supply-chain efforts) reported that “the industry is still far from achieving its target by the end of 2010 … and the majority of children exposed to the worst forms of child labor remain unreached.”

The just-released documentary The Dark Side of Chocolate, by filmmakers Miki Mistrati and U. Roberto Romano takes a less detached tone, going undercover and exposing child slavery in the cocoa supply chain from the inside.

And if that’s not enough, the State Department’s own 2010 Trafficking in Persons report lists several West African countries where children are traded and taken to work cocoa plantations.

All the while, the biggest chocolate companies cavil that because they don’t own the cocoa plantations outright, cleaning up their supply chains is too hard. But some of them aren’t even trying. The biggest cocoa company in the country, Hershey’s--even after nine years to get started--has no certification system in place whatsoever to ensure that its cocoa isn’t tainted by labor rights abuses.

Here are three things you do this Halloween to ensure that your chocolate isn’t tainted by the exploitation of children overseas.

* You can look for chocolate from companies that do certify their supply chains, via labels such the Fair Trade label and the IMO Fair For Life label. Green America offers a scorecard explaining these labels in detail, and ranking the chocolate companies.
* You can contact conventional chocolate companies like Hershey’s – call them, write to them, write on their Facebook pages – and tell them you expect them to prove their supply chains aren’t tainted.
* You can contact your representatives in Congress. If after a decade the chocolate companies can’t monitor their own supply chains, we need to go back to the drawing board, and demand, by law, that slave-produced chocolate has no place on the shelves of stores in the USA.

The people who produce the raw materials for our chocolate treats deserve fair wages and safe working conditions. African children shouldn't have to suffer unspeakable horrors so that our children can have a happy Halloween

--Andrew Korfhage

Find our report on Hershey's cocoa sourcing here, and click here to send a message directly to the Hershey company.

Politics, not Prejudice

There has been a lot of ugliness in our political world recently, with desperate politicians spewing out some of the most blatant, unchecked and hateful language to have ever been considered as legitimate political dialogue. Ruthless, cruel verbal attacks have been made on low-income individuals, immigrants, and gays on the part of many Republican Candidates seeking to divert an angry populace's attention away from the policies and problems that have rooted so much of our unease.

But besides being a pathetic platform for any politician to stand on, these comments, which are made by influential public figures, have a profound effect on the perceptions and actions of their audience. The open discussion of hate and discrimination has brought many fringe racists and homophobes to the forefront of the issues, resulting in hate crimes, paranoia, and suicides in populations that may have been very vulnerable to begin with.

Perhaps it takes an elected official who is NOT currently campaigning to have the guts to speak to what is right, but Mayor Mike Bloomberg of New York City has been quite vocal recently on issues of civil rights. First, he openly spoke of his support for the proposed Mosque to be built in downtown Manhattan, much to the chagrin of many anti-Muslim protesters and the praise of those who support freedom of religion, as well as those who see the irrational fear of Muslim people in our country as a highly dangerous form of cultural ignorance. Now, continuing his trend of speaking out for personal freedoms, Bloomberg shows his support for gay love and civil rights.

Speaking at the 30th annual Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays Awards Dinner last night, the mayor of New York had this to say:

"To those of you who have been the target of bullying and bias, whether you happen to be in this room or any neighborhood in the city, I say this: this great city stands with you. We believe in you. We want you here. We will do anything in our power to keep you safe. And we will do everything in our power to punish those who dare threaten the well-being of our citizens...."

"...Our city- and our nation- have come a long way, but our journey is not yet complete. I wish for you the same thing I wish for any parent in this city: the joy of seeing your son or daughter fall in love, the joy of walking your son or daughter down the aisle on the most important day of their lives. Government should not be in the business of telling people whom he or she can and cannot love. And believe me, I will fight every single day to make that a reality."

These are powerful words coming from a politician, and I wonder whether he would be so brave with his stances if he himself were coming up for re-election. Still, this is an important point for a politician to emphasize in light of so many tragic deaths of young people across our country. More of our leaders need to be brave like this, to reject hateful commentary, and to show the American people that we are indeed still a free and democratic society, that we are all equal and deserve respect, and that part of the benefit of being an American is the joy and freedom of being and loving whoever you want.

Unnatural

Have you ever dove into and under couch cushions at home in a desperate search for a lost earring, a little bus fare, or a T.V. remote? If you have, you've found that the exotic under-regions of your furnishings are home to many lost, forgotten, and often gruesome items.

One of the most disturbing things to be excavated is the archaic McDonald's french-fry that has lived secretly under your bum for after an indefinite length of untidy time, during which you failed to protect your couch cushions from the threat of rotting food. But luckily for you, this McDonald's french fry does not seem to rot... ever... no matter how long you've kept it there. Indeed, it is one of the most disturbing finds not because of how decayed it is, but because of how in tact it is. I shudder to think of all of the non-potato ingredients that are keeping that fry from suffering the same fate as every other verdant specimen in the natural world.

While McDonald's swears that their "food" is made with only the freshest of ingredients, there are those who beg to differ, and who have the proof they need to voice their difference. Artist Sally Davies is one of them, recently coming out with a photographic experiment, keeping and documenting a McDonald's Happy Meal in her home for 6 months. As the weekly photographs reveal, the burger and fries remained completely unchanged from the beginning to the end of the experiment. If that doesn't make you cringe, I don't know what would...

...actually, nevermind. I do know. Ever hear about how chicken nuggets are made? Yeah, that'll make you cringe too.

Pea's Peace is Up and Running [Again]

Blogging is rough. It requires daily commitments, incessant motivation, constant attention, and little bitty pieces of your heart and soul. It reveals a softened, private part of yourself to the enormity of the internet at large, and that can be a pretty daunting encumbrance.

Admittedly, I've struggled with my own focus and dedication to Pea's Peace. It's not that I haven't found enough interesting and inspiring things out there in this great big balanced world... it's just that I started to question my own reasoning and purpose for keeping up this blog. I felt dwarfed by the amount of information available to you all, and intimidated by the thought that there are blogs and bloggers out there who are much more seasoned and professional than I am. After all, I have a full-time job and a full-time life, how serious could I really be about this project?

So after 14 months and 112 blog posts, I took everything down out of sheer fragility of confidence. I systematically went through and removed my writings from public view, though I couldn't quite erase them completely because each word that they contain is a reflection of a little piece of myself... and that's just too valuable to give up.

But now they're back up, and their legitimacy is more personal to me than I need it to be justified. I'll keep on blogging, indifferent to my own impact or ripple in the world of online blogs... because the basic truth is that it's good for me. I enjoy doing it. And that is all that matters. I am going to be braver, and keep on bearing my everything on this humble web page, regardless of what others may think.

So here are all 112 reinstated pieces from Pea's Peace. I'm sorry for the interruption, and I hope that you enjoy :-)

Unfair and Unbalanced

Since the Supreme Court's landmark decision earlier this year that corporate expenditures could be used without limit and in any capacity to finance political campaigns, our elections process has seemingly become a special interest free-for-all. Although campaign spending was ludicrous as it were, with the 2008 presidential election costing a record $5 billion, now corporations literally have all of freedom they need to oversee our elections processes, and may under the protection of law, because somehow limiting their power would be a violation of freedom of speech.

And Newscorp was among the first big-time companies to cash-in, so to speak, on this convenient new allowance. Are you surprised? The parent company of FOX news and the Wall Street Journal, which over the years has blatantly revealed its conservative biases, has now openly admitted to their partiality: they have gifted a donation of $1 million to the Republican Governor's Association.

This is quite alarming for several reasons. First, Fox continues to be a major outlet for news stories covering this year's elections. And with this enormous open endorsement of Republican candidates, how can their "reporting" ever be "fair" or "balanced," as they claim? The radical right-leaning commentary that one hears on Fox news would not fool most informed viewers, but rather serve to the fire of misinformation and preexisting incendiary opinion. Still, this action further exposed Fox's position as being the most unfair, unbalanced news source in the nation.

But more importantly, this action is done within the confines of complete legality. Thanks to the Supreme Court's decision to lift a limit on the amount and type of corporate spending on campaigns, I would bet that donations such as Newscorp's $1 million to the Republicans will be given much more frequently, and in much higher numbers. Not that they haven't been happening already, but with the declaration of open season on campaign spending, all the money trails will be exposed, showing our political process for what it really is.

Cease and Desist

The dominion of disposable plastic bags in our supermarkets may soon be coming to an end. Several countries around the world, and even certain cities within the U.S. have initiated a total ban against plastic shopping bags, while many supermarkets and other shopping outlets are offering incentives for costumers who choose to bring their own reusable alternatives with them to the store (BYOB- bring your own bag!). In similar cases, some local governments are considering further pressure to slow or halt the distribution of plastic bags by placing heaving taxes against them. Recently, Planet Green has released a list of cities around the world which have imposed the total ban on plastic bags.

These are all extremely important steps towards ensuring the health and safety of our world's ecosystems, especially in light of the giant floating island of garbage in the Pacific Ocean. It is twice the size of Texas by some reports, twice that of the continental U.S. by others, consisting mostly of discarded and non-biodegradable plastic products. The pollution of our world's oceans is far more critical than we might have guessed, and it is both entirely our fault and entirely our responsibility to fix it. We are making it increasingly difficult for fish and other marine life to survive in any kind of habitable environment. And besides global warming and the increasing taxation of industrial over-fishing, the most prominent offenders to the oceans' situation are, not surprisingly, plastics. They are so destructive, in fact, that even the United Nations has called for their increased regulation.

Besides the amendments we make to our own personal consumption, and the efforts of our governments to assuage our efforts, there are private groups working around the world to undo some of the damage inflicted upon world's oceans, and they have proved to be nothing short of heroic. Nextek Limited, for example, a company that is based out of the UK and Australia, is doing some really impressive stuff to counter-act plastic pollution. Although it boasts a variety of noble projects, the company's primary purpose is to process and recycle polymer plastics in a sustainable and responsible way, from discarded bottles and mixed plastics into clean, safe milk bottles and other products. By far their most impressive work is done at sea, where they collect the materials they need in order to forge these recycled gems. They sustainably gather floating plastics from the surface of the south Pacific ocean, while at the same time returning any accidentally captured sea life to the water. They then process the plastics in order to decontaminate them and subsequently recycle them. To read their full story, follow this link to Positive News.

How amazing! Congratulations to these benevolent and innovative businessmen who've created such a fantastic answer to plastic. They can't single-handily drain the ocean of its estimated 4 million tons of plastic pollution, but they have certainly set the bar in terms of environmental stewardship. Congratulations to the brave municipal governments who are taking the lead in this fight against pollutions by banning the use of plastic bags completely, and those who are on their way with a partial tax. And congratulations to you, the consumer, because it is your actions and assertions that ultimately have the power to make real change happen around the world!

What Oil Spil...?

It was only a matter of time before the swarming, buzzing frenzy about the oil spill would slow, sputter out, and become only a faint murmur and a memory of what was once the most catastrophic corporate accident in our nations history. After weeks of basking in the spotlight of front-page articles, daily briefings, and consultations with Hollywood figures, alas... BP's oil spill has lost it's 15 minutes of fame. Sure, there are still scattered articles pertaining to the aftermath, but overall the media ship has sailed over the Deepwater Horizon. While BP's executives are likely wiping the sweat from their brow, thankful for the cooling of their fannies, the gulf coast's proverbial world remains upside-down, and unfortunately relief is a long ways away.

There are still massive amounts of non-degrading oil stewing in the gulf waters. According to researchers at the University of Georgia, 79% of the oil released by the massive spill has yet to be recovered, all of which poses a dire threat to local ecosystems, fishing industries, beaches, livelihoods, public health, etc... you name the aspect of peaceful living in the gulf, and more than likely the oil has disrupted it. And for an area of the country which seems to fall repeatedly on bad times, the impact could be devastating.

Many individuals living in the gulf are in need of assistance, from financial reimbursement for the loss of business, to emotional and social support for the damage to their homes and lifelines. In terms of mental health issues, BP has preemptively compensated gulf residents by providing $58 million to help treat those affected by the spill for stress, anxiety, and depression. However, the fund that BP set up as a voluntary trust for its oil spill victims was created with the clause that monies for the trust would be directly linked to BP's successful drilling endeavors in the gulf. Therefore, fickle BP would not be required to pay out a dime if the funds from gulf oil extraction were to somehow disappear- a fact that some awaiting payout might not be aware of.

Just because the oil spill situation is no longer a top news story in our mainstream media does not mean that this problem is going to go away any time soon. Even our president has warned us that the consequences of the spill are wide-reaching, and that the worst is far from over. But if you think that this disaster has taught our government a lesson about the dangers of desperate energy extraction, think again... after almost immediately overturning a moratorium on offshore drilling, the government is now considering lifting the moratorium on deep-water drilling imposed immediately after the spill as well. And if you think that BP would be more cautious in its endeavors to extract oil from the bottom of the ocean... wrong again! The company is now planning to commence deep-water oil drilling in Libya, a country with a limited action plan in the case of an offshore spill.

If the case of the Exxon-Valdez oil spill in Alaska 21 years ago has anything to teach us, its that the problems caused by massive oil spills are serious, and do not dissipate quickly. Residents living along the Prince William Sound are still experiencing environmental and social consequences of that terrible spill to this day, as gulf coast residents likely will experience decades from now, long after the noise around the event has quieted to a whisper.