Humanity Runs on Coffee

What everyone must know about fairly certified coffee and how you can help. 

What is Fair Trade? 

On September 29th, millions of people across the world gathered together in public or on social media to celebrate National Coffee Day. More than 400 million cups of coffee are consumed everyday and our addiction is only growing. If one morning, everyone went out and bought fairly certified coffee, we would drive at least $2 million back to coffee farmers. Coffee is a huge staple in almost everyone’s life. Not realizing that the coffee industry is struggling, one day purchasing coffee is not going to be an easy task. But all you have to do is drink a cup of Fairly Certified coffee.  

Fair Trade is the principle that creates opportunities for disadvantaged producers, ensures no child labor, ensures fair payment to the producers, and transparency and accountability are promoted.  It is essentially an agreement by a seller to pay fair wages and provide good working conditions to those producing goods in developing countries. 

Here are three companies that support fair trade coffee. 

Green Mountain  

Website: http://www.gmcr.com/

The Green Mountain offers the largest selection of Fair Trade Certified coffee in the United States. What began in 1981 in a small café in Waitsfield, Vermont, roasting and selling coffee. Soon demand for their coffee to be supplied at local restaurants increased. This coffee comes from parts of the world where coffee beans are grown in excellent condition such as Kenya and Ethiopia. Green Mountain’s message about Fair Trade is as follows “we are dedicated to purchasing high quality coffee while investing in quality of life for farmers today.” 

Equal Exchange  

Website: https://equalexchange.coop/

Equal Exchange had one specific goal in mind when they started running their organization; what if food could be traded in a way that is honest and fair, a way that empowers both farmers and consumers? Equal Exchange was solely built upon Fair Trade ideals where all of their products ranging from coffee, tea, and chocolate, support the sustainability of farmers. What kickstarted this organization is the coffee they imported from Nicaragua. In 1986, Reagan’s administration placed an embargo on all products from Nicaragua and importing coffee from here would demonstrate solidarity and challenge old US trade policies. 

Burlap and Bean

Website: https://www.burlapandbean.com/

In 2006, Media PA, became America’s first Fair Trade Town. This town was committed to the promotion of Fair Trade certified goods. Located in Newtown Sqaure, PA, lies a gem: Burlap and Bean Coffee where 100% of the coffee they source is Organic and Fair Trade Certified. They have a wonderful selection of specialty drinks, snacks, and baked goods provided by local bakeries. Burlap and Bean Coffee is famously known for their heartwarming hospitality, live entertainment and of course a nice cup of coffee.  

How you can show support 

• In honor of National Coffee Day, upload your favorite cup of  Fairly Certified coffee with the hashtag #JustOneCup to show support for coffee farmers 

• Read and watch videos about what Fair Trade is and how it can positively affect the environment. 

• Subscribe to your favorite Fairly Certified Coffee Companies and start drinking their coffee 

• Follow social media pages on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and share their posts to reach a bigger audience 

Connecting Coffee Farmers and Consumers Around the World

I would like to thank everyone who showed up to our “Connected by Coffee” documentary event. We had plenty of yummy treats and beverages to satisfy any mouth. (And it was all Fair Trade!)

It was truly inspiring to see the lives that were touched by this Fair Trade movement. I was shocked to hear about the devastating threats to coffee farms from coffee rust.

“Coffee rust is caused by a fungus which causes powdery orange spots on leaves. The infected leaves drop from the coffee plant too soon. The coffee rust weakens the coffee plant, reduces yield and eventually kills it.” (Source)

Not many people realize the obstacles that coffee farmers face. But it’s the dedicated Fair Traders like you who can make a difference. Amazingly enough, Fair Trade sticks by all the hardships that farmers must endure which is what makes this organization great. I hope many viewers were motivated by this documentary and continue to choose Fair Trade and support our cause.

For more information, visit the Connected by Coffee website.

Contributed by Fair Trade Student Intern, Lisa Chun

20 Ways to #BeFair for Penn State Brandywine Students

1. Visit the Fair Food Farmstand at Reading Terminal Market.

2. Drink some coffee made with Fair Trade cocoa beans at your local cafes:

Coffee Beanery & Seven Stones Cafe, Media

Burlap and Bean Coffee, Newtown Square

Fennario Coffee, West Chester

Good Karma Cafe, 3 locations in Philadelphia (The Pine St. address is the closest to school)

3. Shop at supermarkets that sell Fair Trade products.

4. Purchase some Fair Trade chocolate at the Lion’s Den.

5. Stay updated on Fair Trade news.

6. Follow us and all your favorite Fair Trade advocates using social media.

7. Not a coffee drinker? Then try some Fair Trade Tea!

8.  When you shop at the King of Prussia mall, choose Fair Trade:

• Cosmetics: The Body Shop
• Handmade Goods: Ten Thousand Villages
• Food & Beverages: Shake Shack, Dunkin’ Donuts

9. Wear sustainable FT fashion, like People Tree.

10. Show your Penn State pride with a t-shirt from Alta Garcia. (Found at our campus bookstore)

11. Be eco-friendly at school or in the office.

12. Don’t forget America’s First Fair Trade Town is just around the corner!

13. Commute to school and spread the word about Fair Trade at the same time.

14. Bake some brownies made with Fair Trade cocoa!

15. Watch Fair Trade Films 

16. Participate at on-campus Fair Trade events.

17. Buy a bar, give a bar.

18. Stay energized with Scheckter’s Organic Energy Beverages.

19. Switch your gifts to Fair Trade!

20. Finally, spread the Fair Trade campaign among your friends and family!

Why Fair Trade Chocolate is AWESOME

As I was searching the web, I came across a fantastic poster on Fair Trade Chocolate. See it for yourself:

Once I saw this, I was curious in knowing the special stories behind some brands. I hope you find them as interesting as I did.

Equal Exchange incorporates ties with small-scale cacao producers from different countries in South America. With the National Confederation of Dominican Cacao Producers (CONACADO) in Dominican Republic, the Fair Trade premiums have contributed to school supplies and scholarships for members’ children, paving roads, constructing wells, improving health clinics with medicine and doctors, and so much more.

Another Fair Trade brand is Divine Chocolate, a co-operative organization largely owned by cocoa farmers in Ghana. Divine Chocolate has helped the lifestyle of its workers by providing training and empowering female workers. Currently, the Divine Bicycle Challenge–which ends on June 19–initiates a new transportation movement for children of cocoa farmers in Ghana.

Click the image for more details.

With the help from one of the leading UK chocolate brands, Cadbury, the Fairtrade logo on these chocolate bars have become a huge success. As a result, solar energy has become a part of Ghanaian schools, mills, health clinics, and homes. Read the entire article here.

 

Fair Trade and its impact on chocolate is truly encouraging and enlightening the lives of our world cocoa community. All things chocolate, I can’t wait to enjoy a pint of Double Chocolate Fudge ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s.

 

Always remember…

 

 

Contributed by Lisa Chun, Fair Trade Intern

 

Fair Trade T-Shirt Exchange

 

Contributed by Leshaun Warner, Fair Trade Intern

WEB-SERIES

Hello Everyone, Check out this amazing web-series that allows you to take a inside look at real Fair Trade coffee roasters in South America!!! Below is a link to the YouTube page also the first three videos.

WEB-SERIES.

 

Contributed by Leshaun Warner, Fair Trade Intern

Fair Trade Plum Tart

After successfully making a fair trade blueberry pie, I decided to try another fair trade dessert, once again using a recipe from my favorite cookbook Simply in Season.  The plum tart recipe (on page 157) was in the summer section, and appeared to be relatively easy, so I decided to try making it.

The recipe calls for:

Tart crust

(Optional) 1 tablespoon of tapioca (I did not use any tapioca)

“Small blue plums” (The recipe referred to them simply as “small blue plums;” I assume it refers to damson plums, however, if you know of another variety of plum that fits that description, please share in the comments section.)

3/4 cup of sugar

2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon

For the tart crust, I used the Shortbread Tart Crust recipe (on page 335):

1 cup of flour (up to 1/3 a cup of whole wheat pastry flour can be used; I decided to use 1/2 a cup of flour and 1/2 a cup of whole wheat pastry flour)

1/3 a cup of butter

2 tablespoons of powdered sugar

In order to create a fair trade plum tart, I used fair trade sugar and fair trade powdered sugar.  I also used a rather special ground cinnamon; more information about this cinnamon can be found here.

First, the oven needs to be preheated to 350 degrees F.  The shortbread tart crust recipe was surprising simple.  The 3 ingredients (flour, butter, and powdered sugar) are mixed together in a bowl “…until crumbly, with no pieces bigger than a pea,” (Simply In Season, p. 335).  The mixture is than pressed into a 9 inch pie pan.

Once the mixture was pressed into a pan, I started the filling.  Although the recipe calls for small blue plums, I was unable to find any damson plums, and when I went to Linvilla I was told that they are not yet in season.  Instead, while I was at Linvilla, I purchased Shiro sugar plums and another type of plum.  I plan on making the tart again later this month when the damson plums are ripe.

Shiro Sugar Plums are the yellow plums on the left

To prepare the plums, the stems need to be removed.  Next, the plums need to be cut in half and have their pit removed.  Once the plums are prepared, they need to be placed in the tart crust “…cut side up, making slightly overlapping concentric circles starting at the outside,” (Simply In Season, p. 157).

Next, the sugar and cinnamon need to be mixed together,  This mixture is then poured over the plums.

The tart can then be placed in the oven to bake for 45 minutes.  As tempting as it is to start eating the tart as soon as it comes out of the oven, it really needs to cool a bit before it can be sliced.

I enjoyed the fair trade plum tart (although I preferred the fair trade blueberry pie).  I thought the tart crust was excellent, and very simple to make.  In my opinion, the Shiro Sugar Plums were more suitable for the tart then the more traditional plums, and next time I would like to try making it using the damson plums called for in the recipe.

Contributed by Fair Trade Intern Megan Draper

Fair Trade Blueberry Pie

I recently baked a fair trade blueberry pie; I used a recipe from my favorite cookbook, Simply in Season.  Simply in Season is organized, as its name suggests, around the seasons, with recipes focusing on foods that are “in season” for that particular time of year.  In the summer section I found a recipe for blueberry pie under the label Fresh Fruit Pie (on page 160).  There were several different pie options, but I chose blueberry 1) because I like blueberry pie and 2) because I had a ton of blueberries.

The recipe calls for:

3 cups of blueberries

2/3 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of tapioca (I used corn syrup because that is what I had)

(Note: The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup of rhubarb, but I am not a fan of rhubarb in pies, so I did not include any.  I did, however, substitute 1/2 cup of blueberries in place of the rhubarb.)

I also decided to make homemade pie crust for the pie, which can be found in Simply in Season on page 334 in the All Seasons section.

The pie crust recipe calls for:

1 slightly beaten egg

5 tablespoons of cold water

1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar

2 cups of flour

1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup of chilled butter

1 teaspoon of salt

To make the pie fair trade, I used fair trade sugar (you can see the fair trade logo on the Organic Sucanat).

I started the pie crust before the pie’s filling because the crust needs to be chilled between 20 and 30 minutes before it can be rolled and baked.

First, the egg, cold water, and apple cider vinegar need to be combined in a bowl and than set aside.

Second, the flour, whole wheat pastry flour, butter, and salt need to be cut together; the cookbook recommended using a pastry blender.  I just used a butter knife and my hands because I do not own a pastry blender, and this worked fine for me.  According to Simply In Season, “Quickly cut together with a pastry blender until chunks of butter are nearly pea-sized,” (p. 334).  It is important to be fairly quick, because it is important that the butter does not become too warm.

Thirdly, the wet ingredients need to be mixed into the dry ingredients using a fork; the ingredients should form a dough ball.  The cookbook suggested cutting the dough ball into 3 pieces; I cut the dough into two pieces.  The dough is then chilled for 20-30 minutes ( I chilled my dough for 30 minutes).

While the dough chilled I prepped the blueberries.  This involved rinsing and sorting and took more time than I had initially anticipated.  This is also a good time to preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Once the blueberries were prepped it was time to take the dough out of the refrigerator.  The two dough balls were rolled flat (using a rolling pin and a dusting of flour on wax paper) for a roughly 9 inch pan.

To move the flattened dough, “Fold carefully in half, then in half again, and place point of crust in center of pie plate, opening crust to fill pan,” (Simply In Season, p. 334).  Once in the pan, the crust needs to be trimmed with a knife to fit the pan.  Also, sprinkle a dash of sugar on the the crust that rests in the bottom of the pan.

Once the pie crusts are prepared, the filling needs to be started so the pie can be placed in the preheated oven.  The sugar, corn syrup, and blueberries need to be mixed; I did this by hand in an effort to mix the ingredients thoroughly while avoiding damaging the blueberries.

Once the filling is mixed, it can be poured/scooped into the pie crust.

Once the filling is in the pan, the second pie crust can be moved (in the same way as the first one) and placed on top of the filling.  Like the first crust, it should be trimmed to fit the pan.

Using a fork, press the outer rims of the pie crusts together and cut vent holes in the top.

The pie should be placed in the oven at 425 degrees F for 10 minutes.

The oven’s heat should be reduced to 350 degrees F and the pie should bake for another 25-30 minutes.

A picture of the finished product; it tasted great, despite (or perhaps because of) the amount of liquid in the center.

Contributed by Fair Trade Intern Megan Draper 

Fair Trade Chocolates

A couple of fair trade chocolate bars I purchased at Martindale’s Natural Market…

Above: Equal Exchange mint chocolate.

Above: Madecasse chocolate, pink pepper and citrus (I had to try it because it was such a unique and interesting sounding chocolate)

Above: Also a Madecasse chocolate, although this one was Sea Salt and Nibs

Above: Divine Milk Chocolate, you can just make out the Fair trade logo in the upper left corner

I thought that these chocolate bars were a good example of how there are so many different “fair trade” labels to choose from.  How these labels compare to one another, however, is a subject for another post.

Contributed by Fair Trade Intern Megan Draper

“You Can’t Wake a Person Who’s Pretending to Sleep”

The more I have learned about fair trade, the more I have realized how complicated global supply systems really are.  I have also realized how difficult it is to purchase truly ethical products, because a product that is “good” in one way may be “bad” in another way (e.g. is a product both socially and environmentally sound?).  This TED Talk explains some of the issues associated with unsustainable products and realistic solutions.  I recommend it to everyone, and yes, watch the entire video.

This TED Talk (“Jason Clay: How big brands can help save biodiversity”) mentions 15 Key Commodities related to the loss of biodiversity. These commodities are: palm oil, cotton, biofuels, sugarcane, pulp & paper, sawn wood, dairy, beef, soy, fish oil & meal, farmed salmon, farmed shrimp, tuna, tropical shrimp, and whitefish.  I have a particular interest in palm oil, for reasons that I will explain in another post; however, I am also interested in how fair trade could be applied to the 15 commodities and how fair trade could fit into the framework described in the video (if you have any ideas, please add them to the comments section).  Environmental sustainability is a crucial aspect of any system that will be fair in the long run, as this article rather direly outlines.

There are many things I love about this TED video, but I want to focus on the ones that I think are most applicable to fair trade.  The video discusses shifting the entire supply chain of the 15 commodities by focusing on the top 100 companies that control 25% of the trade of these commodities (for the full picture and details watch the video).  It will be difficult, but I think this could work for sustainability.  Could the same concepts be used for fair trade?  Could a more socially fair system be implemented at the same time as an environmentally sustainable system for the 15 products?

One of the things I love most about the video is that Jason Clay is not afraid to say that we, as consumers, should be paying the true price for our products.  I could not agree more, but I have found in my own experience that many people balk at fair trade because “it costs too much,” or “I can get the same product for less if it isn’t fair trade.”  Excuses like this ignore the very real social and environmental, as well as economic, costs of our consumerism.

This leads to another point made in the video, that sustainability needs to be an integral part of the global trade system, not a choice.  I agree, and I also think that social equity needs to be a part of the system, and not a choice on the part of the consumer.  I know, for example, that I have bought plenty of unsustainable and non-fair trade cotton shirts; wouldn’t it be great to live in a world where all cotton was fair and sustainable?  I know for sure that I do not have all the answers (but perhaps you have some, please comment if you do) but what I have realized is that we all have to stop pretending to be asleep.

Contributed by Fair Trade Intern Megan Draper

Icelanders Like Their Ice Cream Fair Trade!

I recently returned from a trip to Iceland.  I was there for a geology field seminar, but I also had my “Fair Trade” hat on and kept an eye out for fair trade products in stores.  I was disappointed to see so few fair trade items on the shelves, especially since Icelanders have to import so much of their food.  One food item did not let me down – that familiar fair trade logo was on all varieties of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream!

I can spot that logo anywhere – even in Iceland!

Fair Trade Gathering over Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream

After weeks of rainy days, the sun came up strong and bright for our meeting with Elizabeth Killough, chair of the Media Fair Trade Town Committee, and David Rosenberg, generous donor of the Laboratory for Civic Engagement. Over lunch, we discussed  the inspiring origins of the fair trade movement in Media and talked about ways to sustain and expand awareness in the coming years.

The interesting thing about fair trade, said Killough, is that “it is something that appeals to everyone across the spectrum.”

Dr. Laura Guertin with Elizabeth Killough

The conversation took on a whole new dynamic as lunch turned into a Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream social, which was part of the celebration for our winning the nationwide Go Bananas for Fair Trade campaign. Students that had helped with Fair Trade events in the fall semester (the Alta Gracia t-shirt swap and bananas) were treated to free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

Director of the Penn State Brandywine Laboratory for Civic Engagement, Dr. Laura Guertin, assembled this incredible pyramid of fair trade greatness, composed of 18 delicious fair trade flavors of Ben & Jerry’s. She even created fresh whipped cream with fair trade sugar to top off our dessert creations!

Ice-cream has a special way of bringing everyone together, and between scoops, we not only talked about the social issues surrounding the fair trade movement and its impact on communities internationally, but also on Ben & Jerry’s trailblazing path to a more just world. The company truly stands as a model for other influential corporations to follow.

Senior and Fair Trade Intern for Media’s Fair Trade Town Committee, Aimee Ralph, enjoys her bowl of Ben & Jerry’s

Overall, the celebration was quite a success and each of us departed, brimming with enthusiasm for future fair trade events!

Contributed by Labanya Mookerjee, Fair Trade Intern

Ben & Jerry’s switch to international FAIRTRADE Certification Mark

Ben & Jerry’s has been a strong supporter of fair trade and is adding fair trade ingredients, such as vanilla, chocolate, and sugar, to more of their flavors.  Ben & Jerry’s even has a Fairtrade page online (website).  With the questions/discussions/frustrations swirling around fair trade certifiers, does this recent move get us closer to “whirled” peace?

HEADLINE:  Ben & Jerry’s Fortifies Farmer Focus with Faritrade Effort
Ice cream maker solidifies its commitment with Fairtrade International’s US Headquarters, Fairtrade International USA

Sine Fairtrade International USA (website) has established themselves in the United States, the Fair Trade USA “bucket boy” logo has been disappearing on products such as Divine Chocolate, and now Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.  Does it make a difference who certifies Ben & Jerry’s ice cream?  Does it taste any different, or do you feel any different eating the ice cream under a different certifier?  The answers to these questions are all personal and individual, but we think everyone agrees that the commitment to fair trade is a priority and should be a priority for more companies that have the power to make a difference.

Contributed by Dr. Laura Guertin

Starbucks USA vs Starbucks UK

The UK has long been known as the birthplace of the fair trade movement. It is only fitting that the Starbucks UK market can boast that 100% of their espresso based coffee drinks are Fair Trade Certified (Starbucks UK 100% Fair Trade Espresso Based Drinks), but what about the U.S. market? The U.S. market offers the Italian Roast as their Fair Trade Certified option. I found a great article on a petition for Starbucks to offer a Fair Trade Certified brewed coffee option daily by a former partner. The main reason Starbucks USA has not acted is because there is not enough demand for the same Fair Trade standards as the UK stores. Please take a look and let your voice be heard!

Former Barista Tells Starbucks: Brew More Fair Trade Coffee

Coffee harvesting (image source)

I also found a link to an article about how Starbucks UK is creating a Fair Trade Access Fund, check it out! Introducing Starbucks Fair Trade Access Fund

Contributed by Jack Ramaika, founding Fair Trade TrailBlazer

Starbucks C.A.F.E. Practices vs. Fair Trade Certified Coffee

Hello supporters of all things fair trade! My name is Jack Ramaika and I am a student here at PSU Brandywine. I am also a lover of coffee, which would lead me to find a job at Starbucks Coffee. I have been a partner at Starbucks since 2006. In my time at Starbucks, I have been very proud of the company and the principles on which we stand. When I joined the Fair Trade movement at PSU Brandywine, I began to take a serious look at how Starbucks purchases and deals with the producers of their coffee beans. I found that Starbucks has created, with cooperation from Conservation International, what they call Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices. Starbucks believes that this scorecard-based system helps farmers grow coffee in a way that is better for both people and the environment. It is focused on product quality, economic accountability, social responsibility, and environmental leadership.

Responsibly Grown Coffee, from Starbucks

When I began to ask the company why we only had one fair trade certified coffee in the U.S. market (Italian Roast) the response was that the C.A.F.E. Practices model actually was superior to the fair trade standards. Starbucks is quick to point out on the same web page that it is the number one purchaser of fair trade certified coffee in the world. In fact, Starbucks writes that they increased their purchases of fair trade certified coffee from 19 million pounds in 2008 to 39 million pounds in 2009. Responsibly Sourced Coffee I found some websites that support this belief, such as Coffeehabitat.com. I also found criticism at Bean Activist.

A percentage of these purchases come from the UK. Market where Fair Trade Certified Coffee is used for every espresso based drink. My next question is… Why not have fair trade coffee beans be used for all espresso based drinks in the US market? Can you imagine the increase in purchases of fair trade coffee beans? The answer is that there is not enough demand for fair trade in the US market. As consumers we must demand fair trade coffee options. Another reason why I love Starbucks coffee is that they are open to ideas. You can voice your opinion on this matter at My Starbucks Idea. I went to the site myself and searched Fair Trade Certified Coffee and here you can see the results, http://mystarbucksidea.force.com/apex/ideasearchresult?s=Fair+Trade+Certified+Coffee

Starbucks CAFE Practices, from Coffee & Conservation

I am very proud to be a partner at Starbucks Coffee. Our commitment to the community and to the ethical purchasing of the coffee beans that are used to create the Starbucks Brand. What I will say is that old saying, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Starbucks Coffee has the chance to lead the coffee industry into a new era of social responsibility. By truly backing the fair trade movement and uniting behind the same cause, Starbucks could provide the leadership to bring about true change. So all you lovers of the coffee bean make your voice heard!

Contributed by Jack Ramaika, founding Fair Trade TrailBlazer

Our bookstore has your Alta Gracia holiday gift!

If you are still looking for a holiday gift for family/friends, swing by the Penn State Brandywine Bookstore (hours and location) and grab some Alta Gracia t-shirts!  If you can’t get to the bookstore, you can also order online.

#FairTuesday – November 27, 2012

If Black Friday wasn’t your thing, and you have already supported Small Business Saturday, we encourage you to breeze right through Cyber Monday to #FairTuesday!  Launched by the New York-based nonprofit Global Good Partners, “the goal of #FairTuesday is to inspire conscious consumerism and show how an everyday purchase can change lives in a whole community.”  So spread the word, and shop Fair Trade this holiday season (and year-round)!

So where can your purchase your Fair Trade items?  Check the online listing of supporting retailers of Fair Trade and the listing of Fair Trade Federation shops.

 

 

Making Thanksgiving Desserts Fair Trade

Every year for Thanksgiving, my husband makes two desserts from scratch that he brings to the family Thanksgiving feast.  Fortunately, because he has been brought up to speed on the impact of his purchasing Fair Trade products, he didn’t blink at all at my suggestion he swap some of his standard ingredient purchases for Fair Trade food items.  One dessert was a White and Dark Chocolate Ice Box Cake (including Green & Black’s Organic White Chocolate and 72% Dark Baking Chocolate).  But here, I’d like to share his other creation.

Espresso-Chocolate Speckle Angel Food Cake

Ingredients

1 and 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar (he used Woodstock’s Organic Powdered Sugar)
1 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
12 large egg whites
1 and 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 cup granulated sugar (he used Wholesome Sweeteners Organic & Fair Trade Sugar)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (he used Frontier Vanilla Flavor)
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder (unfortunately, we could not find any Fair Trade instant varieties!)
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate (he used Divine 85% Dark Chocolate), grated on the fine holes of a hand grater, or in a rotary grater
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted as a chocolate drizzle (again, Divine Chocolate)

STEP ONE:  Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F.  Spray a 10-inch bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray (notice we used a cake pan with a cathedral design).

STEP TWO:  Sift the cake flour and confectioners’ sugar together onto a piece of waxed paper three times; set aside.

STEP THREE:  In the 4 and 1/2 quart bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer, using the wire whip attachment, beat the egg whites at medium speed until frothy.  Add the cream of tartar and beat at high speed, adding the sugar gradually, until the whites are glossy and stiff, but not dry.  Add the vanilla and espresso powder and continue mixing until just incorporated.  Scrape the mixture into a large bowl.

STEP FOUR:  In three batches, resift the flour/sugar mixture over the whites and gently fold in with a large rubber spatula until just combined.  Gently fold in the grated chocolate until combined.  Scrape the batter into the bundt pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the cake begins to pull away from the side of the pan.  Using a knife, loosen the cake form the pan.  Let sit on a cake rack for 5 minutes and invert onto another cake rack.  Allow the cake to cool completely before glazing.

STEP FIVE:  To garnish the cake, dip a fork into the melted chocolate and drizzle the glaze over the top and sides of the cake.

STEP SIX:  Enjoy!  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Contributed by Dr. Laura Guertin

Our second Alta Gracia t-shirt swap, benefitting Planet Aid

We just finished our second Alta Gracia t-shirt swap on campus, swapping gently used t-shirts for brand-new special-ordered Penn State Brandywine Alta Gracia shirts!  All collected and donated shirts are being donated to Planet Aid, a nonprofit organization that collects and recycles used clothing to protect the environment and support global sustainable development.

We are still swapping out some last-minute t-shirts, but we have given out at least 70 Alta Gracia shirts and collected over 120 to donate to Planet Aid!

For those of you that follow our website, you may recall reading about our first t-shirt swap and our recommendations for how to host a t-shirt swap.  Instead of repeating that same information, we are going to add a few updates in this blog post.

• As with our Go Bananas for Fair Trade event this semester, the students of BA 100 (Introduction to Business) helped out again in running the event.  We have to thank Professor Olear and her students once again for their enthusiasm and assistance!
• We provided a three-fold brochure with every shirt describing Alta Gracia, Planet Aid, and included our mission and vision statements for the Fair Trade TrailBlazers.  It never hurts to put the information directly into people’s hands!
• Tweet like crazy during your event!  We were thrilled to have @wearaltagracia and @planetaid both follow us and retweet our images and tweets during the event, as well as other groups.  This made us feel that we were really getting the word out and making an impact beyond our campus event.
• We were disappointed that, although we sent out campus-wide emails and posted flyers, that the announcement didn’t appear on our campus website or campus Facebook page.  We have to remember to directly ask for the assistance with this publicity from our University Relations Office to get the maximum reach across the campus population.
• And a friendly warning message… don’t assume that where you get your funding from for the t-shirts the first time will fund you a second time!  For our first t-shirt swap back in Spring 2012, our campus Student Acitivty Fee (SAF) committee funded us and even encouraged us to apply for more funding to get more shirts for a second event.  Fast forward to Fall 2012, a different SAF committee composition of students and faculty – we applied for more funding for more shirts, and we were completely denied funding – unless we became an official student club, which is not what the TrailBlazers are about (see Sarah’s post describing our campus identity).  Soooo… we had already special ordered the shirts through the campus bookstore, and the shirts were on the way, so we needed to find some funds, and fast.  We really need to thank the Laboratory for Civic Engagement for funding the student shirts, and our campus Chancellor Sophia Wisniewska for purchasing 50 shirts specifically for faculty and staff to swap.

If you would like to see more photos from our event, please visit our Flickr site.

Below, some of the shirts on their way to Planet Aid!

“Go Bananas for Fair Trade” Event

On October 9 and 10, we held our “Go Bananas for Fair Trade” event on our campus. On Tuesday and Wednesday we gave out Equal Exchange Fair Trade bananas in front of the Lion statue. with the help of Professor Olear’s BA 100 (Introduction to Business) students. After two days of standing in the rain we gave out all 611 of our bananas. Thanks to the Fair Trade Town committee in Media who assisted us with securing the donation of all of the bananas.

On Thursday and Friday of the same week, the staff in the cafeteria baked up some delicious Fair Trade banana pancakes and muffin specials, and sold 55 of them. We have submitted our numbers in Fair Trade Towns USA, and are now waiting to see if we won the”Go Bananas for Fair Trade” challenge. If we win, Penn State Brandywine can select to receive free Ben and Jerry’s ice cream for a year! So keep your fingers crossed for us.

Here is a picture of our beautiful setup for the banana hand out.

And here are our two awesome banana suits that worked really hard to give out bananas.

Contributed by Louis Donaghue, Fair Trade Intern

How to host a “Go Bananas for Fair Trade” event on a college campus

The “Go Bananas for Fair Trade” event at Penn State Brandywine, a nationwide campaign organized by Fair Trade Towns USA, was a huge success! As we continue on our journey as a Fair Trade University, we continue to work this fall semester toward raising awareness of the Fair Trade movement on campus, specifically with the first-year students, staff and faculty. On October 9-10, 2012, we hosted an event where campus and community members could come to campus and receive a FREE Fair Trade banana, information about the different Fair Trade labels, and take a Fair Trade banana quiz on an iPad. Be sure to read about the lead up to our event and the resulting success! We hope that our experience can help other campuses learn how to best host a Fair Trade banana event!

For starters, we consulted the Go Bananas website and found their Resources page for setting up a banana event. This was very helpful! But there were some other considerations we had to make, especially doing this event on a college campus.

Here are a few of the important lessons we learned about “Going Bananas” on campus:

1. Get permission first! We CANNOT stress this enough!  Our campus has rules with regards to food and food service on campus, and we are sure yours does as well.  Some schools may require that all food be ordered and/or served through your dining services on campus.  We received permission from the business office on campus to obtain the Fair Trade bananas from off campus and to distribute them.
2. Get the word out. As the Go Bananas campaign ran the first two weeks of October, this was far enough into the fall semester so we were not still trying to get the semester under way.  We used our campus’s social media sites our own social media sites, as well as the template from the Go Bananas website to create 11×17 inch posters with the banana logo/template.  Our local town’s Fair Trade committee was kind enough to include us in an announcement sent to our local paper.  It worked!  In a two-day period, we were able to distribute all of our bananas.
3. Consider running the event for more than one day. We scheduled the event over two days, as we are a commuter campus and some of our students are only on campus Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays, while other students are only on campus Tuesdays/Thursdays. By having the event over two days, we were able to reach as many student across our campus population as possible.
4. Expand your volunteer base – connect with a faculty member/course. Early in the semester, we had a faculty member that teachers Introduction to Business ask if her students could help out with the Go Bananas event.  This was a first for the Fair Trade TrailBlazers, having a faculty member be proactive in contacting us and getting her students involved.  We decided that after we secured the bananas, we would let the business students RUN the event!  This was a great opportunity for us to spread the Fair Trade message to 40 first-semester freshmen in the course and to grow our volunteer base.  These students have been asking more and more questions about Fair Trade, and we bet we are going to see them at our future events!
5. Purchase more bananas than you think you will need. We actually ran out of bananas before the second day of the event was complete.  Our original plan was to just distribute one banana per student/staff/faculty member, but we couldn’t say “no” to the handful of students that asked for bananas and flyers to provide to family members (again, we are a commuter campus where most of our students still live with their families).  This provided us an opportunity to spread the “fair trade” message beyond campus!
6. Think about jazzing up your bananas with additional ingredients. We wanted to do chocolate-covered bananas, but we couldn’t figure out how to have warm, melted Fair Trade chocolate in the location we were doing the event for people to dunk their bananas in.  We saw some photos online of other universities doing some innovative slicing of bananas and pouring chocolate and sprinkles on top – what fun!  We think taking our event to the next level with more “trimmings” next time will bring a new twist for us the next time, to bring more people back for more bananas.
7. Choose a good time, overlap with the breakfast/lunch hours. We set our event at 10AM to 1PM both days, so that people could grab a banana between our morning classes and when they arrived on campus.  Don’t be concerned if you don’t have a large group right when you begin, as people will filter in during the event – most likely, as we say, different students in the morning than over the lunch hour.
8. Choose a good location on campus.  Typically, most groups on our campus set up tables to promote events right outside the doors of the building that has our cafeteria and athletic center.  We decided to set up outdoors in the center of campus, right next to our Lion Shrine statue.  This allowed us to be visible as students left most of our academic buildings between classes, and we could “spread out” and direct people walking on sidewalks to walk over to our display to grab a banana.  We certainly feel that location, location, location really mattered!
9. Have a backup plan for bad weather.  We booked an indoor location to give out the bananas, in case of really bad weather.  Well, it actually ended up raining BOTH days of our event, but a little wet weather kept us outside and our energy was not dampened – we still had a successful event!  The only part we were disappointed with was that because of the rain, not many students stayed by our tables outside to eat their banana, they went inside instead.
10. Have a banana costume (or two). We had two banana costumes (Halloween costumes) available for students to wear.  At first, we were not sure if anyone would wear the costume, but then it turned out we had more students that wanted to wear the costumes than we could manage!  Having very energetic students willing to go around campus in the costumes really helped pull people over to our tables and added alot of fun to the activity.  We were a popular spot for photos!
11. Include an education component. We gave out a half-page flyer with every banana that provided some websites that talked about Fair Trade bananas and a list of where Fair Trade bananas can be purchased locally.  We also included an information table (pictured below) with samples of products and another handout listing the different Fair Trade certification labels and describing what these labels mean.  We even created a banana quiz for people to take on the iPad, which provided a fun way to bring technology and an interactive activity to the event.
12. Include an advocacy component. Our original plan was to have a petition for our students to sign to get our campus dining services to serve Fair Trade bananas – but, as it turned out, they started serving Fair Trade bananas the week we had our event.  We’re thrilled that they are STILL serving Fair Trade bananas, and we hope this lasts the entire academic year.
13. Be environmentally responsible – compost those banana peels.  We checked with the head of our campus landscaping, and it turns out he has two compost piles on campus.  He was more than willing to provide a wheel barrel for us to collect the banana peels so he could compost them (see photo).  This was a nice addition to our event and our campus environmental mission.
14. Take lots of photos, and share the results. We took pictures and tweeted them during the event and posted a collection of photos in our flickr account after the banana event.  It’s a great way to document what we did and to share the results with others.  We hope the conversation continues and people are inspired to try their own event after seeing and reading what we did!

Contributed by Dr. Laura Guertin

Hand in Hand Sustainable Suds Seminar

Tuesday, November 13

11:30AM-12:30PM

Tomezsko Building Classroom Lounge (first floor), Penn State Brandywine

Directions to campus and campus map (Building #3)

The Penn State Brandywine Fair Trade TrailBlazers, in conjunction with the Campus Common Read Committee, will be hosting a seminar by the co-founder of Hand in Hand Soap Bill Glaab.  Hand in Hand Soap is a product certified by the Natural Products Association and Fair Trade USA (see this article on FTUSA’s website).

From Hand in Hand’s website:

Hand in Hand Soap was conceived in 2011 by two social entrepreneurs who believe that business can do so much more than just make money… Courtney and Bill set out to start a business based on sustainable giving.  By directly tying charitable donations to the sale of an everyday product, Hand in Hand is able to give soap to those in need and save lives without depending on a single donation.  For every bar purchased, Hand in Hand will donate a bar to save a life… Each bar of soap is 100% eco-friendly, biodegradable, and contains ingredients ethically harvested from sustainable resources.  We have created what we consider to be the most environmentally friendly and ethically conscious soaps on the market today.

On the day of the seminar, the campus is carrying out a one-day soap drive for My Neighbor’s Children, an organization Hand in Hand teams up with to deliver soap to orphaned children worldwide.  We are asking everyone to bring a bar of soap (or two or three or four!) to campus the day of the seminar to then be donated.

The seminar is free and open to the public.  If you have any questions, please contact Connie at (610) 892-1249 or via email at cas34@psu.edu

 

Fair Trade Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

Alright so this Saturday my girlfriend and I decided to bake up some glorious Fair Trade pumpkin bread. Now before we get started, there is no such thing as Fair Trade pumpkins. But a good number of general baking ingredients are made under Fair Trade standards. We found all of our Fair Trade ingredients at the local Whole Foods store. This recipe makes about two large loaves.

Ingredients

• 3 cups white Fair Trade sugar*
• 1 15 oz. can of pumpkin puree
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp. Fair Trade vanilla extract*
• 3.5 cups of all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 9 oz. bag of Fair Trade chocolate chips*
• 2 tsp. ground Fair Trade cinnamon*
• 1 tsp. Fair Trade nutmeg*
• 1 tsp. salt

* =Fair Trade

Step 1

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees, and grease two large bread pans.

Step 2

In a large bowl, mix sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, and eggs together. Then add in everything else except the chocolate chips. Beat until smooth. Then fold in chocolate chips.

Step 3

Pour mix evenly into the two greased pans. Put the pans in the oven for 1 hour, and enjoy a few of your favorite pumpkin beers while you wait.

Step 4

Make sure the loaves are cooked all of the way through. If they are not done cooking just put them back in the oven for five or ten minutes. When you know they are done cooking, leave them in the pan to cool for a while before touching them.

If you did everything right they should look like this! Hope you enjoy this easy Fair Trade recipe.

Contributed by Louis Donaghue, Fair Trade Intern

 

Hershey Announces 100% Certification by 2020!

That’s right you read correctly, Hershey has announced that they plan to be 100% Fair Trade certified by the year 2020, and that by next year they should have one of their top name brands certified. For years the Raise The Bar, Hershey! campaign has been actively pressuring the chocolate company to reevaluate their child slavery practices and work towards a more ethical system.

Hershey stated that they will make this change in small increments over the next eight years, but did not address how they will do this or what certifications they seek to gain.While there is still a lot to question about Hershey’s statement, this is definitley a victory for Raise The Bar, Hershey!

Read the article here http://www.raisethebarhershey.org/raise-the-bar-hershey-campaign-welcomes-hershey%E2%80%99s-announcement-to-source-100-certified-cocoa-by-2020/

Contributed by Louis Donaghue, Fair Trade Intern

 

Ten Thousand Villages hosts a Going Bananas Cook-Off

As part of the Go Bananas for Fair Trade campaign, Ten Thousand Villages on State Street in Media, PA, will be hosting a Going Bananas Cook-Off!  During “Second Saturday,” October 13, bakers/chefs are asked to bring their Fair Trade banana creation, made with at least two additional Fair Trade items, to the Ten Thousand Villages store on State Street before 12:30PM.  All entries will be judged between 1PM and 4PM by the staff and store customers based on use of fair trade ingredients, presentation, creativity, and taste.

To learn more, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/439024039472963/

To find Fair Trade bananas locally, please visit Whole Foods, Swarthmore Co-op, or Martindale’s Natural Market in Springfield.  Most Sam’s Clubs in Pennsylvania and Delaware also sell Fair Trade bananas.

 

 

At the “local” Noodles & Company – China Mist Iced Teas

This is a post our Penn State followers in State College will enjoy!  This summer, during one of my trips to State College, I noticed a Noodles & Company under construction and getting ready to open at the intersection of College Ave and Burrowes Street.  Seeing as the only Noodles & Company in Pennsylvania is in Pittsburgh, I’m excited this restaurant is moving across the state.  One of my former students, Abbey Dufoe, the first student to do an independent study on Fair Trade at Penn State Brandywine (now she’s at the University Park campus), told me that she was able to score a ticket to a pre-opening party to sample some of the food.  While she was feasting on her pasta, she sent me this DM in Twitter:

Leave it to Abbey, always having her eye out for Fair Trade items!  I asked her what brand the beverage is, and she tweeted back:

This is a brand I’m not familiar with, and there is nothing on the Noodles & Company website about serving Fair Trade items.  I wonder where else this beverage exists, especially in southeast PA.  But it is nice for us to now be aware of another Fair Trade beverage, China Mist Iced Tea.  If you spot this brand, please post a comment and let us know!

– Contributed by Dr. Laura Guertin

Weis Market has (limited) Fair Trade food items

Recently, a local grocery store closed and a new Weis Market opened in its place (you can find it on our Google Map in Conshohocken).  I remember shopping at Weis when I was an undergraduate student at Bucknell University in central PA, but I had not seen one here in southeastern PA.  So, I decided to check it out to look for – of course – Fair Trade food items on the shelves!

At first, I was disappointed – I didn’t see any Fair Trade certified bananas, baking chocolate chips, or tea.  Finally, I turned down an aisle and I see this:

Not only did I see the Fair Trade logo that I had been looking for, but it was on a store brand!  Then, I came across some Green Mountain K-cups, Honest Tea, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, Larabar bars, and Green & Black’s organic chocolate.  The selection of Fair Trade food items is probably the most limited I have seen in an area grocery store, but at least there are some Fair Trade items on the shelves.  Hopefully, in the near future, Weis Markets will be proud of their Fair Trade products, do a better job promoting the ones they have, and add even more for consumers to purchase.

– Contributed by Dr. Laura Guertin

 

Fair Trade Ingredients Creme Brulee

As promised at the start of summer, we made Fair Trade Ingredient Creme Brulee!

For this recipe I made 4 ramekins of creme brulee.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups of heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 tablespoons of sugar
• 3 large egg yolks

I have used a few creme brulee recipes in the past, and have made up my own way of concocting creme brulee as I work with a temperamental oven. If your oven behaves itself, then check out this recipe for better cooking directions.

As the recipe above suggested, I added the yolks and the sugar together. However, I like to do things a little bit differently when adding the vanilla. I put 1/4 of the vanilla in with the egg and sugar mixture, and 1/4 in with the heavy whipping cream while bringing it to a broil. I started doing that for the Vegan Chai Cupcakes to enhance the flavor of the Vanilla Soy Milk I use, and it’s a habit that I’ve held onto, though it is not necessary for the creme brulee recipe. I stirred the sugar, vanilla, and yolks together until it was creamy and appeared a little bit darker in color (a darker orange).

After the egg mixture was taken care of, I poured the heavy cream into a small saucepan (though if you are making more creme brulee I would suggest a medium sauce pan) and stirred it continuously for 3-4 minutes. I took the cream off of the stove just before it began to broil. I then poured the cream into the egg mixture a little bit at a time, stirring it together as I did so.

I then put the ramekins into a roasting pan and filled the pan with water. The water should go halfway up the sides of the ramekins, and this ensures that the creme cooks evenly. I cooked the creme at about 325 degrees for 45 minutes. Most recipes I have seen suggest cooking creme brulee anywhere from 250-350 degrees for 25-45 minutes. Depending on your kind of oven. the temperature and time may vary, though I would suggest about 300-325 degrees for 30-40 minutes. The general rule of thumb is to make sure that creme is set and firm. I will usually slide the roasting pan out and gently poke the creme with a spoon to see if it’s ready. A little bit of wiggle in the center of the creme is okay, as the creme will continue to firm up when you put it in the refrigerator, but you don’t want a lot of wiggle.

After the creme brulee has finished cooking, take it out of the oven and let it sit in the bath and cool for 30 minutes or so. Once the 30 minutes are up, wrap the ramekins up in cling wrap and put them in the fridge. I like to give the creme four hours or so to finish firming up, though four hours isn’t a requirement. The recipe I listed above says two hours, and that works as well.

When you are ready to torch the creme, spread a thin layer of sugar over top of the creme. I use a cooking torch to melt the sugar, and I make sure to keep the flame moving. Don’t let it hover over one area of sugar too long, as it melts and burns quickly.

For our Fair Trade Ingredients, I used my favorite Wholesome Sweetener Organic Fair Trade Sugar and Frontier’s Organic Fair Trade Vanilla Extract .

Because Wholesome Sweetener’s Organic Fair Trade Sugar is a little bit coarse, I put the 1 1/4 cups into a food blender to make it finer.

My brother kindly showing off the creme brulee!

The finished product!

-Contributed by Sarah DeMartino, Fair Trade Intern

Going Bananas with Social Media

Wednesday (August 15, 2012) evening, Fair Trade Towns USA hosted a webinar about their Go Bananas Challenge and went over some tips for effectively using social media for spreading Fair Trade awareness during Fair Trade Month in October and during the rest of the year.

We were particularly interested in the Go Bananas Challenge portion of the webinar, as the TrailBlazers are hoping to participate and host some events on campus, but the discussion on social media tips turned out to be just as helpful. Fair Trade Towns USA pointed out a Tool Kit  they have on their website for brainstorming ideas for events, hosting events, and a wealth of other information.  Our plan, at this point, is to do something with Fair Trade Banana splits (can you imagine… Fair Trade Bananas, Fair Trade ice cream, and Fair Trade chocolate sauce!), though we are still muddling through some logistics and other ideas. We’ll post more about  our exact plans closer to October (and after we meet with our food vendor on campus), but the webinar got us thinking about what events might be doable, how do we want to educate our campus population, who we should be contacting, etc. We hope that the Tool Kit above is as helpful for everyone else as it was for us!

But, the point we are most eager to share and blog about is actually the social media aspect of the webinar. Obviously, the TrailBlazers have been very much active in the social media world, and we are always looking for tips and ways to improve our outreach. We found two points in particular to be helping, but for the full guideline list, click here .

One point that really stuck out to us was food. Food posts and photos are some of the more popular topics in the world of social media. A significant chunk of the hits and likes on our own website have been for our food events and recipes, and we had wondered for a while if this was just a phenomena we were experiencing or if it was a common occurrence in the wider community.  Fair Trade Towns USA confirmed that food is a hot-button topic on the internet, and people love to look at food and talk about food. Luckily, when talking about Fair Trade, food comes up often, so sharing food related posts is easy and a great way to get people engaged. As budding social media users, all of us TrailBlazers recommend adding some food flair now and again to get people’s attention.

Fair Trade Towns USA also talked about the power of a positive post. Positive posts get more retweets and shares than negative posts, and in the world of Fair Trade, shining the movement in the best light is important for keeping consumers and the general public feeling good about Fair Trade.

We especially liked these points because they can easily be tied into the Go Bananas Challenge. In addition to hosting events, we need to effectively get the word out there, and social media has been a wonderful tool for getting people aware of what we’re doing and involved. Getting our campus involved with food while educating on the positive impacts of Fair Trade bananas will hopefully get more of our community (and the wider community!) involved with Fair Trade.

–Contributed by Sarah DeMartino, Fair Trade Intern

Celebrating Ethical Chocolate with S’mores at Penn State Brandywine

Today (August 16, 2012) the Fair Trade TrailBlazers and the Penn State Brandywine Community participated in Global Exchange’s “We Want More from our S’mores” event.  This initiative was started by Global Exchange to put pressure on the chocolate industry to stop using child labor and to continue to seek more ethical means of producing chocolate (see our previous post for more details). From 12:30 to 1:30, faculty, staff, and students gathered in the Vairo Library courtyard and made Fair Trade S’mores to help Global Exchange’s campaign.  Fair Trade Equal Exchange chocolate (the dark mini bars) was provided as well as Fair Trade Bananas from Whole Foods. Yes, you read correctly. Fair Trade Bananas! These were not just any Fair Trade S’mores, but gourmet Fair Trade S’mores. In addition to jumbo sized marshmallows and boxes and boxes of graham crackers, organic strawberries were provided (sadly not Fair Trade. All the more reason why we need a domestic Fair Trade system). By the end of the event, 40 people attended, 45 s’mores were eaten, and 25 people signed the We Want More from Our S’mores petition. It was truly a wonderful and successful event!

Here are some photos from this afternoon!

Here are all of the lovely ingredients we used in our Fair Trade S’mores!

A completed S’more.

Here we have a group of students and faculty toasting some marshmallows.

TrailBlazer Jack Ramaika enjoys a Fair Trade S’more!

Fair Trade Intern and TrailBlazer Sarah DeMartino talks to the crowd about the controversy in the Chocolate Industry and the importance of the “We Want More from our S’mores” event.

Louis Donaghue (TrailBlazer and Fall Fair Trade Intern), Jack Ramaika (TrailBlazer), and Sarah DeMartino (TrailBlazer and Summer Fair Trade Intern) pose for a photo during the event.

So Many S’mores eaten!

To see more photos, check out our Flickr page!

–Contributed by Sarah DeMartino, Fair Trade Intern

A Question about Chocolate

It’s question time! So, Dr. Laura Guertin and I were in Wegmans grocery store today, shopping for our campus fair trade s’mores event tomorrow, and we were wondering about some missing food labels. In our mad dash around the store, we came across Hershey’s Bliss chocolate, but found no Rainforest Alliance label on the packaging (Dove chocolates, we discovered on accident, does have a brand of chocolate that is Rainforest Alliance certified).  To our understanding, Bliss chocolate is Rainforest Alliance certified, so why wouldn’t the labeling appear on packaging? Has anybody seen Bliss chocolates with the labeling, or does anybody know why the label wouldn’t be included?

Our second question came up in the international section of Wegmans. I had spotted UK Cadbury  chocolates the other week and wanted to check out their Fair Trade label. However, just like Bliss, I couldn’t find a Fair Trade label for the UK Cadbury milk chocolate bars. If the bars are really from the UK and are the right brand of chocolate, why wouldn’t the label appear on the packaging?

Has anybody else out there had any similar questions? Does anybody know what is going on with these labels?

-Contributed by Sarah DeMartino, Fair Trade Intern

Seeking Ethical Chocolate – A Fair Trade S’more Event!

The chocolate industry has been a growing point of controversy and change. An awareness of how chocolate is made and who makes it has stirred the need to move the industry in a more positive and humane direction.  Seventy percent of the world’s cocoa is produced in West Africa, and it is estimated that around 1.8 million children are working on cocoa farms. In a study conducted (additional article) by Tulane University, it was determined that some of the children are working in very poor and often dangerous conditions, sustaining injuries, and some have been trafficked onto these farms (additional article).

There has been an outcry for the chocolate industry to end child labor from many different organizations and groups. Some major chocolate companies involved with child labor are Mars, Cadbury, Nestle, and Hershey, and there has been some movement from each of these companies to mitigate the issue.

Mars has promised to be child-labor free by 2020 and is working with the U.S. Department of Labor and the International Labour Organization to understand the complexities of child labor and find “…more effective strategies to combat trafficking…”.

Britain’s popular Cadbury  has also taken steps to promote a more ethical chocolate industry and became Fair Trade (additional article), putting Fair Trade certified chocolate on store shelves back in 2010 .

Nestle partnered with the Fair Labor Association to identify if they have child laborers working under them and hopes to resolve any child labor issues they may have been supporting.

Hershey’s chocolate has also begun to take steps to amend its business practices. Hershey has agreed to sell “Bliss” chocolate, a Rainforest Alliance certified chocolate bar. It has also pledged $10 million over the next five years to help educate farmers in West Africa and improve their trade to fight child labor. As America’s biggest chocolate producer, Hershey is under a lot of  pressure to continue to make steps toward fighting child labor. On June 12, 2012, leaders from AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Global Exchange, Green America, the International Labor Rights Forum, and the National Guestworker Alliance, called for Hershey to step up and make reforms for its chocolate production and “…ongoing use of abusive child labor…”.

The “We Want more from our S’Mores” event was started by Global Exchange on July 4, 2012 to further encourage Hershey to move in a more ethical direction. The event calls for making Fair Trade ingredient s’mores and runs until Labor Day. For more information about having your own event, click here.

The Penn State Brandywine TrailBlazers will be participating in this event to promote a more ethical chocolate system, and hopes to not only encourage Hershey to continue to grow and expand its effort to fight child labor, but the rest of the chocolate industry as well. Our event will be held 12:30PM on Thursday August 16, 2012, in the Vairo Building Courtyard on the Penn State Brandywine campus. If you would like to attend for some additional discussion and to create your own Fair Trade s’more (or two, or three, or four…), please RSVP here!

UPDATE: Article on Change.org on National S’more Day: Make Yours Fair Trade (08/10/2012)

-Contributed by Sarah DeMartino, Fair Trade Intern

Now advertising – Honest Tea

I was watching TV a few weeks ago and did a double-take when this commercial came on:

Honest Tea!  I first became aware of Honest Tea when our campus began its journey to become a Fair Trade University.  I started noticing the product in local grocery stores with the “bucket boy” Fair Trade logo (which, by the way, Honest Tea is staying with Fair Trade USA certification).  And I was really disappointed that I couldn’t make it to NYC in April for The Great Recycle event – I applaud their efforts for awareness and action when it comes to recycling the bottles the tea comes in.  But I had never seen any advertising for Honest Tea – until this TV commercial appeared.  And not only has Honest Tea released its first television commercial, I saw a billboard today in Philadelphia for Honest Tea.

The advertising does not focus on the teas that feature Fair Trade ingredients, but all the bottles I have seen in the commercial and on the billboards show bottles with the Fair Trade logo.  I wonder if this will increase purchases of the Fair Trade varieties?  It would be great to see a mention or focus on the Fair Trade line of Honest Tea in this new advertising campaign – it seems that Honest Tea is missing an opportunity to inform consumers what this icon means on the bottle and what it means to the global community.

Contributed by Dr. Laura Guertin

 

Upcoming Event at the Whole Foods Market in Glen Mills!

This coming Friday (August 3, 2012) the Whole Foods Market in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, will be selling Whole Trade Roses for $5 a dozen. All Whole Trade farmers use environmentally friendly methods to grow their roses,  and farmers are paid fairly for their work and treated equally. For more information about the producers working with Whole Foods, click here. To stay in the loop with the Whole Foods Market in Glen Mills, check out their Facebook page!

The Whole Foods Market in Glen Mills is located at: 475 Wilmington West Chester Pike, Glen Mills, Pennsylvania 19342

-Contributed by Dr. Jennifer Zosh and Sarah DeMartino, Fair Trade Intern

For Sale – rolled Alta Gracia Penn State t-shirts!

Check out what is now available in our campus bookstore (and at the Barnes & Noble bookstores of all Penn State campuses) – Alta Gracia rolled t-shirts!  The blue and gray t-shirts state on the label: “Living Tee, Changing Lives One Shirt At A Time.  A Living Tee guarantees that the valued people making these t-shirts receive wages and benefits that allow them to provide for all of life’s necessities, for the health and well being of themselves and their family.  Proudly made in the Dominican Republic, a Product of Alta Gracia.”

Contributed by Dr. Laura Guertin

 

Celebrating Bastille Day with Media and Cupcakes

This past Saturday, July 14, 2012, the Penn State Brandywine Fair Trade TrailBlazers were excited to join the town of Media in its Bastille Day celebrations. The whole of State Street closed down so that booths could set up and restaurants could set out extra seating. The event kicked off at around 6:30 in the evening with an awards ceremony and a reenactment of the storming of the Bastille. Media presented Penn State Brandywine with a Regional Fair Trade award, and we were honored to accept the award! We also congratulate the other Fair Trade award winners on an awesome job and well done!

We also participated in Ten Thousand Villages in Media’s Fair Trade cooking competition, “Knock Their Block Off,” submitting my famous Fair Trade Vanilla Vegan Chai Cupcakes! Four other contestants entered the competition. Take a look at all of the yummy entries!

Below, you will find some other photos from the event.

Above are Bastille Day actors setting up the main stage at the intersection of State and Olive Streets in Media.

Here we are, Dr. Laura Guertin, Sarah DeMartino, and Louis Donaghue accepting the regional award from Media!

And here are all of us after the award!

Here was something cool we saw! At the Fair Trade (run by Media’s Fair Trade Town Committee) information desk, there was a clothesline with Fair Trade messages hung on it. People could come up and write or draw what Fair Trade meant to them!

All in all, we had a wonderfully fun time in Media and can’t wait for their next event!

For more images of Media’s Bastille day, check out our Flickr page!

-Contributed by Sarah DeMartino, First Fair Trade Intern

Global Exchange store in DC

I knew I was heading to DC today for a workshop, and I knew I wanted to head down early to try to find the Global Exchange store.  Global Exchange is “an international human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, economic and environmental justice around the world.”  One of the programs Global Exchange promotes is around the topic of Fair Trade, working not only to promote Fair Trade but “to end child and forced labor and trafficking in the cocoa industry, as well as educate and empower children and adults to advocate for and purchase Fair Trade.”

So I looked up the address and headed out, only to find a restaurant in that location called Busboys and Poets.

Huh?  I was confused, unfortunately thinking I would find a large store with lots of Fair Trade products, educational materials, etc.  I finally found a sign on the restaurant window that said Global Exchange, so I headed in to see a small space off to the side packed with books, topics ranging from human rights to the environment to Fair Trade, and Fair Trade items.  In addition, I was pleased to see items one might find in Ten Thousand Villages, such as the artisan creations, and Equal Exchange chocolate and coffee.  Curious to learn more about the restaurant and its connection to this collection of items available for purchase, I decided to stay and grab some lunch.

Busboys and Poets is filled with art, energy, and “positive vibes.”  The menu (and website) explains their philosophy: “Busboys and Poets is a community where racial and cultural connections are consciously uplifted…a place to take a deliberate pause and feed your mind, body and soul…a space for art, culture and politics to intentionally collide…we believe that by creating such a space we can inspire social change and begin to transform our community and the world.”  This statement alone helps me see the connection and why Fair Trade belongs in this location.  Having a retail store allows the everyday consumer to do their part to support the movement through their purchasing power.

But Busboys and Poets does not stop there!  Not only does this place promote Fair Trade, they offer space and products for Teaching for Change and (at their Maryland location) Art Under Pressure.  Although I could not tell what food items on the menu were Fair Trade beyond the coffee, the menu offered a wide selection of vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and organic items.  My chicken quesadilla was the best I’ve ever had, filled with grilled chicken, green and red peppers, onion, and cheese.  Maybe it was the setting that made me feel good about what I was eating.  But wow – I can’t wait to get back to try some more items from the menu!

Although I was disappointed with not finding what I was expecting in terms of a Global Exchange store, I was excited to see a community space for gathering and providing resources to encourage people to reflect and explore how to be global change makers.  This is what we should/need to have to promote the Fair Trade movement.

Contributed by Dr. Laura Guertin

 

A Call To Arms (Or Spatulas): Fair Trade Media Cook-Off

On July 14 the town of Media will be having its “Knock Their Block Off” Fair Trade cooking competition, and Penn State Brandywine is pleased to say that it will be participating. Registration opens up on July 7, and runs until July 11. I, Sarah DeMartino, the infamous Fair Trade Vegan-Chai Cupcake Chef and TrailBlazer, will be participating and representing my Penn State Brandywine community!  I am eager to share my recipe and see what other fabulous entries are submitted!

The event is hosted by Ten Thousand Villages in Media, and all entries must be submitted to the store between noon and 2 p.m. Judging will start at 2 p.m. and end at 5 p.m. Winners will be announced the following day, July 15, on Facebook and in the store, so you don’t need to be at the store in order to win.

Each entry must include at least 2 Fair Trade ingredients, recipes must be typed up, and only non-alcoholic drinks can be submitted. All entries must be labeled with your name!

So, I encourage people to take up their cooking utensils and cook for Fair Trade! I look forward to seeing what other people prepare and good luck to everyone!

-Contributed by Sarah DeMartino, First Fair Trade Intern

Our TrailBlazing t-shirt, thanks to Maggie’s Organics

To unify the initial Penn State Brandywine Fair Trade TrailBlazers in their “look” and support of the movement, I purchased t-shirts for each of the students from Maggie’s Functional Organics and had the shirts embroidered by a local shop in Media, Christina’s Embroidery Design.

Maggie’s Organics is known for its sustainable and ethical apparel, where all of their products are made with certified organic cotton or wool.  All of their unisex t-shirts (which we ordered) are Certified Fair Labor and Fair Trade Certified.  We went for the moss-colored shirt, with blue-and-white stitching (after all, we are Penn State).

We have been surprised at how popular these shirts are.  Many people have told us they want one of their own.  Alas, these are one-of-a-kind customized shirts for the one-of-a-kind group of TrailBlazers.  But we certainly take advantage of the opportunity to tell people about Maggie’s Organics and the opportunity to purchase Fair Trade clothing.  We encourage everyone to check out their website for fun and feel-good clothing!

Contributed by Dr. Laura Guertin

On display and for sale at Penn State University Park

I’m currently at the Penn State – University Park campus for a series of meetings.  I had a chance to stop by the campus bookstore in the HUB, and look what I saw.

Above: Every shirt in this photo is an Alta Gracia shirt/sweatshirt.
Below: A section of Fair Trade artisan goods for sale.

Contributed by Dr. Laura Guertin

Fair Trade Ingredients Vegan Chai Cupcakes

A friend of mine made wonderful vegan chai cupcakes for me a few months ago, and I couldn’t get enough of them! So I finally decided to satiate my craving and make my own vegan chai cupcakes, only this time they would have Fair Trade ingredients! The cupcakes almost taste almost like carrot cake, but they have a bit of a spicy kick. These cupcakes do take some time to prepare (an hour and a half or so), but if you have the time, I definitely recommend trying them out!

This is a link to the recipe I used:

http://bakingdom.com/2010/09/sugar-spice-and-everything-nice-from-teacup-to-cupcake-vanilla-chai-tea-cupcakes.html

My journey to make the best Fair Trade ingredient cupcakes took me to the Wegmans in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. Most of the Fair Trade items I bought were in the organic and special food aisle. Divine Chocolate, Honest Tea, Wholesome Sweetners, and a handful of other Fair Trade brands can be found in this aisle. Ben and Jerry’s ice cream is with the regular ice creams, however (Cherry Garcia being my forever favorite).

Anyway, back to the cupcakes. I substituted in Fair Trade ingredients where I could. For sugar, I used Wholesome Sweetners Organic sugar (and where the recipe calls for confectioners’ sugar, I put the Wholesome Sweetners sugar through a food grinder to make it finer). I also used Zhena’s Gypsytea Fair Trade Vanilla Chai tea blend for the batter. You don’t have to use the vanilla flavor; they also offer hazelnut and a spicier chai if you so desire. I was unable to find Fair Trade vanilla, however. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Wegmans does not stock Fair Trade vanilla, it just means I couldn’t find it.

I used the applesauce instead of eggs, as the recipe suggests for the vegan option, and I couldn’t tell the difference. Applesauce gives the recipe a bit more flavor, in my opinion, as cinnamon and apples go together like a hot day and lemonade. I also used vanilla soy milk (to go with the vanilla chai), and used margarine for the icing instead of butter. For an extra zing, I added a pinch more cinnamon than the recipe suggested. I like my cupcakes with a bit of a kick to them!

I highly recommend this recipe! It was not difficult at all to follow and very simple (and I am not the most experienced baker).

Next up on my Fair Trade cooking recipe list…Fair Trade ingredient Crème Brulee! Let’s see if I can locate some Fair Trade Vanilla first…Wholefoods anyone?

Contributed by Sarah DeMartino, Fair Trade Intern

More on those Fair Trade chocolate chip brownies…

Wondering how to make your own Fair Trade chocolate chip brownies?  Of course, we could have the argument that they are not truly Fair Trade brownies, only made with some Fair Trade ingredients… but how about we just celebrate that these ingredients are available not far from the campus!  I followed the standard chocolate chip brownie recipe that you would find on the back of the bag of chocolate chips.  Some bags only have a cookie recipe, so you can make a thick pan cookie.  I spread the dough in a 7×11 glass pan and cut 12 brownies.

I was able to visit the ACME in Broomall to get Sunspire Fair Trade/Organic chocolate chips.  The Giant on Sproul Road in Springfield yielded the Frontier vanilla and Wholesome Sweeteners sugar and light brown sugar.  Yum!

Don’t forget that you can visit our map where we continue to add stores that sell Fair Trade food items available within an approximate 60-mile radius of campus.

Contributed by Dr. Laura Guertin

HAE Now tees: a great step in a fair direction

Fair Trade Coffee by nyoin at flickr’s creative commons

So many organizations on college campuses find unity in wearing the same t-shirt, whether it’s for a sports team, a hobbies club, or a specific fundraiser. Students and faculty go through various types of t-shirt companies to design and purchase bulk orders of tees, but most of these companies do not stand for anything. HAE Now, an organic and Fair Trade t-shirt company, stands for environmental and social sustainability. HAE Now has partnered with Fair Trade USA, committing not only to protect the environment through their organic practices, but to care for farmers and their families as well.

Any organization on any campus has the opportunity to stand for something, too. By using companies like HAE Now to provide tees for their events, clubs and groups on college campuses have the ability to make change in the lives of those in impoverished areas. As Fair Trade USA says, “Every purchase counts.”

Read more at Fair Trade USA’s blog.
Like HAE Now on facebook!

Contributed by Sara Neville

 

Fair Trade Sports

Since Fair Trade sports games are on our horizon, I wanted to take a closer look at the world of Fair Trade sports balls and what kind of gear is available. According to Fair Trade USA there are, “Fair Trade Certified soccer balls, footballs, basketballs and rugby balls…” on the market already. Each product is made in a sweat-shop free environment, where workers are given a living wage. The main behind the Fair Trade sports movement is SENDA (also known as Fair Trade Sports) which currently does mostly fair trade soccer balls and apparel. RESPECT soccer balls, the only fair trade certified sports balls, are sold by SENDA, and buying a ball ensures that no child labor goes into making that product, that workers are paid at least the national minimum wage, and that working conditions are safe. Through their site, not only can you order soccer balls, but you can customize them. So, if Penn State were to order a set of balls, we could customize them with the Penn State logo and Penn State colors. However, after surfing the site and Fair Trade USA, I wasn’t able to find other Fair Trade sports related gear. I checked out this article, http://gearpatrol.com/2010/02/26/fair-trade-sports-balls/, and fair trade sports products, other than Fair Trade soccer balls, have been in circulation at one point or another, but it doesn’t look as though they are currently available. Amazon looks to have been a supplier of the RESPECT Fair Trade sports gear, but currently is not carrying anything other than soccer balls. I’m not sure what happened to the other Fair Trade sports gear, or why certain products are unavailable.

Helpful Sites:
FT USA: http://www.fairtradeusa.org/products-partners/sports-balls
http://fairtradeusa.org/get-involved/blog/fair-trade-sports-all-about-respect
SENDA: http://sendaathletics.com/
Gear Patrol: http://gearpatrol.com/2010/02/26/fair-trade-sports-balls/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Eco-Soccer-Ball-Premium-Circles/dp/B001QK47L6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1332794046&sr=8-2

Contributed by Sarah DeMartino

 

Jimmy Fallon and Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream

Jimmy Fallon’s flavor of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, Late Night Snack, is a Fair Trade certified ice cream. The vanilla and fudge being used in the Late Night Snack ice cream are Fair Trade certified. The proceeds from the ice cream sales are being sent to the Fair Trade Universities initiative.  The owners explained that Fair Trade gives the farmers from the under-privileged worlds a fair wage for their products being used in Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream.

It was nice to see a high profile celebrity and one of the largest ice cream makers in the United States bringing Fair Trade into the lime light. Having Fair Trade mentioned on a widely-watched television show gives Fair Trade a boost and jumps it into the spotlight. This mention hopefully will turn more celebrities onto Fair Trade items. There are already a few celebrities that have gotten in the Fair Trade spirit.  Hopefully, there will be more to follow.

View this video of Jimmy Fallon with Ben & Jerry!

Contributed by Steve Hurwitz