Fair Trade Halloween Treats

Okay, off the topic here, but you all know I gave up diet coke in the beginning of July. I am so dying to run out and buy a two liter right now. Why? 

Okay, on topic. It's the first day of fall. Thoughts are turning to Halloween. I read about a program from Global Exchange called Reverse Trick-or-Treat. They are offering 20-25 pieces of Fair Trade Halloween Candy for free ($4.95 shipping and handling) that comes with literature for kids to hand out while they are trick-or-treating. It's a way to spread the word about Fair Trade products.

This has got me thinking about the treats that I will hand out. They should be Fair Trade Certified, too, shouldn't they? One of the conditions for fair trade certification is that no abusive child labor be used to create the product. Many cocoa farms in other countries use young children to pick the beans in pesticide laden fields. By choosing mainstream Halloween candy, there's a good chance I'd be supporting this just so that the kids in my neighborhood who will never have to worry about working at this age can make themselves sick on Halloween candy. It's just not right. 

Have you ever thought of this. Honestly, I never had until yesterday when I read about the Reverse Trick-or-Treat program. You can read a little more about the program on my Eat.Drink.Better post Fair Trade Halloween Candy: Kids Can Educate Their Neighbor with Reverse Trick-or-Treat.

There is still so much to learn, so many habits to change, on this green journey we are on.