Guilt Free Chocolate

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner followed by Easter, you can’t escape chocolate this time of year! Chocolate can be semi-sweet, milk, and dark, but is often not green. Sadly, most chocolate production has dire consequences, including deforestation, unsustainable farming practices, and child labor. Consider the following and make eco-conscious decisions when it comes to your affair with chocolate:

Buy Organic: Look for organic to ensure the plants, soil, water and your chocolate is chemical-free.

Buy Fair Trade: Chocolate is grown in third world countries where laws often do not protect workers. Fair Trade chocolate ensures your treat was produced under safe working conditions and provided fair wages to workers.

Rainforest Alliance: sort of like Green Seal approval for chocolate, this stamp of approval means that your chocolate was shade-grown to prevent the destruction of rainforests

Get the Good Stuff!  Instead of a big heart shaped box of mediocre chocolate with all kinds of artificial ingredients, spend your money on a smaller amount of high quality and much tastier chocolate.