BIG chocolate finally said ‘YES’
Even though World Vision’s Don’t Trade Lives campaign has never advocated boycotting as an action point, I have found myself avoiding eating chocolate that is not fair trade for the past 18 months. While I pride myself on the fact that I live in Melbourne and can do life without coffee, I have always had a soft spot for a good home-made hot chocolate – especially Cadbury, Jarra and Milo brands – however, since the campaign started, I have discontinued that indulgence too (much to the delight of my dentist!). I was first introduced to Cocolo’s fair trade line earlier this year – I was in exam mode at the time and fast losing perspective on life – seeing the fair trade logo on its label and knowing that it came about as a result of the Don’t Trade Lives campaign (more specifically, when Susan Mizrahi, the campaign leader chatted with some people at Coles at a Corporate Social Responsibility conference), certainly reminded me of the important things in life and the power of persistence when campaigning.
Yesterday, I had a couple of pieces of Cadbury’s ‘Crunchie’ chocolate when I returned home from World Vision. Something strange happened – I did not feel AS guilty. I suspect this had something to do with the fact that during the day, I had the opportunity to sample Cadbury’s fair trade chocolate from the UK – it was AMAZING! As most of you would now be aware, Cadbury Australia announced its commitment to having fair trade certified cocoa in its chocolate bars by Easter 2010! Much of this move has been attributed to the hard work of those behind the Don’t Trade Lives campaign who have been advocating relentlessly for chocolate companies such as Cadbury to remove all forms of child labour in their supply chains and ensure that those producing the cocoa get paid a fair wage. See the media release here – http://www.fairtrade.com.au/sites/default/files/Fairtrade%20Press%20Release%20Australia%20FINAL2%20Aug2609.pdf
Outside the chocolate space, the campaigning continues. I know the Glen Waverly Vision Group are working hard for their local council to become a fair trade community. As I have mentioned before, I have been working with my local Greens councillor, Lynette, for the City of Casey to become a fair trade council. A resolution is close to being passed – at the last meeting where the fair trade communities initiative was discussed, councillors present committed to doing a bit more research and putting together a report about the implications for the City of Casey if it becomes a fair trade council. We are working towards passing a resolution to make official the City of Casey’s intention to become a fair trade council.
It seems that there is a whole lot of buzz around the accountability of corporations and businesses with respect to the impact of their operations on the environment and on people in the developing world. At a workshop I attended recently on this subject, we discussed how the terms ‘corporate social responsibility’ and ‘triple bottom line reporting’ are being replaced with corporate accountability and responsibility, as well as the fact that many such corporations have such areas of responsibility based in their marketing departments rather than in their operations departments. Has anyone ever read the book, Affluenza? If you haven’t, I highly recommend it because of its ability to articulate a disease that much of the world’s population is currently suffering from – the need for more, more, more in the hope that it will bring happiness. The book talks a little bit about corporate responsibility and discusses suggests that another way in which we can reduce the impact of our consumption is to require that corporations take full responsibility for the entire life cycle of their products.
P.S
Some of you may know that our very own Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has recently started a blog.
The blog is an opportunity for Prime Minister to hear directly from the community about policy initiatives that are under discussion. Over the coming days the Prime Minister will be blogging about youth issues. The Government is currently developing a plan for Young Australians and the Prime Minister wants to hear from you about what matters most – at home, at school, at work, online and out in the community. I encourage you all to get online and take advantage of this great opportunity to put your views directly to the Prime Minister. You can visit the blog at http://www.pm.gov.au/PM_Connect/PMs_Blog/Youth_Blog
Take advantage of the opportunity that this blog presents – tell KRudd about Youth Decide!!
P.P.S
Are you interested in being a member of the Australian Youth Forum’s steering committee? Applications are now open for 2009/10 steering committee. Head to http://www.youth.gov.au/ayf/pages/steeringCommittee_app.htm for further information.
