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OUR PHILOSOPHY

We believe that capitalism comes in different flavors--not just the survival-of-the-fittest sort, but a softer, kinder, and more sustainable way of doing business that considers the needs of our planet and its people. Chocolate that's better for the environment.

Consuming chocolate made from organically grown cocoa is one giant step toward reducing our dependence on petroleum-based agricultural inputs while supporting small growers who intercrop growing as many 6 crops on one small plot. This is a stark contrast with plantation-style growing, where the rainforest is cut down to permit mono-cropping and petroleum-based
agricultural chemicals are commonly used. We believe that the environment has been damaged enough by these POPs (persistant organic pollutants) that kill our lakes and streams.

By selling organic chocolate, we are encouraging cocoa growers to find other ways to combat plant diseases. We're not talking about living in the past - but we need to live lighter on the earth in order to have a brighter future.

Chocolate that's better for the people

Fair Trade certification is a guarantee to processors, handlers, retailers and consumers, that the cocoa beans used in this chocolate were produced in a way that does no social harm.

The U.S. State Department estimates that over 15,000 child-slaves work on plantations in the Ivory Coast. They have been kidnapped or sold by their parents to work from age 8 on cutting cocoa pods from trees and processing them, often at the end of a whip. In other countries of West Africa, children work with deadly chemicals, applying pesticides and fungicides to trees without wearing protective garments and without proper training. Amazingly, some of the cocoa used in popular confections - the chocolate you eat every day is grown and harvested under such conditions.

Fair Trade certification guarantees that you are not an unwitting participant in this very inhumane situation. Fair Trade-certified cocoa only comes from certified farmers' cooperatives, organized to strengthen their farmer-members economically so they can provide for their families and educate their children.

Our promise to you

Like the Hippocratic oath, First, do no harm. You can feel secure that eating our Fair-Trade-certified chocolate does no harm, either to the earth or the people who depend on it.

Currently, our beans come from either the Dominican Republic, Peru or Costa Rica, the only countries in the world where there are farmers' cooperatives that are certified organic and Fair Trade. In the meantime, a portion of our profits from our chocolate bars will go to support West African cooperatives in their efforts to become organic.

Organic and Fair Trade are like two soybeans in the pod of sustainability. Organic supports the soil and human health, protecting us from chemical pollutants. Fair Trade promotes community health by paying the farmer a higher price. Support the future by purchasing our delicious, high-quality products made from fair trade and organic chocolate.

Project Hope and Fairness

We would like to invite you to help support a new charitable organization, called Project Hope and Fairness.  Its main goal is to help the cocoa farmer.  Right now, they are focusing our efforts in Ivory Coast, the source of 75% of America's chocolate.  There are over 600,000 cocoa farms in Ivory Coast, most of them dirt-poor.  Their goal is to redress the negative effects of large chocolate corporations, which have done little to improve the lives of the farmers whose products we enjoy.  Visit www.projecthopeandfairness.org to find out more!




Sweet Earth Organic Chocolates - San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
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