During today's lunchtime trip to the local market I stopped to do a scrape of the local sweet shop shelves for sustainence to keep my work mates mid-week PM ticking along.
Having grabbed my now standard bar of Fair Trade Cadbury's Dairy Milk I spotted my first bar of Rainforest Alliance certified Galaxy chocolate. Cue small tingle of excitement and a big smile.
I've always adored Green & Blacks for their balance of quality and ethics and they along with other specialist brands should be congratulated for setting in train what is seemingly becoming accepted best practice for parts of this industry now.
But to me these two big brands slugging it out for ethical hearts & minds takes the game to truly meaningful and significant levels. The simplicity and (comparative) perfection of the change to favour socially responsible alliances is quite breathtaking and it's all down to future economics.
I'm less familiar with The Rainforest Alliance than I am with FairTrade, but the organisations credentials seems wholesome enough. The effective stewardship of the planet's precious natural resources through commericial neccesity is wholly sound, as is the process of fair payment to sustainable cocoa bean growers.
The benefits of these commercial engagements will impact on local and ultimately national economies, working towards a futue built through responsible trade not aid.
The world is the way it is because of what we buy, whether we think about it that way or don't. The coup for these mainstream brands maybe short term PR, but I am convinced that further cultural change in big organisations becomes inevitable once the benefits of "doing good" profitably & sustainably are seen on the bottom line.
It's good for business and good for us all... now to do Fairtrade with the environment in mind?
(More) work to do...
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