Twitter

Some people don't 'get' Twitter. I love it. It's basically the status function of Facebook with a 140 character limit per post. My twitter is on the side bar of this blog and as you can see, I post there more often than I post here! I haven't given up on this blog though, sporadic as it has undoubtedly become I will be posting again.

CADBURY DAIRY MILK GOING FAIRTRADE!

I am very excited about this.

Linkage (and more)

Cadbury are the first major chocolate company to provide a Fairtrade product. Not only that, but they are doing it by switching their flagship Dairy Milk bar. Certification should be reached by the end of summer this year.

I don't need to point out what a major milestone this is in the journey of seeing the end to modern day slavery. The cocoa industry is one that has been implicated time and time again in use of forced labour, child labour, poorly paid labour. Cadbury's decision to switch this one chocolate bar to Fairtrade will triple Ghana's Fairtrade cocoa market!

Furthermore, it is proof that consumer power really does make a difference, and a massive opportunity for consumers to put their consumer power into action. From the end of summer this year, almost every corner store, petrol station etc. etc. in the UK and many more across the globe will be stocking a Fairtrade chocolate bar. So here is my challenge to all (3) of my blog readers: If you haven't already - go Fairtrade, and challenge others to do the same. Stop buying any chocolate bars that are not Fairtrade. If the public get behind Cadbury on this, it won't be long before the other chocolate companies have to follow suit.

I think I've mentioned on this blog before that I don't see Fairtrade as the whole answer to the problems in the chocolate industry. For starters, it requires a very different production set-up than the one used by many chocolate manufacturers. But, at the moment it seems to be the best thing out there, though I'd be interested to see if the Rainforest Alliance is chosen as the certification of choice by any of the others.

Either way, this story encourages me afresh that things really can change. We can see the end of the constant injustice and oppression suffered by many around the world, injustice and oppression that so often occurs to provide us with cheap luxuries. Things shouldn't be that way. They don't have to be that way.