Chocolate: the new nectar of the gods; the perfect pleasure; the sweet seductress. Oh, and it supports a multinational trade in slaves. Of course, I didn’t know this when I was gulping down Mars bars to stay awake on night shifts. Well, I mean, I knew that chocolate tasted good even though I may not yet at that point have made up the lame metaphors regarding that great taste and the hold that chocolate has on our society, but I didn’t know about the slaves. I was listening to CBC’s As It Happens and heard Carol Off promoting her new book Bitter Chocolate. She described the atrocious working conditions of many of the people who were involved in the production of the cocoa beans that are used in (and crucial to) the production of chocolate. She told how the beans can only be grown in certain parts of the world near the equator and how Cote D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) is one of the main cocoa-producing countries. Off also described how the conditions in the cocoa industry (spearheaded by multi-national conglomerates such as Nestle) result in slavery.

When I called my wife and asked her to tune in to the program, she did, and found it very interesting. It also prompted a frenzy of research on the internet, covering websites from environmental, social justice, and capitalist (read “Nestle”) organisations. Of course, the information available conflicts in many ways, but after some analysis and discussion, we decided that the evidence weighed firmly in favour of supporting fair trade chocolate. Without rehashing all of the arguments for and against (google if you want to read them), the main reason that we decided to support fair trade was that we don’t agree with the concept of a multinational corporation dictating the “market forces” because of their near-monopoly power, the result being that the people who actually produce the goods live in poverty.

When you eat Fair Trade Chocolate you are saving the world

So we decided that we’d try to purchase only fair trade chocolate. It’s not always easy, it’s not always fun, and it’s not always possible. But we try and I guess in some small ways, we’re making a difference. For the most part, we get our fair trade products in Brandon. But since we learned about fair trade chocolate, we also learned about other fair trade products including coffee which can be purchased at our local grocery stores. Kicking Horse coffee (including the “Kick Ass” blend) tastes good and feels great.

It’s not all roses. Sure, we feel better about our purchasing decisions, but it can be hard on the pocket book. The coffee costs $12 on sale and last two weeks. But you can buy coffee for half the price in a quantity that will last four times as long. So when you look just at the economic cost at the checkout counter, it’s a big difference. And when we bought the fair trade chocolate bars, Kim noticed that they don’t taste the same and wasn’t actually too impressed with the difference in flavour.

Our bottom line, however, is that we remain firmly committed to fair trade products, as long as it doesn’t cost us too much (for the moment, we’ve drawn the line at those fancy fair trade, organic cotton shirts that sell for $30 instead of $5).

I don’t believe that gambling is harmless entertainment. I continue to hear stories of how it hurts people with addictive personalities. How it hurts the companies they embezel from.  How it hurts the families that are neglected while they gamble, both emotionally and financially.

On my computer’s file system and in my email program I’ve got a folder labeled “change the world” it reflects my attempts over the years to write letters to literally change the world for the better. My letters are not canned, they aren’t cut and pasted from some form on the Internet, they are “hand crafted” At times I’ve written them quite regularly at the pace of 1 per week, at other times I’ve forgotten this for months and years at a time. But I keep coming back to this because I’m convinced of a few things: I have a moral or ethical obligation to speak out when I see something that is wrong. That those who will recieve my letters actually care and will do their best to address my concerns. If everybody did this, the companies and governments receiving our mail would be overwhelmed, but folks tend not to exert effort they don’t have to, so my letters will by the nature of that fact, stand out and be noticed. I have no illusions about people “having to listen” to me, but I believe that people want to do the right thing and that when they are presented with an attainable way to improve things they will. I also know that many organizations operate reactively, and that by simply requesting something, the chances of receiving it increase dramatically.

I’ve written to city and provincial governments like Surrey and British Columbia to request improvements to the dangerous 160th and 104th street freeway interchange. Quite happily I see that every recommendation I made has been implemented and improved the traffic flow for the thousands of people who use that interchange each day.

I’ve written to the SOLO cup company to encourage them to “print” the appropriate recycling symbols on the bottom of their cups so that customers can recycle these plastic cups rather than throwing them in the garbage.

My tips:

Greet Well

Don’t use “to whom it may concern” how impersonal. Be cautions with “Dear ….” If it is a stranger, would you call them “Dear” if you met them on the street. If you have the suspicion that your correspondence will simply get a “standard” reply “Dear you, thanks for your letter, we have noted your concern. Keep using our products..The company” from a person who is powerless to provide a real response., then ask for more. Ask them to forward your letter to someone who has the authority to make changes, appologize for wasting their time if you have sent it to the wrong department etc. Let them be the expert in routing your letter.

Be Nice

The person reading your letter wasn’t the one who spilled oil in the ocean, or who designed a poor road. Recognize that and express yourself without beating up the reader. Avoid “YOU” and other more colourful words that would cause the reader to be defensive or resistant to your message.

ASK

Ask and you will recieve works when you are talking to God. The government and companies fall short, so Ask and you “might” receive fits here. Bear in mind the action you want them to take. Ask for a reassurance that they will discontinue using child labour in India. Ask for the name of the most appropriate person to talk to regarding unsafe driving in their corporate fleet. Ask what their plans are to improve fuel efficiency in support of the Kyoto accord. If you ask for nothing, you are likely to get that.

Provide and sell Solutions

Complaining is easy and almost everyone is willing to go that far. What stands out is the simple suggestion, and even more a suggestion that is simple, cost effective, which brings a benefit to the organization you are addressing. For a government to hear that your idea will reduce their exposure to legal liability this provides motivation. Put yourself in their shoes and sweeten the deal. Perhaps the improvment will allow them to make a marketting claim, or will improve their corporate image.

Apply Gentle Pressure

For a company to hear that you are uncomfortable continuing to buy their products if an idea isn’t implemented but that if it is, you will continue to recommend their products provides them with free marketting and the prospect of alienating not only you, but all the other people who didn’t write in who feel the same way. Don’t set ultimatums, but provide a clear concept of what the impact of their decision will be. “If you are unable to support the reduction of Canada’s emission of greenhouse gasses, I and my family will need to find a political candidate who has an environmentally responsible platform”

Have Hope

If you take an action, you set things in motion, in your life and in the lives of those who intercept your communication. Your letter will be read by someone, you caused the mail system or email system to carry your message hundreds of miles, you forced someone’s mind to come to a decision about the issue at hand. Your goal is to motivate, and sometimes it will take the collective weight of many individuals writing letters to communicate what is important to you and to assist those you address in coming to a better position. Your time spent in this way has the potential to benefit countless thousands of others. (consider my freeway example earlier).

Enjoy! And please write back to share what you are writing about, and any successes you can report.

Greg.