Green Options » cacao

5 Milky Delights

Zachary Shahan — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:03:10 +0000

If you love milk (from animals or a vegan option) but are tired of drinking it plain or having it with your cereal every morning, you can try to prepare some delicious drinks and frozen desserts from it. Here are a few recipes you can use to enrich your daily diet.

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Meatless Mondays: 3 Course No Cooking Required Meal

Rachel Venokur-Clark — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:59:49 +0000

As the dog days of summer come to an end, a 3 course, no cooking required meal sounds pretty good to me. Turn that stove off, shut down the oven, choose to go meatless this Monday and cool off with this appetizer, main course and dessert.

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Raw Chocolate Truffles

Amy Bell — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 19:03:50 +0000

Raw nuts are a healthy addition to any diet, and in my house we go through them almost faster than we can buy them. They’re a great snack on their own, added to recipes, or turned into milk.

Every week after I’ve make homemade nut milk (our favorites are almond or Brazil nut) I’m left with nut pulp I’ve strained out of the milk mixture.

This pulp (which by the way can be frozen for later use) is great when dried and ground into nut flour, or used in recipes like the raw truffles my family enjoys so much.

This recipe is quick, easy, healthy, and delicious!

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World Peace and Chocolate: sweetriot creates morsels of goodness

Gennefer Snowfield — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:37:43 +0000

What if you could promote peace, foster a multicultural world, support local artists, help underdeveloped countries thrive and save the planet just by eating deliciously rich and organic chocolate candies?

Well, thanks to Sarah Endline, the creative genius and cacao bean extraordinaire behind sweetriot, you can. Oh, and did I mention that the chocolate candies are actually good for you, and rich in health benefits? I know it seems to good to be true, but Behind the Burner gave me the amazing chance to speak with Sarah who shows us how a sweet tooth and a passion for change can make anything possible.

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A Week On Earth: 10 Stories that Changed the World, Part 6

Gavin Hudson — Mon, 05 May 2008 18:32:55 +0000

The following ten stories, organized by region, made international headlines from April 27 to May 4 for their impact on the environment and society. For more stories that changed the world, see our archive, here.

North American Environmental News

CANADA — Ontario Bans Lawn and Garden Pesticides

Canada has proven once again that it is way ahead of the rest of world with its progressive government. Ontario has banned the use and sale of lawn and garden pesticides for homeowners. Quebec instituted a similar ban on 20 some pesticide products back in 2006.

The new ban is set to take effect by spring of 2009. Home Depot has already agreed to stop selling the pesticides by the end of 2008! This is a huge victory for anti-toxic supporters all over the continent. If only someone in the United States government could take such affirmative action we could all be spared. Ontario will basically phase out some 80 different chemicals and over 300 products that contain them.

Continue reading this article at the Environmental Blog. Join the discussion about this article at Care2.

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How To Fundraise the Fair Way

Alicia Erickson — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 13:17:10 +0000

As schools and fall activities start their momentum, so too does the need for funding. I spent many fall afternoons in my school days hauling a box of chocolates door to door in the name of a field trip or project, all while resisting the urge to eat them… sometimes successfully.

It is not common to think of where our chocolate bars come from. I did not even know what a cacao pod looked like until several years ago. Few people, including children, understand where or how these delicacies reach us. Yet there is a dark side to chocolate, ranging from fueling wars to child labor, with around 286,000 children working farms in the Ivory Coast alone. It is important that we not only consider what chocolate we grab for ourselves the store, but also the message we send our children out to fundraise with. Fundraising with Fair Trade chocolate both helps your local organizations in their endeavors while also supporting the hard-working cacao farmers. And using Fair Trade also presents the opportunity to educate people, including those selling the products, towards an alternative to the dark side of the chocolate industry.

For Fair Trade fundraising check out:

Equal Exchange Fundraising provides everything you need to get started. There is a template for permission slips and letters to other parents, press releases and posters for promotion. Their incentive programs include chocolate samples, coffee roaster tours, school presentations and the chance to win a trip to a cacao farming community, as well as a tiered structure ranging from $1,000-$5,000 with organic shirts, caps, etc. And don’t be locked into just chocolate: try offering coffee, tea, cocoa, dried cranberries or roasted walnuts to bring in funds.
The Lutheran World Relief Fundraising Kit offers Divine chocolate that is focused more towards faith-based fundraising, with great ideas on how to help people find connection between fair trade and their spirituality. They offer planning tools, posters, educational presentations to supplement chocolate.

The next time an organization you or your children are involved with wants to raise money, suggest the Fair Trade option and help farmers while bringing in your funds.