Your chocolate purchase will impact population growth, for better or worse

A graph shows various predictions for human population growth until 2100. The most expected outcome is for the population to peak around 10 billion and then stabilize or decline before 2100. With improved family planning resources, the population may peak below 9 billion and drop to below current levels (8 billion) by 2100. Projections of the human global population to 2100. This is part of a GSP post examining the link between chocolate and population growth.

A growing human population threatens to place a burden our planet. Extreme poverty is a root cause of unsustainable population growth and is driven in part by commodity markets. That’s why it’s best to avoid multinational companies that rely on commodity markets and support chocolate companies that work directly with farmers.

Top 10 Ethical Chocolate Brands

Top Ten Ethical Chocolate Brands. Logos for the top 10 ethical chocolate brands are shown. The list may change after user votes but initial brands are: Alter Eco, Equal Exchange, Theo, Endangered Species, Plamil, Tcho, Divine, Seed and Bean, Tony's Chocolonely, Beyond Good.

Here’s a guide to the top 10 ethical chocolate brands. It’s different to other guides in that it will change with your input – vote now! This is an exercise in user-generated ratings for ethical consumerism.

Ethical vegan shoes from Etiko

Etiko high tops canvas shoes, shown from two angles. They resemble Converse high tops but are more ethcial in that they are made in a fair trade factory from organic, fair trade cotton and FSC-certified natural rubber

In this post I’m going to do an ethical review of shoes from an Australian brand, Etiko, and decide on an ethical (Green Stars) rating. Since turning vegetarian at 15, I’d relied quite a bit on Converse High Tops as my go-to leather-free shoes. Converse used to make shoes in the US but eventually went … Continue reading Ethical vegan shoes from Etiko

Daily Footprint, #8 – Coffee (Part 1, Shade Grown).

Here are four certification schemes that correlate to various extents with shade-grown coffee.

Benefits of shade-grown coffee (Daily Footprint, #8).

Here are four certification schemes that correlate to various extents with shade-grown coffee.