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Dear
EarthTalk: I heard a reference to “Earth-friendly
chocolate” and was wondering about what goes into chocolate
that would raise environmental concerns.
-- Ben Moran,
Providence, RI
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Conventional
chocolate is often produced by clear-cutting rainforest
land, applying chemical pesticides and through the
use of child labor in hazardous conditions. However,
a number of companies now offer organic, sustainably-grown
and "fair trade" varieties that adhere to
environmentally and socially responsible production
and processing standards. Pictured here: some offerings
from Endangered Species Chocolate, Dagoba and others.
© Jason Kremkau
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Like
coffee beans, the cacao seeds from which we derive chocolate
can only be grown successfully in equatorial regions—right
where the world’s few remaining tropical rainforests
thrive. As worldwide demand for chocolate grows, so does
the temptation among growers to clear more and more rainforest
to accommodate high-yield monocultural (single-crop) cacao
tree plantations. What are left are open, sunny fields with
dramatically lower levels of plant and animal diversity.
Adding environmental insult to injury, most cacao plantations
use copious amounts of chemical fertilizers, pesticides
and fungicides that further degrade the land that once teemed
with a wide variety of rare birds, mammals and plants.
Another problem
with chocolate production, although not specifically an
environmental concern, is the conditions endured by workers
that pick and process the cacao seeds. The International
Institute of Tropical Agriculture has documented some 284,000
children between the ages of nine and 12 working in hazardous
conditions on West African cacao farms. In Africa’s
Ivory Coast, for example, where more than 40 percent of
the world’s cacao is grown, underage cacao workers
are routinely overworked, performing often-dangerous farming
tasks in a setting that some liken to slavery. As a result
of these and other related injustices, so-called “fair
trade” advocates have targeted large producers of cacao
to improve working conditions and pay living wages that
allow workers to get their kids out of the fields and into
school.
Some cacao farmers
have enlisted the help of scientists and environmental groups
to find ways to produce chocolate more fairly and more sustainably.
The nonprofit Rainforest Alliance, which works on similar
issues with coffee growers, is now partnering with cacao
growers in Ecuador to develop environmentally and socially
responsible cacao production and processing standards. The
standards seek to maintain critical conservation areas,
reduce pressures to convert more forestland to cacao plantations,
and provide social and economic benefits to local communities.
As a result, some 2,000 cacao growers in five Ecuadorian
communities have now formed cooperatives that help find
new markets for their products while overseeing adherence
to fair labor standards and environmental protection measures.
Rainforest Alliance hopes to expand the program to other
cacao growing regions of the world in the coming years.
Those looking
to get their hands on some organically grown fair trade
chocolate have more options than ever before. Leading brands
include Dagoba, Endangered Species Chocolate, Equal Exchange,
Green & Black’s, Sjaak's, Sunspire, Terra Nostra
Divine, Theo, Sweet Earth, and Yachana Gourmet. Actor Paul
Newman has gotten in on the act, too, with his Newman’s
Own brand. Like Newman’s Own, many of the companies
donate money to environmental and other nonprofit efforts.
Whole Foods and other natural foods retailers stock many
of these brands, which are also available via various Internet-based
retailers including Global Exchange’s Fair Trade Online
Store.
CONTACTS:
International
Institute of Tropical Agriculture; Global
Exchange’s Fair Trade Online Store.
Dear EarthTalk:
What’s a “land trust” and how does it
help the environment?
-- Sam Stout,
Darien, CT
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More
than 1,600 land trusts have sprung up across the U.S
since the middle of the last century, protecting over
37 million acres of land from development and other
threats while providing open space for public recreation
and safeguarding critical wildlife habitat.
© Getty Images
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A land trust
is an organization that works with landowners to conserve
their land, either by buying it from them or obtaining it
as a donation. Legal agreements between the trust, the landowner
and the local government are then created in order to permanently
limit development of the land. Land trusts are usually nonprofit,
and their purpose is to provide long-term stewardship of
not just land, but sometimes areas of historical or archeological
significance.
The need for
land trusts arose out of public concern for the loss of
open space, wildlife habitat and scenic beauty in the face
of rampant development on private land during the latter
half of the 20th century. More than 1,600 land trusts have
since sprung up in a variety of communities across the U.S.
Together they have protected some 37 million acres of land,
according to the Land Trust Alliance, a Washington, DC-based
umbrella group formed in 1981 to help land trusts share
information and work more effectively.
When a land trust
acquires land, it may retain ownership in perpetuity in
order to protect the parcel from development. When landowners
donate parcels to a land trust outright, they can take advantage
of state and federal income tax deductions—similar
to any tax-deductible, non-profit donation—while saving
considerable money on property and estate taxes moving forward.
Whether a land
trust buys a parcel or gets it donated, it can either hold
onto the property or, depending on the arrangement with
the former owner, sell it to a third party—often a
local or state government that commits to turning it into
a protected area. Land trusts also sell land to private
buyers, usually with strict restrictions on future development.
The benefit to keeping the land under private ownership
is that it can then stay on local property tax rolls and
thus continue to provide revenue for the local government.
Another way land
trusts work is through “conservation easements,”
whereby individuals can protect their land but still retain
ownership and the option of selling or passing it along
to heirs. Future owners of the land are also bound by the
easement’s terms, which restrict development and use
and are often monitored by a land trust. Conservation easements
usually lower the financial value of their land (by limiting
development potential), but landowners benefit because their
property taxes go down accordingly. Likewise, if and when
heirs inherit the land, the conservation easement lessens
their estate tax burden.
Every conservation
easement is different, but most include provisions limiting
or forbidding construction or resource extraction. Often
they protect especially sensitive lands such as wetlands.
Some easements allow specific parcels to be used for agriculture,
ranching or logging. Many allow hiking, camping, bird watching
or even hunting (though some specifically ban hunting and
are created for that purpose).
Another nonprofit
group, the American Land Conservancy (ALC), functions like
a national land trust working nationwide to ensure that
large or exceptional pieces of property stay out of the
hands of developers. Some of ALC’s work has led to
the creation or expansion of national parks in Colorado,
Hawaii and elsewhere.
CONTACTS:
Land Trust Alliance;
American
Land Conservancy
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