S'More Justice

Do you like S'Mores?
Do you like Slavery?

If you answered yes to the first and no to the second (which I hope you did) I have a fun summer justice activity you can share with your family and friends ... making s'mores with fair trade (and therefore slave free) chocolate).

The folks at Global Exchange are hoping they can get people to make 1,500 Fair Trade S'Mores by Labor Day. The purpose of this gooey chocolatey project is to call on Hershey (the folks whose chocolate is found in your average s'more) and other US Chocolate companies to start buying fair trade cocoa.

I've written before about child labor and slavery on the cocoa plantations in West Africa, the source of 70% of the world's cocoa. It's a very real thing - in fact, Interpol just rescued more than 50 children from cocoa plantations in the Ivory Coast just last week. Chances are, some of the chocolate you've eaten was made by child slaves. Which in retrospect, most likely makes it not taste so good.

So, if you like s'mores and if you like justice, why not make some Fair Trade s'mores before Labor Day? Be sure to visit the Global Exchange website to register your s'mores making and print out a petition to send to Hersheys.

Who said social justice work couldn't be fun and tasty?