Yogis with a Sweet Tooth: Alternatives to Sugar

We are a culture addicted to sweet things. We love all that is unnaturally sweet. Interestingly, I credit my regular yoga practice for decreasing my cravings for sugar. Instead of satisfying some sweet need, more often now I end up feeling nauseous and sweetly sick.

I've grown up believing wholeheartedly that "Aspartame=Bad". Recently a colleague asked me what artificial sweetener was "safe" to use. What a great blog post idea!

Now, trying to decipher the paranoid from the conspiracies my mind is swirling. How complicated!

Aspartame
A quick recap of the Aspartame debacle: Introduced in the 1970's, it's an artificial sweetener that's made by combining two amino acids and is 200 times sweeter without the calories of sugar. Due to a ridiculous amount of controversy (take a quick look at wiki's entry and then HuffPo's recent article to see a drastic difference in opinion) it feels as though the regular consumer is spinning in circles as to who to believe. Although, after some reading, and the recent release by the European Food and Safety Association regarding a full discloser review of over 600 scientific datasets of the 30+ years of research on Aspartame, I would have to tentatively conclude that it is most likely safe.

A lot of Dr. Mercola's aggressive stance on Aspartame takes the stance of bias in research during the early 1970's and 1980's research and the involvement of Monsanto. Interestingly, Monsanto sold the rights to NutraSweet (Aspartame) in 2000, 12 years ago. In any case, take a quick peak at wiki's extensive and up to date research list as keep an eye out for when EFSA releases it's review of the 600 datasets (which will include independent scientific studies) in September 2012.

Beyond all this debate and controversy I feel as if a point has been missed. The environmental impact of processed and artificial sweeteners.

In 2002, NutraSweet was responsible for over 500,000 pounds of methanol pollution in Georgia's wastewater (Ecoholic 2006). Creating artificial sweetener's requires energy- as the further away from the original product you must journey, the more energy required to create the product.

Splenda, although made from sugar, still requires manipulation (ie energy= pollution) in order to reveal it's new form- sucralose cut with maltodextrin. Splenda has been accused of animal testing, from rabbits to beagles and have been the source of rising cyclohexane emissions in Alabama.

Stevia is derived from an herb in tropical and subtropical regions in western North America and South America. The EFSA have found stevia to be safe to ingest within certain intake parameters. In 2006 the World Health Organization also found no safety concerns in stevia (as per cited in Wiki and The WHO article 2006- p117). We Canadians can buy it freely- should be available in your Health Food Stores.

There's also organic agave syrup, which is tapped from a cactus plant. However, it's more of a honey substitute.

Xylitol is traditionally extracted from birch bark but can be extracted from all kinds of plants and is a sugar alcohol sweetener. According to wiki, it can result in temporary discomfort of bloating and diarrhea... ick. You also need to be aware of how the sweetener was harvested- chopping down forests of birch just for a kick of sweetener really isn't worth it. Look for pesticide, GMO-free corn husk derived Xylitol.

Yogis who don't care about the calories:
Sugar has been deemed one of the worlds most environmentally and socially damaging "food" product. Sugarcane crops have been deemed by the WHO to destroy more wetlands and biodiversity than any other along (as per cited in Ecoholic 2006).

• Choose as unrefined and organic as you can. Fair or Direct Trade is better as it assures no child or slave labour for your sugar (we get ours from JustUs!).
• Try some honey for a change. It can be local and sustainably produced. You get used to the flavour in coffee too!

For those wanting to reduce calories try following these guidelines while choosing a sweetener:

• The least amount of processing steps away from the original product the better. If you can identify a "real food/plant" item in a few short steps, you're automatically decreasing your environmental impact.
• Purchase locally when you can.
• Assure that the herb/product is cultivated sustainably. Wildcrafting isn't actually a good thing as it can damage fragile ecologies. A quick google search on the company can help.
• Organic and Fair/Direct Trade helps assure no damaging chemicals were used to grow your sweetener and the people who worked hard to cultivate it were treated and paid fairly.

Finally- try a few other types of substitutes like yogurt, applesauce, beets or honey to sweeten baked goods.

Do you have a fabulous yogurt, applesauce, beet or honey sweetener recipe? Please share!! I'm woefully lacking in that department :)

article copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

The Yoga of Acne; A Black Soap Story

For a while I totally gave up on sustainable face and beauty stuff. My face hated every single product I tried to introduce, giving the stink eye and producing dry skin and scary mountain acne (at late 20s!!) in retaliation. Last summer I just caved, got an 'organic' facial (haha, it wasn't really organic at all... silly marketing) and bought a crap load of expensive half-ass stuff. 

Even though I knew that my skin is the largest 'organ' on my body. That our skin absorbs and processes chemicals we place on it. Even if I knew that these companies were expending big carbon and spewing out toxic chemicals just so I could slather the parabens, DEA's and probably estrogen mimickers onto my face.

Then I ran out of body wash. Oh the homemade liquid soap out of soap bits lasted for a few weeks... but didn't I tell you? Well, who knew that just melting the soap wouldn't result in a forever liquid soap... nope- eventually it hardened back up and was a big hunk of non usefulness. Why I thought melting soap would forever change hard soap's molecular structure, I have no idea.

In any case, I sucked it up and went to visit Pur Alternatives, the local Natural Beauty and Health store with ridiculously strict guidelines. Just as a refresher to the interview, none of their products can have any synthetic ingredients, parabens, unidentifiable chemicals and need to be packaged in sustainable-recyclable packaging. They do all the work for me, which is a huge relief after spending hours perusing ingredient lists at the local 'health' food store. If you're in Halifax- a must visit! If not, they always have an online store :)

Chris suggested a Shea Terra Mint Marrakesh Black Soap body wash. He informed me that it's supposed to be fantastic for body.... blemishes.

Small story- did you know that practicing yoga and sweating a lot, even if you shower and are a clean person, can cause some unsightly non-face acne? I might be sweating out all the toxins, but they must hang out on my skin and make a small, blotchy red party. Its terrible and slightly embarrassing. I clean, really I do!

In any case, doubtful that it would actually work, I bought some. The smell is fabulous, I love minty refreshing soap smell. The packaging is in #1 plastic, not glass but still recyclable. After perusing their website I see black soap in bars... at a hefty price but still!

In any case, about two months later and I'm still going strong on how much I have left. Also, it appears to have worked! My unsightly red polkadot party has dwindled to a lonely event of one or two. Score ONE for Lisa, Zero for yog-acne.

About two weeks ago I ran out of facial cleanser. So back to Pur Alternatives I went. I was a little hesitant in trying out a random cleanser on my face, so Chris was kind enough to give me a small (in recyclable plastic) sample of Shea Terra's Anti-Acne black soap cleanser. Bonus: the actual product comes in a glass container, plastic minimal.

I'm not yet sure if it's the reason my breakouts have diminished, but it definitely isn't making them worse. It has quite the smell, which Chris informed me was due to the aloe ferox ingredient, but then it's only going on my face so whatever.

At this point I was extremely curious as to exactly why companies like Shea Terra make the claim that black soap is fantastic for your skin. What is black soap? Well- it's made traditionally in Africa from plantain ashes and supposedly no animal or chemicals. Although I found claims ranging from cures acne to every other random skin disorder, I haven't actually found links to those 'studies show' information. I've actually yet to find anything other than reported benefits from companies who sell the product or people reporting said benefits when reviewing a product (like me).

In any case, Shea Terra reportedly uses Fair Trade practices, works with NGO's and sources sustainably harvested ingredients... however I didn't see one third party certification on their site. I'm sorry if I've become a bit cynical of big companies.

So there you have it. The anti-acne face wash and body wash have been non-detrimental to my skin and 'possibly' been a damper on the acne party! Which is fantastic. I would encourage for those who don't have ridiculously persnickity skin to try to find local, hand made alternatives, such as local body and face bar soap. :)

But for other EcoYogi(ni)s having a rough go with random red visitors, Shea Terra is a nice alternative! Pur Alternatives has many other fab options- Haligonian peeps should check it out (down the cobblestone path next to the Split Crow off Duke Street).

(also, a bit of extra yoga news, I'm PUMPED to be attending a 'Hip Hop Yoga Class' with local yoga instructor Helen Fong tomorrow, 6:30pm at Sunrise Studio. Seriously, how cool is that? Although she assured me no actual dancing will be involved-which is good because I am a terrible dancer! Yoga Flow and hip hop yoga music will be happening. Fun!)

article and photographs copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com 

How to Green your Beans... Yoga and Coffee

It seems fitting to begin this week with yet another coffee post. Tonight I'll be meeting with a local Anusara teacher to discuss ideas of a student centered-yoga group. We'll be meeting at a local coffee shop and my hope is to get a 'Yoga and Coffee' group going (Andrew shot down my 'Yoga Latté' idea...sigh). I'll keep you posted :)

We North Americans drink a LOT of coffee. Non-fair trade equals supporting slave and child labour, we could just as easily label those coffee beans 'blood beans'... Check out my post on ethics for more info. I've also mentioned how we use 23 BILLION cups a year, all to be thrown in the landfill. You think that little 'biodegradable' symbol on your cup means anything? Think again, most municipalities are not equipped to deal with 'compostable' coffee cups, so out to your neighbourhood garbage pile (aka landfill)  (Haligonians, read here for our own personal greenwashing- JustUs!).

Think your personal change won't make a difference? Read this little article over at the Onion, seriously, it's awesome.

So how do we green our coffee? (N.B. same ideas could apply to tea...)

My Coffee Arsenal....

Step One: Bring Your Own Mug (BYOM). And invest in a good one that will last a few years. Preferably stainless steel as it won't leach icky plastic and phtalates into your coffee and something you'll LOVE to carry around. Even though I had serious buyers remorse after spending 27$ on mine, it has lasted 5 years and despite dents and scratches, keeps my coffee hot the entire morning.
Tips: remember to wash out your mug the night before (I put mine in the 'to wash' dishes space)... rotten milk doesn't smell too great....

Step Two: Make your own coffee. This step actually has phases. What I've discovered is that coffee tastes are a personal preference. I like medium roasted, Cafe Femenino Peru (sadly not carried in Halifax anymore). You might like a darker or lighter roast.

2 a) buy fair trade organic coffee whenever possible. Although a few dollars more per pound, if you can spare two dollars per bag there is no other way. Non-fair trade coffee means slave labour, minimal women and child rights and overall abuse on entire societies and cultures. Just for your cup of jo.

2 b) buy a small coffee grinder, mine was under 20$. If the main reason you're not making your own coffee is because you think pre-ground tastes like crap... it's because you're right. Grinding your own fresh each morning takes 5 extra seconds, is fun and tastes a zillion times better.

2 c) Get a reusable coffee filter. Seriously made for us lazies in the world, reusable coffee filters are awesome. You just rinse them out like any screen-type dealy and the grinds that filter through are negligible. Unless you are the ultimate coffee bean snob, you won't notice.

2 d) Invest in a French Press. This was the final step for coffee making chez nous. The perfect solution for all you counter space deficient apartment dwellers. It takes a few extra steps (boil the water, making sure the French Press is actually cleaned the night before, sitting for exactly 4 minutes...), but the coffee tastes YUMMY.

Step Three: Whenever possible, ask for your coffee 'for here' in a mug. If I'm not on my way to work, this is usually what Andrew and I do. I see it this way; if I can spare 10 minutes to sit and enjoy each others company, then why add another throw-away cup to the pile? I'm gonna suck back the coffee in about that time anyway.

Step Four: customize your coffee at home so that you LIKE drinking coffee made at home. If you're anything like me, my ultimate coffee experience isn't coffee at all... but espresso drenched in chocolate. In order to replicate this I have come up with a system. Here are some of my favs:
- use honey instead of sugar. Local honey adds a whole other flavour, is better for you and tastes great!
- use fair trade organic dark brown sugar
- use fair trade organic chocolate (Haligonians, JustUs! carries a spicy chocolate powder- YUM).
- use chocolate milk (this is for emergencies only...)
- sprinkle in some cinnamon, nutmeg or other spice that you like.

Step Five: Start supporting small, local roasters. Let them know what you like about their company (i.e. selling fair trade organic, composting and recycling at their shops) and what you'd like to see more of (more aggressive BYOM campaigns, stop claiming that their cups are compostable, bringing back café femenino- ok those are mine... but you know what I mean). Simple, intelligent and rationally written emails can do the trick.

Step Six: Buy locally roasted, fair trade organic coffee beans in bulk. This one is our recent phases, for some reason I had this impression that although from the same company, the beans at the bulk section of our local organic grocery store were ick. I have no idea why. Recently, I bought a whole bunch, asked for a paper bag to put them in (had forgotten my cloth produce bag at home) and they now reside in a glass container. The paper bag is currently being used to hold our frozen blueberries.



How do you green your coffee?





article and photographs copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

Coffee; Eco-Ethics (Part 1)

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays! Hosted by Food Renegade- please go check out all the other fantastic REAL FOOD posts over here!

Starbucks and Lululemon... does anyone else see a trend here? Since the beginning of my yoga journey, five years ago in Montreal, Lululemon and Starbucks were close behind. Late nights studying for my grad degree required lots and lots of coffee, and boy do I LOVE mochas. It was so common to see yogini's decked out in Lulu gear while sipping on their starbucks that it just seems like the two companies should be somehow in cahoots together. In Montreal we used to always always stop for a Starbucks pre-yoga with Jim (dreamy Brit instructor at the Y). (The Bean Scene, my favourite coffee shop in Vernon BC)

Most of us know that coffee is "bad" for us, that most likely huge corporations like Starbucks make a zillion dollars in profit at the expense of the little guys... but did you know just HOW much your latte is costing our planet and it's people? The USA consumes one fifth of the world's coffee, making North America the largest coffee consumer in the world. You would think with such a huge demand that setting up your very own coffee field and becoming a coffee bean farmer would be a worth while venture... Unfortunately coffee farmers have been, and continue to be exploited to the point of slavery. Coffee farmers are often paid less than 50 cents per pound and live in appalling conditions, are indebted to the point of working for nothing.

Coffee beans are grown in countries that typically have delicate rainforests and unique, essential ecosystems. According to the National Resources Defense Council reports that deforestation is a huge part of "sun grown" coffee (40% of coffee growing lands in Columbia, Mexico, Central America and the Carribean; where deforestation takes place for "monocultures" of coffee bean plants) and the World Wildlife Fund reports endangered species habitats are being destroyed by illegal deforestation for coffee plantations along with a 90% drop in migratory bird species.

Want some DDT with that latte? Although measures have been taken to ban many (but not even close to all) pesticides in North America, many coffee beans purchased today are grown in countries where such carcinogenic pesticides are still permitted. For example, NRDC also reports that Costa Rica allows the use of the toxic insecticide chlordane that has serious health and lasting environmental impact. Chronic, dangerous pesticide use also erodes the coffee farmer and their communities drinking water safety, soil health and food safety. Discharges from coffee processing plants have been a major source of river pollution in Latin America, releasing thousands of tons of organic waste into the water systems, clogging up the water ways and decreasing oxygen supplies of the local aquatic wildlife (NRDC).

Of course these environmental concerns are only the beginning of the coffee empire. Huge corporations such as Starbucks (who buy coffee beans at "slave" prices, followed by an almost 200% markup to us, the North American consumers), also ship these beans to roasting plants, emitting huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. Followed by the energy needed to roast the millions of pounds of coffee beans and finished with beautiful plastic packages that are shipped all over the world for another bunch of carbon emissions.

I knew all this, I did. The kicker, was a documentary called "Strong Coffee: The Story of Cafe Femenino" that I was invited to watch by my friend Sharyn in B.C. It has changed how I view my coffee and being the sap that I am, it also made me cry. (I strongly urge you to check our the Trailor here).

Cafe Fememino tells the story of the women in these coffee communities who are marginalized, continue to have no rights, are not educated, are abused and are treated as subhuman. Despite progress made by Fair Trade organizations, the women in these communities (50% of the population... don't forget!) continued to be abused and were without basic human rights. With limited resources farmers invested money in educating their sons, daughters stayed home and were married between the ages of 12 and 16 years.

In 2004, 464 female coffee workers banded together, and with some support decided to separate their coffee from others. The label requires that coffee be grown, sold and the land owned, by women. That they be paid above fair trade prices, that the coffee be grown sustainably and organically and that the women have humane and improved working conditions. (Cafe Femenino bean bags are tied with a pink ribbon!)

Finally, buying Cafe Femenino also means supporting a local woman's organization in YOUR community. Coffee roasters that agree to carry the Cafe Fememino label are bound by contract to donate 2% of their profits to a local woman's program of their choice and must have the Cafe Femenino label on their packaging. A true pay it forward- women in third world countries decided that other women elsewhere would benefit from their hard work and commitment to make our world a better place.

Although I began this post with the purpose of talking about mostly Starbucks... the story of why buying locally roasted, organically grown, fair trade certified coffee is an essential backdrop and took up quite a lot of space.

My options were to either find an alternative or quit drinking mochas. Quit?? Lol, one day without my one cup and I have a headache (sad I know).

Obviously, certified organic coffee is a fantastic way to assure a mocha sans pesticide residue and decrease your latte's impact on our precious blue planet. Fair Trade certified also assures that the yummy coffee you are drinking isn't supporting "slave" labour. However, having one does not automatically assume the other. So both was a must for myself.

Buying certified shade grown coffee assures that those "sun", monoculture, bird-killer fields are not involved and that you are supporting a return in biodiversity. Of course, my absolute favourite... Cafe Fememino, certified fair trade, organic and a pay it forward to support women in MY community from a local roasting company. How do you find such a fantastically awsome tasting and ethical coffee??

Well, in Halifax "Just Us!" (a Wolfville fair trade, organic coffee roasting company) claims to carry Cafe Femenino. However, recently I have been having a difficult time finding it in their Coffee shops. They've never promoted it and it seems to have quietly disappeared from their shelves. I'll be writing them soon to find out the latest.

Otherwise, go on Cafe Femenino's website here, and search by company and region. Currently, Canada has not implemented their Certified Organic Logo (federal website states June 30th 2009), so make sure to closely examine logos when purchasing, logo copiers are out there!

Next stop: Starbucks and my love-hate relationship :)

Blessings and happy ethical coffee drinking!

Decreasing Nurdles- No More Plastic!

This post is part of Fight Back Friday's hosted by Food Renegade! Check it out for more awesome Food Rebel posts!

For two years my fiancé and I lived in Vernon BC, nestled between three gorgeous lakes in the Okanagan Valley. We were like platypi surrounded by King Penguins... we didn't ski, hike, canoe or camp. At all. (Hence moving back to the maritimes!). While living in Vernon I did acquire a taste for good local wine, yoga outside and anything "eco". One day, while in the local tiny health food store I picked up these little cloth cotton bags called "pog-sacs". Weirdest name EVER. The reason why I bought them, the tag had the coolest colours EVER. 

These little produce-or-grain bags (pog-sacs) are made from unbleached cotton and purchased with fair wage-fair labour. At this point in my eco-career we had already become expert bring-our-own-bag people but I was still using those annoying little plastic dealeys for my veggies and fruits. These little cotton bags were something new- I no longer had to buy those silly plastic "sacs" that make my green pepper mushy and get thrown out! 

It only took a few shopping trips to realize that, well what do ya know, these little bags with the beautiful coloured tag are Kick Bum!! I could fit 5-6 apples in one mesh bag, or carrots, or even a medium sized green leaf lettuce! They breathed better in the fridge so my produce stayed fresh for longer. The kicker- they are SUPER easy to wash/dry (no special anything! WOOT). 

These little pog-sacs made the wondrous journey with us across the country and started their new life here in Halifax. I quickly realized that I needed more than just two. I wanted a whole bunch with a few solid ones for rice or nuts! I searched the city and all I have found are silly nylon mesh bags. Nylon is derived from petroleum, it is a synthetic polymer or: plastic. Nice.

Side note: Did you know that since their creation approximately 50 years ago, each and every single piece of plastic EVER made still exists (The World Without Us- awesome book). That equals about 1 billion tons of plastic. Also, us humans in the world use about 1 trillion plastic bags a year. A million bags a minute. Every minute. As far as science can tell synthetic polymers may take a thousand years to break down, even an order of magnitude (10 times=10 000 years) in the ocean. When plastic is said to "degrade" what marine biologists are finding is that they break down into tiny plastic particles (nurdles) that are being ingested by all sea animals, either killing them or passing the plastic-disease to the next predator to come along- ending with humans. 

SO- back to my pog-sacs. Very important to stop using plastic bags. 

Nylon just doesn't cut it. Finally I sucked it up and googled them. Wonders of wonders- they are actually run by a Vernonite that lived about two streets over from our first apartment overlooking Kalamalka Lake. LOL. I ordered a sampler from her even though I HATE ordering from the internet and am usually cursed. My beautiful new Lioli (love it or lose it!) pog-sacs came about a week later! YAY. They are perfect, large enough for lots of bulk rice or nuts/oats and large AND small mesh bags for potatoes, or apples or bananas. I Heart them a lot. They are different, eco and practical!

Update: Our local health-organic food store allows us to fill our grain bags with rice-granola etc, no question. Also, another Canadian company- Credo, creates mesh grain bags **IN Canada** and according to a comment left by Judy- the owner- have certified organic options. Read my post to find out more about Credo. Despite the pros, the owner of Lioli is super sweet, friendly and I prefer their solid bag options... :)

Blessings!

Mmmm Chocolate That's Good for the Planet!

I am sick, working with preschool children tends to do that... so chocolate is my remedy. I LOVE chocolate-mmmmmm...

Sadly, supporting the regular chocolate industry is also like "death" for the planet and for so many thousands of abused workers and children. CHILDREN?? My beautiful chocolate was made by abused child slaves??? 

The six largest cocoa producers in the world are Ghana, Indonesia, Brazil, Nigeria and Cameroon. As of 2002 a study released by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture reported that an estimated 284,000 children are working on cocoa farms in hazardous tasks such as using machetes and applying insecticides and pesticides without appropriate protection. Also, a reported 12,500 children did not have relatives in the area- a warning sign for human trafficking... (http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/background.html) Wow. Although the free trade agreement in 2001 takes some measures to attempt to dissuade human rights violations, it does not assure that the farmers or their families receive a fair wage or price for their labour. 

For excellent resources and info check out: http://www.globalexchange.org/index.html

All this, and we haven't even begun to talk about how poor regulations and farming techniques can devastate fragile tropical ecologies (mmmm pesticide chocolate- adds that extra bounce to your step! ACK).

Ok- I am not giving up chocolate, I love it too much, nevermind the argument of economic dependancy these countries have on demand for cocoa production. No worries! There are 'conflict free' chocolate options to replace your "blood chocolate"! YAY. Now, because of the child trafficking and human rights violation stuff- Fair Trade is a must for me. Usually most chocolate is both fair trade and organic, and it's likely that if the farm is organic the workers are treated and paid "better".... Maybe. I also think of paying the extra dollars for Fair Trade and Organic as a way to dissuade my compulsive chocolate buying tendencies.

Here are a few of my favourites that I have found both of the West and East Coast of Canada :)

1. Endangered Species Chocolate

Not only do they have great wrappers with pictures of endangered animals on them- they donate 10% of their net profits to support species, habitat and humanity (Chimp Haven, The Ocean Conservancy

, scholarships in Nigeria to name a few)! They are centrally located in Indiana and have a LEED registration for environmental efficiency. Their cocoa is shade grown with options of organically grown (with certification). They do claim fair wages and price- but no third party certification is there. The chocolate tastes FANTASTIC and they usually put in a small bit of info on an endangered species (on recycled paper of course!).

2. Green & Black Organic

Mmmm- so tasty!! I LOVE their Organic Dark Chocolate with Mint- sooo yummy! Although on their website it has three options, Europe, USA and UK- my chocolate bar from here in Canada says it was made in Italy...  In any case- they have third party Organic certification and make everything from ice cream to chocolate bars. Yum! No Fair Trade certification- so all claims made by the company are essential just that: claims.

And the BEST OF THE BEST:

3. Cocoa Camino

This company is really my favourite! They produce 100% Fair Trade Certified AND Certified Organic chocolate that tastes FABULOUS. Also- they are a Canadian company- WOOT! Their cocoa beans are shade grown (of course!) and their internal wrappings are made from polypropylene which uses less energy than aluminum and is recyclable! They do sell in the States and even have a handy- find a local retailer option :) Their chocolate is amazing and I LOVE their cocoa powder- yummy addition to your fair trade organic coffee in the morning! :)

4. Just Us! (local coffee roaster)

Just Us! Coffee Roasters is one of our local fair trade organic coffee companies here in Nova Scotia. Their local cafés are sustainably run with compostable coffee cups to boot! (Provincial law imposes that all residents of Nova Scotia Compost all organic matter). Their chocolate is also fair trade and organic certified PLUS it's local, so the carbon footprint of shipping is less and I am supporting a local business as well as the farmers who grew my beautiful cocoa beans :) Ultimately, finding a local company that processes fair trade and organically certified chocolate is the best bet!

Chocolate loving Yogini- out!