The Spirit of Giving Green
by Amy Fleischer

Fair Trade Chocolate. The most memorable gift baskets are the ones with tasty treats inside. By choosing Fair Trade chocolate, which is certified and stamped in the U.S. by TransFair USA, you can save songbird habitats too.

How does this work? Well, the cocoa plant traditionally grows in the understory of Latin American and African rainforests. The diverse cover of these forests provides a rich habitat in which birds and other animals thrive. Cocoa farmers who grow their product in the shade also tend to use sustainable agricultural practices: they rotate their crops, they plant food crops to feed local populations, and they shun the use of fertilizers and pesticides.

	Unfortunately, most chocolate is not “made in the shade.” In the 1970s, a high-yield hybrid was developed to grow in direct sunlight. This led to the clear-cutting of thousands of acres of rainforest. (On the Ivory Coast, the Sierra Club estimates the impacted area to comprise fifteen percent of the rainforest.) The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center has found that habitat loss and fragmentation,
due to cocoa and coffee production, is the leading threat to songbirds in the western hemisphere; and in Brazil, it has endangered the survival of the golden-headed lion tamarin, a beautiful gold-and-black monkey.

The Fair Trade certification ensures that the chocolate you buy has been cultivated by environmentally sustainable practices. The Fair Trade label also protects the workers: in cooperation with 800,000 small businesses in 48 countries, Fair Trade makes sure that the workers are paid a living wage and provided with safe working conditions, and prevents child or forced labor from being employed in production.

Where to Shop. The Global Exchange Online Store (http://store.gxonlinestore.org) offers a wide variety of Fair Trade holiday gift baskets and chocolate boxes. But you may be most interested in their Corporate Gift Program, which promises to customize baskets to your specifications, meet any budget, and package your gift in recycled and biodegradable wrapping! Are you on a tight budget? Check out Sweet Earth Chocolates (www.sweetearthchocolates.com) for small boxed holiday treats that are 100% organic and Fair Trade certified.

Decorating Smart. Did you know that LED Christmas lights use 80 - 90% less power than traditional lights? They can last for more than ten years, and are cool to the touch – making them safer for your business and home. Compare prices at www.greenhome.com, Amazon, Target, and other nationwide retailers.

Bring It Home. We’re sure your family won’t complain if you bring home some chocolate treats. But here’s another idea for a unique holiday gift for a child or animal lover: Donate money to the care of an animal at a local zoo or aquarium. Adopt-an-Animal giving programs speed funds to animals – from clownfish to panthers - that may require expensive feed or medical care. You get a packet of goodies – a picture, a bio, a stuffed animal – to share with the recipient. And the whole family can enjoy an outing to visit your adopted animal! Participating local organizations include:

Audubon of Florida’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is a watershed system that is managed to maintain the native plants and animals and preserve the natural processes that have been occurring for thousands of years. The 13,000 acre property includes the last stand of virgin bald cypress trees existing in the United States. Visitors can enjoy the Sanctuary from a 2-1/4 mile boardwalk and expand their knowledge of ecosystems in southwest Florida at the Blair Audubon Center. Learn more at www.corkscrew.audubon.org.