valentine's day is tomorrow,

the day of chocolate. I just wanted to take another second of your time to mention the global impact of products that we consume. However! This is not all gloom and doom. I try not to be. I have a wonderful sunny disposition, I think.

Kidding aside, there's a reason you can purchase pounds and pounds of chocolate for a few dollars. It's because the cost of making this bargain chocolate is externalised, often in the form of child labour and other awful things.

Luckily, there's a wonderful little label that says "fair trade" that helps you discern whether or not bad things are involved in the production of your chocolate. Yeah, it's more expensive, but I like to think of it as a more "honest" price. Chocolate, like coffee and other foreign commodities, is expensive. That's why it's a decadent treat. Also luckily, the whole "green" thing is quite trendy. That means that you can find tasty fair trade/organic chocolate in a bunch of different varieties at a bunch of different places.

So yeah, be responsible chocolate purchasers this holiday!