how now brown cow!

VIDEO: Cutting Cows' Gas Emissions

via National Geographic News on 10/23/08

Cow's emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas, can be reduced with a more natural diet, farmers are learning. Methane is a powerful contributor to global warming.

Halloween Horrors

Slowly but surely we have been putting the garden to rest. Harvesting the last of the tomatoes, canning some sauce and salsa, apple picking and making apple sauce, and my favorite....the pumpkins are here!! Coleman is very into decorating them, we even got to pick two big green ones from our garden this year. And of course pumpkins means that halloween is right around the corner! Yeah! I do have quite a fondness for this holiday especially since Halloween and chocolate might as well be the same thing in my vocabulary. But recently I have come across an article that almost made m&m's come out my nose, it's about child labor in the cocoa industry, and how these kids work 12 hr days and don't even know what chocolate tastes like! Seriously, I knew it was important to buy Fair Trade coffee and chocolate, but I guess I just didn't realize the abuse involved. We usually don't get any trick or treaters and I end up inhaling the whole bag of Reese's cups myself, but you can bet this year my binge will be Fair Trade Certified!

Here is a defination of Fair Trade out of Gorgeously Green: "An alternate trading system that creates opportunities for farmers and artisans who are most vulnerable and disadvantaged by conventional trade." Fair Trade ensures that the farmers get a fair price and that sustainability is practiced. It also ensures that workers, especially women are empowered

here are some options for a Fair Trade Halloween:
https://www.progressivekid.com/shop/ecochocolate.aspx
http://chocosphere.com/
http://store.gxonlinestore.org/holiday2.html

oh and another article supporting this:
http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/fairtrade/trickortreat.cfm