This is the flag of Cote d’Ivoire. The orange in the flag represents the country’s savannah grasslands. The white symbolizes unity, and the green represents the country’s lush forests; many of them growing cacao.

Cote d’Ivoire is located in southern Africa

• 52% of the people in Cote d’Ivoire are illiterate while only 3% of the people in the United States are illiterate.

•In Cote d’Ivoire, the average income for each person per year is only $897 whereas in The United States, it is $39,722 a year.

•Cote d’Ivoire is very crowded. There are approximately 151 people per square mile. In The United States, there are 84 people per square mile.

•It is located along the gulf of guinea.

•Cote d’Ivoire produces 43% of the worlds chocolate.

•40% of their export earnings are made off of chocolate.

Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire

Chocolate is a favorite treat of people everywhere.

Americans consumed 3.3 billion pounds of chocolate

in 2000.

Chocolate being made in a

factory

• First, the harvested pods are roasted

•Next, the hulls of the pods are separated from the nibs.

•After, the nibs are crushed into a substance called chocolate liquor and the hulls are thrown away.

•Next, the liquor is refined, or crushed until the particles are .001 inches each.

•The powder is dutched, or treated with a solution made of potassium carbonate.

•Cocoa butter is mixed into the solution.

•The mixture is tumbled and mixed around and more ingredients are added such as sugar and milk.

•Then, it is poured into molds, cooled, and wrapped.

Nib

Hull

Yum!

•One of the main problems facing the chocolate industry is most companies chose to use children to harvest the coca pods.

•Children are sold by their parents and forced to work long hours in hard conditions with little or no pay.

•Some of them don’t even know what chocolate is.

•400 cocoa beans must be harvested to make one pound of chocolate

•The child workers must use machetes to cut down the plants

•15,000 children between the ages of 6 and 18 worked harvesting chocolate in 2000

•Many of the children work form 6:00AM to 6:30PM seven days a week

•The children never get an education

•The children face awful health conditions.

•Chemical pesticides are used to keep the cocoa plant free of bugs

•Many of the forests where cacao is grown are clear cut, or chopped down completely.

•Thousands of rain forests are cut down each year in order to let sunlight in to the cocoa plants

A tropical Rainforest

A cacao forest

•Look at the chocolate you buy. If it has fair trade or equal exchange on the label, it wasn’t made with child labor and the forest it was grown in wasn’t clear cut. It may be more expensive, but it is better for the environment

•If you aren’t sure where it comes from, do some research. So much can be found online these days, it shouldn’t take much time.

This is the label to look for

This is another symbol to look for

Many everyday items are made with Fair trade

Rose currently lives in Cumberland RI with her mom, dad, sister, brother, and cats. She goes to school at Wheeler and has many friends. She is studying for her Bat-Mitzvah. She has a strong love for tacos and ravioli.

"Cote d'Ivoire: Country Overview." World Geography. 2007. ABC-CLIO. 9 Oct. 2007 <http://www.worldgeography.abc-clio.com>.

“The Chocolate Industry: Abusive Child Labor and Poverty, Behind the Sweetness.”05 Oct.2007. Global Exchange. 09 Oct. 2007<http://www.newdream.org/consumer/chocolate.html>

“Facts About Fair Trade and the Cocoa Industry.” 12 Aug. 2007. Global Exchange.4. Oct. 2007.http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/facts.html

Berlow, Lawrence H. “chocolate.” How products are made: Volume I. 2007. Advamag, Inc. 4 Oct. 2007.<http//www.madehow,com/Volume-1/chocolate.htme>

Images

www.worldwatch.orgwww.enviorblog.orgwww.tradeaid.comwww.cache.eb.comwww.fair-trade-hub.com/fair-trade-chocolate.comwww.dkimages.comwww.isrality.comwww.italianfoodlovers.academiabarilla.comwww.hhchalates.comwww.stjohns.pfhenterprises.orgwww.www.keswick.org/.../thumbs/1052482838a_t.jpg