Cadbury goes Fairtrade for Easter 2010

Adam Valvasori - Values Manager

Image via Cadbury.com

I was super happy to hear during the week, Cadbury has finally listened to consumer demand to make the cocoa free from child slavery and registered Fairtrade.

Congratulations to everyone who bought Fairtrade chocolate, raised it with their supermarket or to Cadbury themselves! You deserve to savor this sweet sweet victory!

Here's an exert from a news.com.au article which interviewed World Vision CEO Tim Costello:

From next year the nation's most popular chocolate bar, Cadbury Dairy Milk, will become Fairtrade certified. The move will quadruple the amount of cocoa bought from west Africa under sustainable farming schemes and help end child labour and trafficking.

About 40,000 Ghanaian cocoa farmers will benefit immediately, and hundreds of thousands more will also be better off as the plan rolls out.Cadbury, the leading chocolate manufacturer in Australia, expects to achieve the certification by next Easter.

Mr Costello said it was about time major chocolate companies went Fairtrade and called on Nestle and Lindt & Sprungli to follow Cadbury's suit. The excuse that there wasn't enough Fairtrade cocoa around was weak, he said.

"This is just the chicken and egg situation - if there is a demand for Fairtrade, there will be enough Fairtrade cocoa," Mr Costello told the National Press Club in Canberra.


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About The Body Shop & Fairtrade:

• The Body Shop pioneered its own approach to fair trade in the cosmetics industry. We call it Community Trade. Whereas the Fairtrade mark found its initial success in commodity foodstuffs. There are differences and similarities in approach – but we all have the same end in sight – that of Trade Justice.
  
• The Body Shop is the UK's 3rd biggest buyer of Fairtrade Cocoa.
• In Australia we have a policy of only buying Fairtrade chocolate, coffee, tea etc for our team rooms and events.
• Over half of what you can buy at The Body Shop has at least one Community Trade ingredient. Check out our global Community Trade website to learn more.
  
• All of our products have to pass stringent human rights tests in order to guarantee no child labour is used in anything we sell, wear or give away!

Take Action!

• Congratulate Cadbury on going Fairtrade via Twitter or their website.
• Encourage your fave chocolate supplier to follow Cadbury's lead!
• Learn more from and join World Vision's Don't Trade Lives campaign
  

Animals Matter To Me

By Rachel Muraca – Customer Service

Sign the biggest ever global petition to protect animals.

Show your government that animals matter to you.
Visit: www.animalsmatter.org

You can help achieve recognition and protection of animals around the world by joining a global voice of 10 million in support of the ‘Animals Matter’ campaign. WSPA is seeking 10 million signatures to let the governments of the world know we are serious about achieving a Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare at the United Nations. You can read a copy of the draft declaration here.


Did you know?

The scale of suffering for animals in the world today is unprecedented.

• Around 60 billion farm animals are used each year globally to produce meat, milk and eggs. The majority are raised in industrial farming systems where their welfare needs are not met

• Globally, there are some 600 million dogs, and a similar number of cats, of which an estimated 80% are stray or unwanted

• The illegal and often inhumane trade in wildlife and wildlife parts is a soaring black market worth $10 billion a year, exceeded only by arms and drug smuggling. Millions of wild animals are killed, captured or traded inhumanely in this shady business

• An estimated 80% of power input on farms in developing countries is supplied by draught animals, however the resources made available are often woefully inadequate, leading to significant welfare issues

• Animals are also affected on a huge scale by natural disasters, though seldom considered

Improving animal welfare can also improve the welfare of people relying on these animals. Over a billion people directly rely on animals around the world for their livelihoods. People rely on animals' companionship as well, and in many cases animals are considered part of the family.

For a global problem you need a global solution. Agreement on the importance of an issue affects people's attitudes, and people's attitudes affect their actions. A Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare would have a real, long-term impact on the welfare of billions of animals worldwide.










Stand up for animals.
Tell your government that animals matter to you.
Sign the petition at http://www.animalsmatter.org/

The RSPCA Cupcake Day

By Rachel Muraca - Customer Service













“The RSPCA is a non-government community based animal welfare charity. The organisation was created by the community and driven by strong local support. Without public backing the RSPCA would cease to function and without the services of the RSPCA the future for thousands of animals would look very bleak indeed.

Vision - The Five Freedoms
That all animals, great and small, are:

• Free from hunger and thirst
• Free from discomfort
• Free from pain, injury and disease
• Free to express normal behaviour
• Free from fear and distress “ (1)

On Monday the 17th of August, The RSPCA Cupcake Day visited The Body Shop head office! Cupcake Day is an annual fundraiser for the RSPCA, with all proceeds of cupcake sales directly benefiting the animals.

In conjunction with cupcake day I organised a pet photo competition, which proved to be very popular and brought to light some stage mums & dads! We had 61 entries raising an additional $122, with our total donation to the RSPCA of $295.00!

Thank you to everyone who participated, the animals thank you for your support.

To participate in the RSPCA Cupcake Day in 2010, visit: http://www.rspcacupcakeday.com.au/.

DID YOU KNOW?

• The RSPCA is Australia’s oldest Animal Welfare Charity. Established in 1873, the RSPCA has been protecting and caring for animals for over 125 years

• The RSPCA is not a government funded charity. They receive no funding from your taxes or the government! It costs over $80M a year to maintain the RSPCA nationally, and they receive less than 2% of this funding from the government. The rest of the money is raised by holding events such as Cupcake Day

• The RSPCA does more than rescue cats and dogs. While they do rescue tens of thousands of cats and dogs every year, they also care and protect other companion animals, native animals and livestock breeds. The RSPCA actively lobbies government and decision makers to change and abolish unfair or cruel animal practices, and they operate Australia’s largest squad of law enforcement officers who are dedicated to policing offences against animals

• The RSPCA supports the community. In each state, they run numerous community support programs including Humane Education, Pet Protection and Emergency Boarding. They also work with other welfare agencies and emergency services when called upon

• The RSPCA helps those who can’t help themselves. Nationally, the RSPCA Inspectorate investigates over 48,000 cruelty complaints each year. Many of these complaints can be addressed on the sport by giving pet owners guidance and information on how to better care for their pets. When owners deliberately neglect their animals, the RSPCA Inspectors have the power to seize the animal and prosecute the owner for neglect or animal cruelty

For more information, or if you would like to make a donation to the RSPCA, please visit: http://www.rspca.org.au/




















(1) sourced from: http://rspcavic.org/about_us/about.htm RSPCA Vic website

Where has my home gone?

By Daniela Natale, Manager, TBS Northland








Orangutans: Clever, adorable primates that inhabit the forest areas in Indonesia and Malaysia. Whilst we know lots about this animal and its evolution throughout the ages, there remains one thing that we, as humans, aren’t as educated in; the future of this species, and many others, and the environmental impact all based on the mass deforestation occurring.

‘Between 1985 and 2005, the island lost about 850, 000 ha of forest per year. As a result, the Orangutan population was depleted so much so that even long term survival of the species is highly doubtful, even if by some miraculous feat the logging ceased. Along with the Orangutan, 222 species of mammals, around 400 reptile and amphibian species, 420 sedentary species of birds 19 species of fish 40 butterflies are endemic here; they exist here and here only.’1

So why cut down the trees and clear the land? To create plantations for palm oil that can be cultivated for global use in numerous industries ranging from food production to energy sources. Whilst the palm oil plantations support global food production, unfortunately, this isn’t a food source for the Orangutans. In fact, Orangutans, once spotted in plantations in search of food, are shot on site as a form of pest control.

One of the most interesting facts about all of this is that 70% of the wood which is cut and processed in Indonesia originates form illegal sources. Although the government in Jakarta has regulations set in place to prevent illegal tree-felling, the lack of ratification and consequence of those responsible for this destruction continues, overlooked by officials and military police that are a part of this corrupt industry. Not only this, but countries such as the US and Germany, make no effort to confiscate wood traded from Indonesia’s ‘wood barrens’ as a way of boycotting this ruthless, destructive industry.

At the recent campaign launch Don’t Palm us Off held at Melbourne Zoo, we (Rachel Muraca, RSC Customer Service, Elizabeth Crow TBS Highpoint and I, Daniela Natale TBS Nothland), discovered that this is an issue that so many influential Australians are in strong support against. ‘Don’t Palm Us Off’ aims at lobbying FSANZ (Food Standards Australia New Zealand), to list palm oil as a specific ingredient on food packaging so that you, the consumer, can make an informed decision on whether or not to buy the products. At the moment, you can’t tell because it’s all listed under the term ‘Vegetable oils’. Without proper labeling, we can’t demand to have only sustainable palm oil as an ingredient in our food. ‘You have a right to know whether the products you buy contain palm oil. However without legislation change, palm oil will remain unlabelled and you will continue to push orangutans towards extinction.’2

Sign the petition here in lobbying FSANZ to list palm oil as an ingredient on food packaging.

For more information, visit:

• Palm Oil Action Group Australia
http://www.palmoilaction.org.au/
• Round Table for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)
http://www.rspo.org/
• Australian Orang-utan Project
http://www.orangutan.org.au/
• Borneo Orangutan Survival
http://www.orangutans.com.au/

1 ‘Thinkers of the Jungle – The Orangutan Report’ Schuster, Smits, Ullal 2007 pg. 146
2 ‘Zoo.org.au/Palm oil’

Living Black on our Respect Campaign

Hi, a quick post with a link to this great piece from SBS's Living Black (thanks Mohammad from Amnesty for spotting it)

The article covers the Respect campaign we did with ANTaR back in May.

Click on the video above to launch the SBS Video Player and re-live the memories!

PETA Be Nice to Bunnies iPhone App

By Adam Valvasori - Values Manager



Ok I admit it, I'm a newly converted iPhone nerd. While I was searching around for apps today I came across one that's actually 'valuable' in the best sense of the word:

PETA 'Be Nice to Bunnies' App

Search for cruelty-free companies with the Be Nice to Bunnies iPhone app! 15% of the download proceeds goes to PETA! You can search by companies that do test on animals, don't test on animals by product category eg: 'toothpaste' and even save your faves. Check out the video below, starring The Body Shop (naturally). If you don't have an iPhone go to the even better website


Do you know of any other useful Apps for the iPhone?? Send them in and I'll add them here!

So far:

CarbonCatcher is a pretty cool app which helps you to offset your carbon footprint.

Don't Palm Us Off!!!

By Rachel Muraca - Customer Service



Palm oil is in one in four food products that we buy. Most of the global supply comes from Indonesia and Malaysia – the only place where orangutans live.

An estimated 1,000 Orangutans die every year because of deforestation to produce palm oil.

There are millions of hectares of degraded land available that could be used for oil palm plantations. Instead, many companies choose to use high conservation value rainforest land in order to gain the additional timber profits by logging the area first.

Unfortunately for the consumer, you can't tell if you are contributing to this destruction because the current food labelling legislation does not require manufacturers to list palm oil on product labels, so products are able to list it as ‘vegetable oil’.

We have a right to know if the products we are buying contain palm oil and are contributing to the demise of the Orangutan and our Rainforests. The United Nations has warned that Orangutans could be extinct within 10 years if we don't act quickly.

On Sunday the 16th of August, Elisabeth Crow (TBS Highpoint), Daniela Natale (TBS Northland) and myself attended the 'Don't Palm Us Off' campaign launch at the Orangutan Sanctuary at Melbourne Zoo. This campaign firstly wants to bring awareness among the public about the environmental damage and species extinction palm oil deforestation is causing, and secondly to petition for legislation to have palm oil labelled on all food products.

Watch the 'Don't Palm Us Off' campaign launch video.















The 'Don't Palm Us Off' campaign is pushing for Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) to change legislation to have palm oil labelled on all food products.

Sign the petition here to tell FSANZ that you want the choice! Legislate to label palm oil in all food products. Tell them don't palm us off!

Did you know?

• We share 97% of our DNA with Orangutans. You could say they are our wild cousins
• Palm Oil typically costs the lives of up to 50 Orangutans each week
• Over 85% of the worlds palm oil comes from Malaysia and Indonesia
• In SE Asia alone, the equivalent of 300 football fields are deforested every hour for palm oil production
• Orangutans could be extinct in the wild within 10 years if we don't act now

For more information, visit:
• Don’t Palm Us Off
http://www.zoo.org.au/PalmOil
• Palm Oil Action Group Australia
http://www.palmoilaction.org.au/
• Round Table for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)
http://www.rspo.org/
• Australian Orangutan Project
http://www.orangutan.org.au/

The Big Issue Television Commercial

The Big Issue has followed up their successful outdoor advertising campaign with a new TVC, launched nationwide this week.

Enlisting the pro-bono help of the blue group (Creative), Melbourne-based Director Luci Schroder (The Director’s Group), Producer Craig Griffin (The Director’s Group) and Mitchell & Partners (Distribution), the 30 second television commercial aims to show people how $5 a fortnight can help homeless and marginalised Australians earn more than just an income.

The blue group’s Cam Trollope said the concept behind the this year’s campaign, which is set to run across outdoor, print, radio, television and online was to simply, yet effectively, educate potential readers on who The Big Issue vendors are and why they stand on the street – day in, day out – selling the magazine.

“It’s often the case with charity ads that an ‘all too quirky’ or ‘award friendly’ idea can cloud the key message,” Mr Trollope said.

• Watch the 30 second TV commercial here
• Check out the new The Big Issue Blog
• Support The Big Issue Vendors near you

Greenpeace Design Awards - Winners Announced

Here are some of the winners and finalists from the 2009 Greenpeace Design Awards.

This was a fantastic competition and underlines the importance of the First Things First Manifesto; a statement / philosophy which believes creative skills need to be enlisted to communicate the Earth's numerous urgent social and environmental problems (and their solutions).

Check them all out here, be inspired, do something about it!