Gnosis Chocolate is proud to donate 10% of our profits to
The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation
The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation is an organization dedicated to benefiting the Earth and its inhabitants by planting edible fruit trees. Their mission is to plant and help others plant a collective total of 18 billion fruit trees across the world and encourage their growth under organic standards.
FTPF’s goal is to plant trees that yield edible fruits, nuts, leaves, or roots—thus spreading life-sustaining ecological diversity throughout the world. Fruit trees are planted alongside other soil-building flora, native and medicinal trees and shrubs, hardwoods, and plants that contribute to sustainability. As they plant, they bring vibrant health to the community by making nutritious local fruits and vegetables accessible. Trees improve the soil, air, and attract water. Plantings are designed to follow the contours of the land, creating swales to guide water back into the earth and address erosion issues, and replenish organic matter in the soil which is so critical to the core health of the planet.
FTPF also seeks to secure land throughout the world with the sole purpose restoring native plant ecosystems with an abundance of fruit trees and plants that benefit the surrounding air, water, and soil and provide food sources for wild animals.
While their ultimate vision is one of overall ecological harmony, incorporating a great number of elements for a self-sustaining world, they chose to name themselves “The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation” to ensure that as their efforts continue, with the help of those who join them, they will be united in the goal to heal the planet and nourish future generations by planting fruit trees. FTPF provides support, resources, and guidance for those interested in planting fruit trees.
FTPF envisions a world where one can have a summer picnic under the shade of a fruit tree, breathe the clean air it generates, and not have to bring anything other than an appetite for the healthy fruits growing overhead. A world where one can take a walk in the park during a lunch break, pick and eat a variety of delicious fruits, and plant the seeds so others can eventually do the same and provide an alternative to buying environmentally-destructive, illness-causing, chemically-laden products.
Chocolate Politics |
The workers – men, women, and children - have inadequate training or protective clothing and suffer severe health problems from exposure to the pesticides. At least 32 pesticides are used in conventionally grown cacao.
The largest producers of cacao come from the "Third World" (The Majority World) Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Brazil and Indonesia. These are all countries where people are forced to live in conditions of extreme poverty, where life expectancy is low, child deaths high, where access to a decent education and health care is denied. Women and children of the developing world work long hours for little to no pay. Many work for about $3 a day. Most of the people who work on the cacao plantations have never even tasted chocolate.
Mayan and Aztec Xocoatl was a symbol of sanctity, evoking fertility and prosperity. When the Conquistadores wiped out their civilization, chocolate spread north to Mexico in a new form. The Spaniards did not like the bitter taste and so SUGAR was added (another commodity grown on the back of slave labor). The original form of chocolate was lost forever. Or at least until now…
The Chocolate Revival
There is hope yet! There has been a return to the true nature of cacao. David Wolfe, president of the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation and Sunfood Nutrition, is a leader in the Chocolate Revival. He is the co-author of “Naked Chocolate” and a true advocate of the health benefits of chocolate. There are many other individuals and organizations working to save our rainforests and cacao farmers. And a growing number of companies are taking the steps to assure their chocolate is untainted by slavery.
Every time we purchase raw cacao and high quality, organic chocolate bars made by producers who donate to the sources of cacao, we are voting with our dollars for human rights and preserving the rainforest (the only environment suitable for the chocolate tree, theobroma cacao) - therefore for reducing global warming and supporting the movement towards a more socially and environmentally conscious society.
Vote with your dollars for nourished people, fruit trees, happy farmers, and a healthy planet!
