STOP Deforestation and save the Orang Utan!

I think this is a bit too dark and tragic for a Monday but it has to be shared. It brought me to tears! Every year, acres and acres of rainforest in Indonesia is burnt and destroyed to make way for Palm Oil vegetation, ruining the homes of Orang Utan. Read the full story here. No Palm Oil for me cos it's really bad for the environment! Buy only ethical products people! I swear I feel more for animals than human beings :( If only the human race stop trashing the planet!

Conscious Chocolate

Recently, an extremely powerful woman I work with told her hotel staff off (yes, she owns quite some hotels) when they served her chocolates because she has recently sworn off chocolate after learning that the production of chocolate often entails some serious slavery. Kudos to her cos in case you don't know, it is true that these sweet little cocoa treats we all indulge in often involves exploitation. While you're savouring one of life's little pleasures in the form of chocolates, many adults and children alike are slaving away, getting paid pathetic wages, if at all, by big multi-national companies like Hershey's & M&M's. Click here to read more about chocolate slavery.

Apart from slavery, production of chocolate by big companies like Nestles often wrecks havoc with the environment too. Remember the Kit Kat Boycott some years back where the palm oil used in its production came from destroying homes of Orang Utan, driving them further into extinction? Click here for more. 

So what's a girl to do when she needs some good old endorphin-inducing chocolate to beat the PMS??  Well she turns to ethical options such as Conscious Chocolate! Available at Real Food, I absolutely adore Conscious Chocolate! It's organic, handmade and comes in many different delicious flavors with cute packaging to boost. They're just one of the many companies these days that offer an ethical alternative. It's more expensive at about $10 for a small bar but I guess at least I know I'm not having a sweet treat on someone's expense. Oh, not to mention the higher price tag means I won't overeat and that I would be more appreciative while savoring it.

Now, I think my task is to sneakily introduce a bunch of ethical chocolate brands to that same extremely powerful woman in the hope that she would make all her business entities carry the ethical brands! Wish me luck with that cos it's a dangerous mission (cos she's kinda psychotic)!