Guilt Free Ice Cream for the Green Hearted

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream has recently announced it will go completely Fairtrade Certified with its ingredients by 2013! YEAH!  As recently posted in my April 3rd post about "45,000 reasons to swap your choco eggs" I talked about the benefits of fair trade for families trying to green up their act.  Ben & Jerry's ice cream creating a MASSIVE goal to go completely Fairtrade by 2013 is HUGE news.

It gives families a way to support social sustainability and build community by voting with their wallet. (and it doesn't hurt that the ice cream is totally yummy!).

From the Guardian's April 4, 2010 Article: 

Sold up but not sold out, Ben and Jerry are still the poster boys for fair trade

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield. 'Ben & Jerry's was never Unilever,' says Cohen, 'and you know, I never had any illusions. Photograph: James D. Morgan/Rex Features

Full Article Here


From the Fairtrade Organisation's webiste:

Ben & Jerry’s has just announced its commitment to go fully Fairtrade across its entire global flavour portfolio.  From Cherry Garcia to Chocolate Fudge Brownie, all of the flavours in all of the countries where Ben & Jerry’s is sold (including Australia) will be converted to Fairtrade Certified™ ingredients by the end of 2013. 

Ben & Jerry’s was the first ice cream company in the world to use Fairtrade Certified™ ingredients starting in 2005, and today it’s racing ahead as the first ice cream company to make such a significant commitment to Fairtrade across its global portfolio.

Company co-founder Jerry Greenfield said, “Fairtrade is about making sure people get their fair share of the pie. The whole concept of Fairtrade goes to the heart of our values and sense of right and wrong. Nobody wants to buy something that was made by exploiting somebody else.” 

Ben & Jerry’s 100% Fairtrade commitment means that every ingredient that can be sourced Fairtrade Certified™, now or in the future, is Fairtrade Certified™. Globally, this involves converting up to 121 different chunks and swirls, working across eleven different ingredients such as cocoa, banana, vanilla and other flavourings, fruits and nuts.  It also means working with Fairtrade cooperatives that total a combined membership of over 27,000 farmers. 

I'm so excited about this! A huge step forward for setting a great example and providing a fabulous product!  I am a fossil fuel kind of girl: FOSSIL FUEL ICE CREAM that is! It's fabulous and hopefully one day, won't involve any kind of fossil fuel use in its making....

For more information on Ben and Jerry's Activism visit their website.

Bravo Ben and Jerry! My spoon is raised to you.

Tracy Lydiatt - B.Sc, M.Sc
The Green Families Guru

p.s. Remember you can do this, it begins with one step and lasts a lifetime

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