Last week I promised it was possible to buy your valentine a great gift without selling your soul and Monday I put up a list of 10 great guilt-free jewelry gifts, so you Valentine’s Day shoppers should be all set. But, for those of you who still haven’t bought the special gift for that special someone, it’s not too late. If your valentine has a sweet tooth, and prefers chocolate to jewels, what could be sweeter than chocolate that tastes great and isn’t the product the exploitation and slavery of children. The reality of most chocolate production is sad and scary: According to the State Department, more than 109,000 children in the Ivory Coast’s cocoa industry work under “the worst forms of child labor,” 10,000 of whom are victims of human trafficking or enslavement. And with the U.S. consuming 2.8 billion pounds of chocolate annually, nearly half of the world’s supply, we can help end child labor chocolate production. So this Valentines Day, even if you’re last minute and don’t have time to order online, say “I love you” with slavery-free chocolates!

By searching Fair Trade Federation’s Website, I found 65 stores carrying fair trade chocolates and other fair trade guilt-free Valentine’s Day gifts. Here are some of my faves

1. If you live in the Bay Area (of course) or Portland, you can go to Global Exchange Stores and buy a chocolate assortment box to exchange with your valentine.

2. A Greater Gift, has stores in Maryland and Wisconsin , and is sold in several other locations, so it won’t be hard to find a Divine Chocolate Gift Set and support a farmers’ cooperative in Ghana.

Read the rest of this entry »