I’ve but together a playlist of videos about chocolate. You can go to the list or view all the videos in the player here.
Continue reading YouTubesday: Chocolate and Where it Comes From
All posts by ariah
I Will Pay You To Eat Chocolate
Yes, you heard it right folks, step right up; come one, come all; I’m gonna pay you to eat chocolate. Do I have your attention now? Good. I’d like to embark on a bit of an experiment with five other willing participants. I’d like to encourage others to eat chocolate in the same way I have. A few years ago, I decided to start eating Fair-trade chocolate. To put it bluntly, I was bothered by the idea of purchasing products that were harvest by children in slavery. I’d like to encourage others to make the switch to fair-trade chocolate and today, I’m putting my money where my mouth is.
Here are the specifics:
- I will take five participants (the pockets are only so deep). In the event that we have more then five interested, my wife will decide whose in and whose out. This is intended for people I know personally, but anyone is welcome to inquire.
- I will pay for the difference between what you would normally purchase in conventional chocolate and the cost of switching to a fair trade option (up to $20 a month). For example, let’s say you typically by 3 chocolate bars a week at $1 a piece (total $12 a month). Instead you commit to buying fair trade chocolate bars at $2 a piece (total $24 a month). I will give you the difference, $12, to make that switch.
- This will mean doing less impulse buying (vending machines or checkout lines) and planning ahead a little (ordering online or visiting a local co-op to stock up).
- I’ll check in each month to discuss how much you spent. I will ask for you to track it. The goal isn’t to abuse my generosity, but to provide an incentive for others to make the switch to Fair-trade.
- I plan on continuing the experiment for 6 months.
- If you participate you will need to commit to purchasing and eating/drinking only fair-trade chocolate during the 6 months.
So, how does that sound? Interested in joining me in this little experiment?
Need more info on the Chocolate industry?
- I enjoyed this creative kid friendly book called:
Chaga and the Chocolate Factory - Global Exchange, Valentines Day Action
- A Children’s sermon on the topic of chocolate.
- Everyday Justice is a great book and has a wonderful section on Chocolate which you can read most of online at Google books (and then buy a copy, right Julie ;).
God Told Me That She Loves Atheists The Best
YouTubesday: Visitation Monastery
These are the awesome Nuns that live a few doors down from us. They’ve been in the neighborhood for 20 years!
Open Discussion
Felt like keeping it light hearted today.
Q: When’s the last time you had a snowball fight?
YouTubesday: Waste Not, Want Not
Another interesting look at our food consumption.
Professional Sports: Another Opiate for the Masses
I’ll start by saying, I watched the Vikings game last night and I was into it. I’ve watched a few games this season, urged on by the throngs of die-hard vikings fans around me, and some old nostalgia toward Favre. That being said, I haven’t been able to watch a sports event recently without this line from Noam Chomsky coming to mind regarding professional sports:
“It offers people something to pay attention to, that’s of no importance. That keeps them from worrying about things that matter to their lives that they might have some idea of doing something about.”
Now, I’ll be the first to say, I’m not immune to the draw, the entertainment and excitement involved in watching, or playing, a good game. I just finished reading a biography about Major Taylor, a black cyclist in 1900, and the most interesting thing about it was this competitive drive and spectacle of the race. I say all that to say, I don’t make this statement from the other side pointing my finger, rather I’m asking you to think through this with me.
Q: Does the media, professional sports and entertainment news, distract us from the important issues?
Open Discussion: Just Do It
A Brief Post About Financial Stewardship
Last spring, the church we go to was been doing a series on finances (Full disclosure: I’ve only heard two of the sermons in the series).
In all my time of attending church and listening to sermons (about 1997 till today), I’ve rarely heard a sermon that really lays out practical thoughts or ideas about money. It always boils down to being a “heart issue”, that is, it’s basically between you and God and that your heart is in the right place. Even if there is mention of the “tithe 10%” scriptures, it’s never issued as a command or standard in the church. Pastors rarely say “if your a Christian you should be giving away ten percent or more of your income,” and if they do it’s balanced or padded with “heart” talk
What I’m getting at is that it just doesn’t seem like there is much straight talk about finances in the church at all. I would love for a pastor to get up and say, even with qualifiers that it’s a “heart issue”, exactly how much their family’s cost of living is, and why they chose that amount and what financial stewardship looks like in their life. I’m wondering if others have heard sermons at all like that, or even close to that. (The close example I can think of is Ron Sider discussing the graduated tithe his family does at the end of Rich Christian’s in an Age of Hunger).
It reminds me of part of one of the finance sermons I heard last March. It was really good, I love the kind of stuff the pastor says. He went off about how big corporations have ripped off the grassroots origins of Hip Hop and used it just to make money. He’s tearing into how gangsta rap has affected both the urban centers and suburbs and a lot of “wickedness” is going down as those big corporations make money off the rap and the blame is placed on the artist and the urban culture. And then he says this:
“Nobody saying to Sony, “I’m not buying a PS3 because thae same company that makes PS3 is also pimping these kids and having them sign these contracts and making money off the stereotypes of black people. Now, I have a PS2 at home, which makes this kind of a complex statement. Just cause I failed at it don’t mean it’s not right!
Somebody has to set a standard, somebody has to set an example of what this righteousness with resources looks like.”
Now I missed the other sermons after that, and I don’t know him personally, so I’m not sure what he’s decided to do with his PS2. But, I do appreciate him being honest about it. And the point isn’t really to call out the pastor on this, but to say I really wish I’d see two things: 1) That kind of honesty and practical application of faith as it relates to finances/resources and 2) pastors, churches and communities that were going a step further and making collective decisions (or at least discussing them) regarding resources and choices in supporting brands, etc.
Q: Have you heard sermon’s or had mentors that laid out practical thoughts and application of faith regarding finances and resources?
(P.S. Take the one minute survey to help me pick topics for 2010!)
Infographic Discussion: Healthcare
Once a week I’d like to post an image or infographic, without much commentary from myself, in hopes of evoking some discussion. I post lots of the random images and graphics and things I come across on my tumblr, but that’s not as conducive to discussion. I’ve seen this thing called “Wordless Wednesday” around the blogosphere, but I’ll probably be posting things with words usually. So, without further ado, here’s the first open discussion…
(From National Geographic, click to enlarge)