pElAgUS' 

Backsliding but progressing is NOT about feeling guilty about slipping. Even if you weren't 100% raw this week, how much better are you feeling than when you were on the SAD?

Some good advice from Victoria Boutenko - The 12 Steps Program for Raw Living Fooders:

Step 1  – I admit that I have lost control of my addiction to cooked food and my eating is becoming unmanageable.

Step 2  – I believe that live vegan food is the most natural diet for a human being.

Step 3  – I shall gain necessary skills, learn basic raw recipes and obtain equipment to prepare live food.

Step 4  - I shall live in harmony with people who eat cooked food.

Step 5  – I shall stay away from temptations.

Step 6  – I shall create a support group.

Step 7  – I shall find alternative activities or hobbies.

Step 8  – I shall let my higher self lead my life.

Step 9  – I shall make a searching and fearless inventory of the real reasons for seeking comfort and pleasure from cooked foods.

Step 10 - I shall let my intuition help me.

Step 11 - Through clarity I will gain happiness.

Step 12 - I shall provide support to other raw fooders.

- from Lesson 14 of the chiDiet.com Home Study Program, taken from Victoria Boutenko's book, 12 Steps to Raw Food.

2. Chocolate — The average American eats 12 pounds of chocolate a year, supporting an industry that saw retail sales of more than $16 billion in 2007. If you're among the 46 percent of Amreicans who say they can't live without chocolate, you can avoid the well-documented problem of child slave labor in the cocoa industry, and direct your share of that $16 billion toward chocolate that helps communities and the environment.

Look for candy bars, baking cocoa, chocolate chips, and more in the National Green Pages™ »


  3. Fresh Fruit — In Europe, where Fair Trade fruit has been available since the mid-1990s, Fair Trade bananas have reached a market share as high as 24 percent. In the US, Fair Trade tropical fruits like bananas, mangoes, and pineapples became available in 2004, and their availaibility is growing, especially in natural foods stores and food co-operatives. Find a store near you selling Fair Trade fruit by using TransFair USA's store locator.

Sign our letter to major supermarkets asking them to start stocking Fair Trade bananas »

4. Sugar — Phosphorus run-offs from the conventional sugar industry in Florida have devastaed the ecosystem of the Everglades, and the sugar lobby has worked aggressively to avoid responsibility. Sustainabile alternatives to sugar like locally grown, organic maple syrup or honey can help you avoid the problems in the sugar industry, as can Fair Trade Certified™ sugar, introduced to the US in 2005.

Look for Turbinado sugar, ground cane sugar, and more in the National Green Pages™ »

5. Rice — While most of the white and brown rice consumed in the US was grown on US farms, most aromatic long-grain rice comes to our tables from small-scale farms in Asia where it was harvested by hand. Workers on these farms often find themselves squeezed by middle merchants and sickened by pesticides; Fair Trade rice—most of which is also organic—protects both workers and the environment.

Look for Jasmine, coral, Basmati, and more in the National Green Pages™ »

6. Vanilla — Working with a labor-intensive crop that yields a relatively low harvest, vanilla farmers are hard-hit when their market fluctuates, as it has since environmental disasters at key procuction centers in 2000. TransFair USA began certifying vanilla in 2006, and new Fair Trade Certified™ vanilla ice cream from Ben & Jerry's arrived in supermarkets in January 2007, joining their previous Fair Trade coffee and chocolate flavors.

Look for whole beans and vanilla extracts in the National Green Pages™ »

  7. Spices — The European Fair Trade certifying body (FLO) approved standards for Fair Trade spices in 2005. In Europe, products like ginger cookies and lemongrass soap have begun to appear with Fair Trade spices among their ingedients, as hopeful sign for the future of Fair Trade spices in the US.

Look for pepper, ginger, lemongrass, nutmeg, and more in the National Green Pages™ »

8. Wine — Introduced to the US market in 2007, Fair Trade wine has been produced in South Africa since 2003, and in Chile and Argentina since 2004. The South African certification process requires vineyard workers to maintain a legally protected minimum 25 percent interest in the winery, in support of the South African government's policies promoting equal land ownerships following Apartheid.

Look for Merlot, Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon, and more in the National Green Pages™ »

9. Olive oil — The Canaan Fair Trade Association uses the fair trade concept to empower marginalized Palestinian rural communities caught in conflict so they can sustain their livelihoods and culture. Farmers are guaranteed a minimum price, and receivea 10 percent Fair Trade premium above market price, plus a 10 percent organic premium above market price.

Look for olive oil (plus capers, almonds, and more) in the National Green Pages™ »

10. Sports balls — When the European Fair Trade certification body (FLO) created standards for soccer ball production in 2002, it was the first time a non-agricultural commodity had received certification. Since then, five Pakistani and Thai producers have achieived certification, ensuring that no child lavor is involved, and that workers receive a living wage in a healthy work environment.

Look for soccer balls, volley balls, and more, in the National Green Pages™ »

11. Arts and crafts — Producers of unique, handmade, artisanal Fair Trade products like jewelry, baskets, textiles, and other handicrafts belong to trade associations that screen for internationally recognized Fair Trade standards. For example, our ally the Fair Trade Federation links low-income producers with consumer marketers that pledge to: pay fair wages in the local context, support participatory workplaces, ensure environmental sustainability and public accountability, and suppply financial and technical support.

Look for Fair Trade craft products in the National Green Pages™ »

With the election of a new Congress come new opportunities to plan a better way forward on the issues we all care about.

That's why Co-op America is mailing our recent "Climate Solutions" issue of the Co-op America Quarterly to each new and returning member of the 110th Congress.  In it, we explore the climate pollution generated by several economic sectors, and propose economic solutions based on the work of Princeton University's Carbon Mitigation Initiative (CMI) -- a plan designed at the speed and scale necessary to curb the climate crisis. 

The CMI scientists propose reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by dividing this huge task into smaller, doable segments – or "wedges" – of equal size.  They propose 15 wedges, of which we only need to achieve seven to make a difference to the climate.

Co-op America used our own green filters on the CMI analysis, screening out measures that are too dangerous, costly, and slow (like nuclear power plants and "clean" coal), while beefing up those that are safe and cost-effective (like energy efficiency and renewables). 

The resulting plan offers 12 "wedges" (listed below) that each would reduce carbon emissions by 1 billion tons per year by 2054.  What's more, the plan is safe, clean, cost-effective, doable with today's technologies, and ambitious enough to meet the climate challenge.

Steps like number 2 (drive less), number 3 (push energy use in buildings to zero), and numbers 5 and 6 (expand wind and solar power), depend on each of us taking action today.  (Use the links in this Real Money article to find renewable power in your state, or this article to reduce the energy-use of your appliances.)

Other steps require real action now from our elected officials, car companies, power companies, and other decision-makers to create real change. 

If you have a blog or a personal Web site, post Co-op America's 12 Steps to Curbing Climate Change and help us spread the word.  Send a copy of this e-mail to your state, local, and national representatives, and to your friends and family.

Send our complete 12-Steps editorial to your local newspaper for reprinting, or contact us for copies of our "Climate Solutions" Quarterly to share with friends, family, and elected officials.

Here's to real climate solutions,

Alisa Gravitz
Executive Director
Co-op America

Each of these steps would reduce carbon emissions by at least 1 billion tons per year by 2054.  Implementing at least seven of them brings us to the scale necessary to meet the climate challenge, but we have to start now, and move quickly. We have a ten-year window in which we need to be well on the way to achieving these steps. 

The good news is that we have the technology and know-how to accomplish all of these steps right now.  The best news is that we don't just save the climate with these steps.  They bring us real energy security, more jobs, a cleaner environment, real progress on the war against poverty, and a safer world.  Let's get started today.