WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.999
[music]

00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:09.999
Who doesn’t love chocolate?
But there’s more to this

00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:14.999
decadent product than we know. Most
of us eat industrial chocolate

00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:19.999
produced by large chocolate companies who get
their cocoa beans from all over the world.

00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:24.999
Much of this cocoa comes from
Ivory Coast in West Africa,

00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:29.999
where there is a history of using child
slave labor to harvest the beans.

00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:34.999
This cloud of child slavery has haunted the

00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:39.999
chocolate industry for many decades. But in
the Caribbean, on the island of Grenada,

00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:45.000
the chocolate revolution has begun.

00:00:55.000 --> 00:01:03.000
[music]

00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:29.999
Yes. Yeah. So what we’re doing
here is roasting cocoa beans.

00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:34.999
I like to do this. I break the beat under my nose like way
those things that you break on the people’s nose when they

00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:39.999
pass out and I smell the gases that
come out, when I first break it.

00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:44.999
You want to see it run? Yeah. I’m gonna
turn it on just for a moment. Very loud.

00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:49.999
You see that Chocolate waterfall? Yeah.

00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:54.999
You know, how they say uh… like waterfall
chocolate. Chocolate and water

00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:59.999
don’t mix because the whole process of making chocolate
is trying to get all the moisture out of the chocolate.

00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:04.999
And these are our homemade cocoa
butter presses that… Oh, really?

00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:09.999
Yeah, we, yeah, we… we invented them
actually. This is cocoa liquor, very bitter.

00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:14.999
Whoa! Whoa! The chocolate finish
is being made. It’s a liquid.

00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:19.999
And we carry the liquid upstairs in buckets and
we pour it into a tank that we have upstairs.

00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:24.999
And then after we do that, it comes out here into the
molds in the right amount and then the molds cool

00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:30.000
on these racks and become
the chocolate bars.

00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:39.999
Well, we’re all sort of Oompa Loompas.
Mott Green takes a different and

00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:44.999
revolutionary approach to chocolate.
Living in Grenada, he is the founder of

00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:49.999
the Grenada Chocolate Company Co-operative.
This co-operative set up the

00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:54.999
world’s smallest chocolate factory. And
makes chocolate with ethics and love.

00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:59.999
I started this chocolate project

00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:04.999
as a result of being in Grenada for years
and seeing cocoa in decline. You know,

00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:09.999
I didn’t know much about chocolate that time but I was told Grenada
has the best cocoas in the world. And, you know, it just seems

00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:14.999
so obvious to me, what… what this place
needs is a chocolate factory, you know.

00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:19.999
The idea of revolutionizing the connection between
cocoa farmers… And when I say cocoa farmers,

00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:24.999
not just the owners of cocoa farmers, but
the actual laborers. And the finished

00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:29.999
final product which is
usually so detached by

00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:34.999
so many different levels, you know, cocoa beans get exported and
made in (inaudible) other places of distribution and so on.

00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:39.999
And by changing that whole
system, uh… far been exciting

00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:44.999
and… and maybe the only viable way for
cocoa farmers to really be empowered.

00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:49.999
When we started this
project, they were very…

00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:54.999
very few Artisanal chocolate companies
doing what they call now bean to bar.

00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:59.999
And uh… it’s really wonderful thing
to be able to combine a culinary arc

00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:04.999
without engineering sort of science.
So simple technology,

00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:09.999
appropriate technology, it’s
about finding clever solutions

00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:14.999
to offer that are appropriate
in the environment.

00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:19.999
I’m sort of like, uh… political
activist version of what we want or,

00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:24.999
you know, so I have that wildness quite on, in
the, in the kind of political activist sense.

00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:29.999
[music]

00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.999
Nelice Stewart is an independent
cocoa farmer in Grenada.

00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:39.999
Though the Grenada chocolate company
is well known throughout the island,

00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:44.999
Nelice has not been introduced to Mott
Green or the chocolate co-operative.

00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:49.999
She, like other cocoa farmers
who are not involved in the

00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:54.999
Grenada chocolate cooperative is only
able to sell her beans to the government.

00:04:55.000 --> 00:05:00.000
[music]

00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:15.000
[music]

00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:09.999
On the morning like this,
it’s all about timing

00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:14.999
because the rain is about to fall.
Here come some kids. Morning.

00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:19.999
So we have to do this fast but I can’t,
I… I can’t keep this forever waiting.

00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:28.000
[sil.]

00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:34.999
Mr. John, how are you?

00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:39.999
How’s the back? Good, after noon. Yeah.

00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:48.000
[sil.]

00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:59.999
That was, this was yesterday? Yeah.

00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:04.999
Each bags weighs about 80 pounds.

00:09:05.000 --> 00:09:09.999
You know, this is wet cocoa, it loses more than
half its weight when we turn it into dry cocoa

00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:14.999
by fermenting and drying. The
beginning of this project

00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:19.999
was inspired by the horror
that goes on with chocolate.

00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:24.999
This news came out, I guess, they had
discovered a ship full of trafficked children

00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:29.999
probably from Mali off the coast of Ivory Coast
and it was big news. And umm… it unraveled

00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:34.999
the fact that so much cocoa grown
in the Ivory Coast is dependent

00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:39.999
on this child slave labor. And
it’s not something that is

00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:44.999
just gonna go away just like that. It
was certainly a motivational factor

00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:49.999
to be able to create a chocolate that is
absolutely ideal for this possible thing

00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:54.999
from child slave labor indeed the opposite
of cooperative of farmers equally

00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:59.999
benefiting along the chocolate makers.

00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.999
Those(ph) that have become known as the slave
ship docked in the early hours of the morning

00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:09.999
but the mystery of the schools of children
believed to (inaudible) only deepened.

00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:14.999
But the slave trade in West Africa does
exist. There are often sold by their parents

00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:19.999
as little as 200 pounds each to work in
mines, and cotton, and cocoa plantations.

00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:24.999
Seventy percent of all cocoa, the
wrong ingredient for chocolate,

00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:29.999
comes from West Africa and 40% of world
supply comes from one country, Ivory Coast.

00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:34.999
West Africa, Sam Pedro, the Ivory
Coast, he’s kept out of school

00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:39.999
to work. They were sold for a few dollars
locked up, beaten, if they tried to escape.

00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:44.999
Thousands of children live
like this scarred illiterate.

00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:49.999
The numbers aren’t an issue.
This is trafficked children,

00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:54.999
this is forced child labor, there is
really no point in debating the numbers.

00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:59.999
Unlike with grapes and wine, chocolate
lovers have no idea exactly

00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:04.999
where the cocoa for that chocolate comes
from. It’s uh… not only a scandal

00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:09.999
that it’s still going on today but it’s our
particular that it seems to be growing.

00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:14.999
That means, that the scale of slavery in the
21st century seems to be getting larger.

00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:19.999
In the 1970s and 1980s,

00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.999
Ivory Coast was convinced to invest
heavily in the production of cocoa.

00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:29.999
And the government of Ivory Coast
believed that it would be able to prosper

00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:34.999
and get rich on cocoa trade.
In 2001, it was found that

00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:39.999
children were being trafficked
from neighboring countries

00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:44.999
such as Mali and Burkina Faso
to participate in cocoa harvest

00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:49.999
in Ivory Coast. We had investigators who traveled
to Ivory Coast and… and to Mali in 2002,

00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:54.999
and they interviewed youths
in Mali, who had escaped

00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:59.999
from cocoa farms. They’d been locked
up, they had been kept on farms

00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.999
that were surrounded by barbed wire so they were
unable to escape, they were threatened with severe

00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:09.999
punishment if they refused to
work on the cocoa harvest.

00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:14.999
We believe it still happens, we understand
anecdotally it still happens but

00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:19.999
to what extent, is impossible to tell.

00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.999
Currently 20,000 children are trafficked to
work in the cocoa harvest in West Africa.

00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:29.999
When this situation came to the attention
of the large chocolate manufacturers,

00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:34.999
they agreed to a voluntary protocol
that their chocolate would be

00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:39.999
slave free by 2005. This
has not yet happened.

00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:44.999
It is this very injustice
that inspired Mott Green

00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:49.999
to champion a new process of chocolate
making in his adopted home in the Caribbean.

00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:54.999
Although, the island of Grenada is a world
away from West Africa on the Ivory Coast,

00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:59.999
the bitter effects of child slavery
are an ever present reminder of

00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:04.999
the global inequalities that surround
chocolate. However, to chocolate manufacturers

00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:09.999
around the world, the issue of
ethical production on a large scale

00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:15.000
presents many complexities.

00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:28.000
[sil.]

00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:34.999
This is my favorite.

00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:39.999
Nice paste.

00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:44.999
Wow!

00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:49.999
(inaudible) inside of my mouth.
Relish(ph), good.

00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.999
I grew up in the city, well, San Francisco that is. I born
and raised there so it’s been tough for me to get away.

00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:59.999
Our chocolate company is 139 years old,

00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.999
always in the family. So I remember playing Simon says with
my brother running around the factory, running up and down

00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.999
the stairs of this old brick building. And he had worked there.
And I had, and he was like 12 and I was probably 9 or 10.

00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.999
So he knew where the liquor, choco liquor
was in, where the vats for that was.

00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:19.999
And so he took a big uh… you know, finger full and
he put it in his mouth, he’s like \"Hmm… Good.\"

00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.999
And uh… so I went by and I
taken even that, horrible.

00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:29.999
He knew what was coming, I didn’t, so he
uh… he could fake it, I… I… I couldn’t.

00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:34.999
I spend most of my day tasting chocolate

00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:39.999
in many different forms, whether it’s
nibs, butter, and or just choco liquor,

00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.999
and that’s great, that’s a great life.

00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:49.999
And our business is a grinding business, once
we get the fermented cocoa bean as I say

00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:54.999
our job is to process that in the
chocolate without affecting,

00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:59.999
it’s really inherent natural flavor.
After that Bean is roasted,

00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.999
we break it up. In that center that
that nib, you know, that’s roughly

00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:09.999
uh… 50% fat and 50% solid and when that’s
ground up, it’s just like grinding peanuts.

00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.999
When you grind peanuts, you get peanut butter, and
when you grind this, you get chocolate liquor,

00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:19.999
unsweetened chocolate. And
uh… that is really the basis

00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.999
uh… for making chocolate. We buy from
countries such as uh… Venezuela,

00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:29.999
Trinidad, Costa Rica,
the Dominican Ecuador,

00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:35.000
Peru, Guatemala, West Africa, uh…
from the Ivory Coast and Ghana.

00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:49.999
We can’t. Yeah, we can’t.
Yeah, yeah, we can’t.

00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:54.999
Uh… You could not buy from Ivory Coast

00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:59.999
but we do have customers that
uh… would… would might specify

00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:04.999
that particular kind of flavor.
Ivory Coast has very good

00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:09.999
uh… cocoa. It would be tough
to get me behind an idea of

00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:14.999
boycotting Ivory Coast, whom…

00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:19.999
whom I boycotting? Am I boycotting the
social structure of West Africa and

00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:24.999
demanding that they change their social
cultural structure? What am I, what am I,

00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.999
what am I boycotting? I love the
ideal, I love the thinking,

00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.999
but it’s not real. We’re looking
at it from Western eyes.

00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:39.999
You know, everything to
me is umm… big picture.

00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:44.999
The candy industry or the… the… the industry of
growing chocolate has always been troublesome.

00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.999
The first world manufacturers of chocolate
are so far away from the third world

00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.999
producers of chocolate. There’s never been
a lot of contact between the producers of

00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:59.999
chocolate and the growers that pick out.

00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:04.999
[music]

00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.999
The island of Grenada with
a population of 1,00,000

00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.999
is nestled between Florida and
Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea.

00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.999
In 1979, the Prime Minister,
Maurice Bishop shifted

00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.999
public consciousness towards national
suffer alliance and sustainability.

00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:29.999
Focusing on agriculture, Bishop boosted
the economy from the inside out.

00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:34.999
Today, Grenadines retain a strong desire to

00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:39.999
foster the growth of their economy through
local initiatives. It is within this climate

00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:44.999
that Mott Green and his business partner
Doug Brown found a perfect home

00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:50.000
for the Grenada Chocolate Co-operative.

00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:59.999
[sil.]

00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:04.999
I met Doug, maybe about 10 or

00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.999
11 years ago in Oregon we hit it off right
away because he’s a… a real tinkering type.

00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.999
Well, first time I met him, we chatted
about all different kinds of devices

00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.999
that had very strong uh… personality
characteristics. And every single person

00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.999
that knew him would, you know, have
the same experience because he was

00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:29.999
so extremely quiet, so extremely
stoic, extremely gentle,

00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:34.999
extremely mellow. I’m not any of
those things really, inherently,

00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:39.999
personality wise. And the… the two
of us were great match. You know,

00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.999
of course, like everywhere, I’ve, I travel, I would
probably talk about Grenada a lot. One year,

00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
I finally got him to visit. As he describes it,
we were in the bamboo house up at my place

00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.999
in the woods and we were drinking cocoa tea, very
strong cocoa tea that I would drink several times

00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:59.999
a day and it gives you this wonderful feeling
of inspiration, a kind of a subtle glow,

00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
it sort of get subtle and beautiful. And he described it
that we were drinking this cocoa tea and we were talking

00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.999
about the possibilities in life. So I was telling
him about this idea, you know, of making chocolate

00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.999
out of the cocoa right here. How it could benefit the
farmers in the neighborhood and how cocoa has been

00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.999
such declining in Grenada and the price for the beans
the farmers get so low. This is very pure form of

00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.999
activism and very enticing for people like Doug
and myself because it’s, the idea of entering

00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.999
into a kind of engineering challenge.
So over this cup of…

00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
of cocoa tea, he said to me, \"This is a great idea, you
know, I think, you could use a partner. And, you know,

00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
you’re gonna need money, I think, you know, at least to
start this.\" And, you know, we decided to pick the name

00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
\"The Grenada Chocolate Company Ltd,\" which in a
way was symbolic as probably, it’s a small place

00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.999
and we were gonna be the only chocolate company, probably.
Indeed, you know, we probably always will be in Grenada.

00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.999
We was really the three of us, uh…
my third partner Edmund. Doug…

00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
Doug and myself did pretty much everything. So we, you
know, renovated this whole building and, you know,

00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
wired everything and assembled machines that we had
built in the US and brought here. Got other machines

00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
and it just went on and on and on. There
was a very special time of my life

00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
that’s for sure because it was just
this great promise for the near future.

00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
The chocolate factory has a
long history and a long story

00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
Because it started from the
mountains And my brother met Mott

00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
in St. George’s and he brought him to the country he
liked the country a lot, especially the hermitage area

00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
Me and Mott became really good friends.
He liked to drink the cocoa tea. A lot

00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
With these ideas they said they were going
to try to organize a small chocolate factory

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
I was here and he said let’s get together We
have to do a little course in chocolate making.

00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
I got my passport and got everything organized
So I can have a little trip overseas

00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
And have a little experience
how to make chocolate

00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
You’ve got to get it really roasted, like
nuts. You have to keep tasting every batch

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
It takes us three days to
make one batch of chocolate

00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
[sil.]

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
I think we’re very attracted to
autism of products right now

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
because in a society where everything
is so big and anonymous, and mediocre,

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
the stories of individuals doing something
better. These products have more of a voice,

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
there is more of a… a vision, a passion
behind them. They seem less cynical to us.

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
They seem about something
more than just making money.

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
Decentralized artisanal production is
vital because artisanal production,

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
both generates dignified work,

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
quality is enhanced, but the
most important part of it is

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
you know what the production system is like.
Artisanal production does bring the human being,

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
and the freedom, and human rights of
the human being back at the center.

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
When I grew up in Geneva,
Switzerland, we had piles of

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
chocolate, bars, truffles.
Chocolate has been a family,

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
I feel for sure, and it keeps going out which
is really nice with my kids. A lot of people

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
think that chocolate is a… is a candy. I… I… I don’t
call it candy, it’s impossible to call it candy.

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
Candy is just sugar. A chocolate is a
fruit. It’s… It is a healthy product.

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
A lot of cheap chocolate has
cocoa, butter, and then

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
they adds palm oils, or hydrogenated oils
and this is what is bad, this is what

00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
ruins chocolate really. We are very strong about
not having any chocolates from the Ivory Coast.

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
Most of all is to labor which is
terrible so it’s pure, clean,

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
and delicious. Tasting the raw,

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
all the roasted bean, the
energy that it produce

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
into your body is absolutely amazing. It is the
food of the gods. It… It makes you feel good.

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
When the Spaniards came
toward the Americas,

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
how they were given the
seeds as payments, and

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
the Spaniards really didn’t have a clue what
to do with. And but what… what is fascinating

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
is that the Indians knew
exactly how valuable it was.

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
It’s almost a drug, you know, it’s a
legal drug, but it’s good for you.

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
When caffeinated plants hit,

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
you’re up in the 1500s, and then really took off in
the 1600s, they all arrived around the same time.

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
Coffee migrated up from
northeastern Africa.

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
Tea came from the Orient through the
explorations of the Asia. Cocoa

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
which we’ll talk about today came from the
Americas, via Columbus and his crews.

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
The chocolate is one of those pieces of the
landscape because it’s all over the place

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
and its various manifestations.
Our society has become

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
so habituated to their presence and their
use that we’ve lost connection with

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
what powerful stimulants they are, and as
Dale Pendell also says in his book, uh…

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
these were the perfect
drugs for capitalism.

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
Like any plants, the chemistry of
cocoa was very complex, you know,

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
there are hundreds of different kinds
of chemical molecules in there.

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
The most famous components of
cocoa are things like theobromine

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
and caffeine which are very closely
related molecules, both of which act as

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
stimulants in our brain. And there are other interesting
molecules like, anandamide in smaller quantities,

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
and anandamide is actually a
neurotransmitter in our brain that

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
stimulates the same
receptors as do some of the

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
chemical components of cannabis and
marijuana. These substances that we call

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
chemicals are really essential
parts of a far more complex entity

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
which is the plant. These substances do have a
kind of sacredness to them, and that it would…

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
it would be to I believe our benefit
to maintain that sacred relationship.

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
One something is sacred, it’s respected

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
so much that its use is
very, very restricted.

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
I think so much of what has led
to a culture of exploitation

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
is based on the sacred of
particular cultures being taken

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
out of context. I do
think we need to return

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
the sacredness to cocoa, rather
than as a new global addiction.

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:45.000
[music]

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
Mott is a dynamic and smart, you
know, charismatic great guy.

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
And he brought this whole
organic concept to me.

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
Of course, I knew about organic, I knew, of
course, it’s good to… to grow and eat organic,

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
but we were not practicing organic
agriculture yet here at Belmont.

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
It’s a 400 acre estate, and it’s
historically was a sugarcane plantation.

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
And in the 1800s, cocoa and nut bags
were introduced. And so I always

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
give Mott credit for that because he’s the
one who brought organic to Belmont, and

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
helped us to get certified, and got us on
this new organic philosophy and culture

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
that has become a part of our
ethos here at Belmont estate.

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
(inaudible) Doug came up
to South San Francisco

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
where our first factory was and visited, it was… it was
really lovely to talk to two guys. We were just, you know,

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
announced their intention to build the chocolate
factory, a great idea because I looked in Grenada

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
and I thought, wow, they’re right there, there’s… there’s
good cocoa to be developed. And they seem to be,

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
you know, really sort of kindred
souls to us. As far as I know Doug

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
grew up rather shy, he got married right
out of college, and it was… I think

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
it kind of felt kind of safe for him and he… he… I
think he, and he definitely enjoyed the solid feeling,

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
I think of being married in comfort, and
he was pretty contented seemed like.

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
Problem was their relationship was kind of
doomed though and here in Grenada actually

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
they ended up breaking up and then getting divorced
subsequently. And so I think this project was

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
very, very good for Doug making that transition. It
was very, very good because it was really hurt him,

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
I mean, that really threw him
for a loop, that’s for sure.

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
Doug was pure wisdom and pure calm,

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
and I was everything else.

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
A multifaceted room and it
functions in… in various ways.

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
It’s where the crew puts their
sort of outside clothes.

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
It’s also my home. I
sleep here on this bed.

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
My books that I’ve sort of been reading
the last year or so are spread here.

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
It’s also our tool library, so
this is the DIY department here.

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
These are the invoices that
we give all the cocoa farmers

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
as they bring in their cocoa to our
(inaudible). It becomes their records

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
and our records, and also tells us how much to pay
them a few days later when we write the checks.

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
We have an equal salary policy.
In the end, it roughly ends up

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
being about US $2 per dry
pound of cocoa, which is

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
some of the most expensive cocoa in
the world which is we’re proud of.

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
Today is a… a typically hectic day. Now there is
two kinds of overwhelmness, there’s the sort of

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
happy overwhelmed where things are sort of working
well, but I’m just sort of very busy. Now I feel

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
overwhelmed in the sort of other more darker
sense because I’m… I’m also worried sort of…

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
sort of overwhelmed and worried now because we’ve got
cocoa at risk, we’ve got financial issues, we’re spending

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
a $10,000 to $15000 per week on cocoa from the co-operative.
It’s great that we’re getting that much cocoa,

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
but our sales aren’t quite keeping up. And
we have a huge stock by the chocolate

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
in the United States and we haven’t really found distribution for
that yet properly, and some of that sort of coming together,

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
but it’s probably over a month before we see
any money from that maybe… maybe much longer.

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
Um.

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
I just need a little break, I just um…

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
I don’t want to be on camera. I’m
feeling stressed cause I’m feeling…

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:20.000
[sil.]

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:20.000
[music]

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
[music]

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
Cocoa farmers in Grenada sell
their beans to the government

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
through the Grenada Cocoa Association
who can then export the dried cocoa

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
and keep some for domestic use.
This market at Belmont estate

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:50.000
is where the farmers except for those in the chocolate
co-operative sell their beans to the government.

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:08.000
[sil.]

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
Shackled by a heavy burden,

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
won’t you

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
let it heal your soul,

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
won’t you let the savior
that you come on and shout,

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
it (inaudible) turn easy role.
He touched me,

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
Oh yes, He touched me,

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
and oh, the joy that rub my soul!

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
Something happened

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
and now I know, he touched me

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
and he made me whole.

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
Amen, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
Okay. He tracks every movement
in the market, analyzes yields,

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
weather cycles, potential ad breaks of crop
disease, Nick has never been on my cocoa farm

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
but he’s owned more cocoa than the world’s
biggest chocolate companies use in a year.

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
We could make $100,000 a really good
day, $300,000 and half a million

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
depending on the… on the size of the trade
that we have on. At the moment we own

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
50,000 metric tons of cocoa, but in the past
we have owned as much as 500,000 metric tons.

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
Half a million tons of cocoa. Half a million
tons of cocoa, yes. So you sit here

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
and gamble on the price with a whole lot of other
people. Yes. This is legalized gambling right here.

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
This is our casino. And
we bet on the price of

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
cocoa rising or falling. So
right now cocoa is straight in

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
2,856 or 2856 as we say here.
And I will purchase

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
20 tons of cocoa. So you (inaudible) 20 tons.
Yes. And I’m actually making money now.

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
I’m making $20 on the 20 tons of cocoa
that I just bought. It’s gone up.

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
It’s gone up. It’s gone up. Sixty dollars. So
you’ve made $60 in less than a minute, and $80

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
Well, if I’m able to sell it at this price
right now, yes, I could make it $80.

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
In less than a minute? In less than a minute.
What are you gonna do? I’m gonna hold on to it.

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
I’m gonna go for $100.

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
He knows traders who’ve made a million
in a day. But whatever profits

00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
the traders make, they don’t trickle down
to the cocoa farmers of West Africa.

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
Do you care about the quality of the bean?
No, we don’t care about the quality of

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
the bean at all. Do you care
about how it was harvested?

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
No, we don’t care how it was harvested. Do you care about
whether there was child labor involved in the beans?

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
Personally, we do, but on a
business standpoint of view,

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
no, it doesn’t matter who’s harvesting the
beans. We just care what the price is

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
gonna do for our bet that we have made.
Bean’s a bean. A bean is a bean.

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
Cargill(ph) made $2.3
billion profit last year,

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
and they control a huge part of the trade. They’re
not in the business of developing (inaudible)

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
and keeping children out of… out of poverty that is
fundamentally not what they’re about. And it’s very simple,

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
what could happen, they could agree to
regulations of their industry that would

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
translate into price controls for farmers, and they
don’t want to do that because what they are about is

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
fundamentally making as much money as they possibly
can. And if that force is independent farmers to take

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
their children out of school, so be it.
In any product,

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
it could be chocolate, it could
be clothing, the minute you get

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
a global control over the commodity.
And you get

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
giant businesses being
able to dictate terms.

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
They create conditions for slavery
of the primary production.

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
Show me one product that’s globally
traded today, that’s available cheap

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
which isn’t based on
someone being enslaved.

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
I grew up in a pretty conventional,

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
very intellectual New York family.
And my father was a physician,

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
my mother is a clinical psychologist.
And we were groomed

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
in the typical way uh… to
become American intellectuals.

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
I always wonder how different my life would be, and
if there would be no Grenada chocolate company

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
if I had chosen to go to MIT. Instead, I went to a much
more sort of conventional university in Philadelphia.

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
And everything changed
in 1988 ‘cause I had met

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
a set of young, they like to call
themselves anarchist kind of dropout kids,

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
some of them were very intellectual, some of them were… and I got to
know them over the summer, you know, I got involved in their activism

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
and incredibly intrigued. Political consciousness
was something that… that developed

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
for me at that time. When I announced that I
was dropping a college after a few years,

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
my father in particular was so disturbed.
He absolutely

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
could not understand at all what I meant by political
consciousness, but it didn’t take him too long

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
umm… to come around. You know, after all I wasn’t
a heroin addict breaking into jewelry shops,

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
I was living in squats running soup kitchens,
helping homeless people opening up new buildings,

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
taking a radical approach to trying to
alleviate suffering that was around me,

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
and he obviously was proud of that.

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:13.000
[music]

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
Smilo is the name of our local cocoa powder

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
that we make that sold all over Grenada for
chocolate which is very, very popular.

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
They drink hot cocoa in Grenada like,
they drink coffee in a lot of countries.

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
Revolutionary leader Maurice Bishop
used to say in speeches, we should stop

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
importing everything and, you know, just make
everything locally everything because that was

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
the inspired part of the revolution, a sense of
independence and for… for the rest of the world.

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
Smilo has also wasn’t my
idea, actually become

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
my nickname in the village, and that’s actually
something that developed over the last couple years.

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
But actually, pretty much every one of my colleagues
and friends in a village called me Smilo.

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
Umm… Isn’t that ironic? Life and

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
language and nick names are full of
such erroneous. And Grenadians are so

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
uh… clever and so understated, wouldn’t
surprise me at all if my lack of smiling

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
is one of the reasons that I was coined
as soar. One of the reasons that it

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
umm… that it stuck better.
Smilo make chocolate.

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
You’re making trouble today?

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
Yeah, show me how to bat.

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:18.000
[music]

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
There are many times that I crave having
a family, having uh… more company,

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
uh… perhaps the thrill of raising a child one
day. Umm… On the other hand, it’s funny.

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
So many people I know who have that,
envy me so much uh… for not having

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
the incredible freedom to umm… to decide
to maybe have that one day or not,

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
uh… but in the mean time, umm… really much freer I think that
than most people are. And that’s certainly an advantage.

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:10.000
[music]

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:25.000
[music]

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
Don’t forget the Sabbath.

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
The Lord has, God has blessed.

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:48.000
[music]

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:38.000
[music]

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:08.000
[music]

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:20.000
[music]

00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:30.000
[music]

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
[music]

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
When I talk about how
opaque the food chain is,

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
labor is a big part of that. Who is
harvesting the cocoa? Under what conditions?

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
How much were they getting paid? Organic
agriculture made a mistake when they decided

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
that we… we don’t pay attention to labor, we only
pay attention to chemicals. I think that was

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
a very short sighted view.
Sustainability, as a virtue must

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
include more than chemistry. It
has to be uh… a process you can

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
feel good about eating at the end of.

00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
Today, consumers turn to Fair Trade certified
products to support ethical labor standards.

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
However, the complexities of
local markets, corporations,

00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
and governments can prevent even Fair
Trade certification from providing

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
farm workers with higher wages.
Despite, the challenges facing

00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
Fair Trade, at its core, the movement is
a step in the right direction and along

00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
with cooperatives could help farmers
in West Africa. Well, Fair Trade is a

00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
global movement to alleviate poverty. Fair Trade
USA is a certifier of Fair Trade products.

00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
And essentially, we assure consumers and
businesses that the quality products

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
that they buy improve lives and protect
the environment. Our Fair Trade standards

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
assure that every purchase
that they make is

00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
actually going back to support
the farmers and the workers.

00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
Our efforts to provide sustainable development,
really does work and makes profound impact.

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
We also however, know that Fair
Trade is not the only solution

00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.999
to sustainable development and is also
not the only player. We look forward to

00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.999
working with industry, producers, as
well as global NGOs that are investing

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
millions of dollars in the developing world
to continue, to improve, and ensure that

00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
Fair Trade is a model that
works for all stakeholders.

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
One problem with Fair Trade certification is that
there’s obviously a lot of internal unfairness,

00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
disparity of wealth within
the places they grow cocoa.

00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
So if the export of cocoa, say
in the Ivory Coast, are not

00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
the laborers on the field, the exporters
are probably wealthier people. And they’re

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
the ones getting the Fair Trade price.
So it’s not necessarily

00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
affecting the people who are really suffering and the people who
are really doing the hardest work to create chocolate bars.

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
You know, here in Grenada, we
have the opposite vision, and

00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
it’s been suggested that we become Fair Trade certified.
The great irony is the cost of Fair Trade certify,

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
something that’s hard for us to come up with,
it would take away money from the whole project

00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
and therefore, take away money from cocoa farmers.
The other thing to be honest about Fair Trade,

00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
I think, it’s been a disservice because
most of the chocolate in public is only

00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
gonna research so much. So if they see this Fair
Trade certified symbol, they’re gonna assume

00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
that they’re doing the right thing by choosing
that chocolate bar. And this is ironic

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
that our chocolate bar sitting right next to it
is not Fair Trade certified because in an effect,

00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
we feel that would perhaps almost discredit
us in a way. Because what we’re doing

00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
is creating a revolution in the connection
between laboring on cocoa farms,

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
producing chocolate, and selling that chocolate
high value, all that money being shared.

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
Fair Trade certification never
does anything like that.

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.999
And certification therefore, like everything
else that’s done from a distance. Ends up

00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.999
being partially empty. We have to
replace the anonymous market in which

00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:39.999
a certification plays a big role
with an intimacy of direct contact.

00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.999
And I see no alternative to
injustice at the global level

00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:49.999
except co-operative arrangements.
What we need is co-operative treat.

00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
I think, it’s obscene that not all
trade is fair that unfair trade

00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.999
is allowed to be the rule and
fair trade becomes the exception.

00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.999
Well, we buy Fair Trade cocoa by the way.
Yeah, I mean, we do,

00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.999
in fact, we work a lot with Fair Trade. The
goal is to have traceability for cocoa.

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
That’s being able to say, okay, this
cocoa came from this particular region.

00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
And that particular region was
looked at, it’s on the agenda

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
to be checked out and it’s clear
of any child labor issues.

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
That’s great and that sounds
wonderful but the issue is the

00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.999
structure of West Africa and the
infrastructure, the social infrastructure

00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.999
to be able to accomplished this
because this really is social change.

00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.999
We’re talking about changing a country,
changing the way people live than the way

00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:49.999
their families interact with one another. It’s a big
major change. And there are certain things that have to

00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.999
happen in a natural way and you can’t
force them. You can also influence them

00:49:55.000 --> 00:49:59.999
as much as you possibly can to
help guide the learning process,

00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:04.999
but in many instances, you
know, you have to have time.

00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:13.000
[music]

00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.999
Being a white person in a
black country like Grenada

00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:29.999
is very interesting. Philosophically,
I’m… I’m sort of against

00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:34.999
the idea of uh… being a missionary in any
sense. Obviously, in the religious sense

00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
because I’m not religious, I’m an atheist. But in the
broader sense of being a missionary, this idea of

00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.999
going and saying, well, I can help you
because we can teach you to do this, that,

00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:49.999
the other and you’ll be better if you learned the smart ideas
that we have. Umm… Which is kind of the same thing as say,

00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:54.999
well, your ideas are good enough and you’re floundering
around you don’t know how to live your own lives.

00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.999
That’s always an extremely distasteful for me.
Sure, I have a, I had, I have a deep interest

00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
in helping Grenadian cocoa farmers
but really on another level,

00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:09.999
it’s my love of chocolate, my love of cocoa
trees, my love Grenada, love a Grenadians.

00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:14.999
And that kind of helps me not feel like a
chocolate missionary. The distinction was

00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:19.999
very important to me. So here we
are in our new chocolate shop,

00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:24.999
which we call Bon-Bon chocolates. People didn’t know
it was a chocolate shop and they kept walking past,

00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:30.000
I’m thinking it was like our office or something.
So I responded by putting up their enormous sign.

00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:59.999
And she was so excited, you know,
we would be driving along,

00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:04.999
she’ll be talking to her friends on the phone, telling them
about how we have this new chocolate and that new chocolate,

00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:09.999
and it was just so clear. I mean, after all
here’s a person, umm… the main interface

00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:14.999
representing the entire Grenada
Chocolate Company to the public.

00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:23.000
Jazzy, I like your jeans.

00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:29.999
[sil.]

00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:34.999
See, I brought the chocolate van.

00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:39.999
[sil.]

00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:44.999
Real rain. Uh…

00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:49.999
You know to drive already (inaudible).

00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:54.999
[sil.]

00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:59.999
I have a feeling, everybody is gonna
know you drove the chocolate van now.

00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:04.999
(inaudible), we’ll tell them.

00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:09.999
He is just the most adorable,

00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:14.999
smartest boy that I know in a very long
time. And yeah, that says a lot ‘cause the

00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:19.999
Grenadian kids are amazing in general.
And umm… we just sort of bonded, umm…

00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:24.999
which has been really fun.

00:53:25.000 --> 00:53:33.000
[sil.]

00:53:35.000 --> 00:53:39.999
So I sort of got to know Esther umm…
better and then uh… in this kind of

00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:44.999
uh… euphoric magical way, I guess, I could say,
Esther and I became umm… very strong friends.

00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:49.999
We’re sort of inseparable for the
first couple months of that.

00:53:50.000 --> 00:53:58.000
What can I say? Umm…
everybody has fantasies.

00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:09.999
Fantasies could become
realities, umm… well, you know,

00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:15.000
if I got the chance, I wouldn’t mind
helping bring up Jazzy, that’s for sure.

00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:34.999
Intense loneliness umm… is I won’t deny it,

00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:39.999
umm… more like the a byproduct uh… you can call
it, certainly a disadvantage of such a lifestyle.

00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:44.999
If I had a family, they might find
that I was not around enough. Umm…

00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:49.999
I don’t know, I think such a balance uh… could be
wonderful and could be created, but it’s certainly been

00:54:50.000 --> 00:54:54.999
the advantage over the last 10 years, umm… that I had
this kind of freedom umm… to pour in the kind of work,

00:54:55.000 --> 00:54:59.999
umm… kind of a 24 hour, umm…
a day sort of umm… schedule.

00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:04.999
And umm… it’s a home.

00:55:05.000 --> 00:55:13.000
[music]

00:55:30.000 --> 00:55:34.999
Kidney cancer notoriously is hard
to detect. And he was symptomatic

00:55:35.000 --> 00:55:39.999
for a very long time. Started
to get these nighttime fevers,

00:55:40.000 --> 00:55:44.999
a little bit like symptoms that could be anything, you know,
cold, food poisoning, anything, but it… it continued.

00:55:45.000 --> 00:55:49.999
One day, I got an e-mail that said, you know,
they said that, they found cancer in that,

00:55:50.000 --> 00:55:54.999
they were about to move one of his kidneys. And then if
it’s caught in time, he’d be okay, you know, and uh…

00:55:55.000 --> 00:55:59.999
but he wasn’t. Actually, he sort of very, Doug
like, sad thing to me. Right after the operation,

00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:04.999
he said, \"Well, one thing about getting incredibly
sick like this is it’s the first time my parents

00:56:05.000 --> 00:56:09.999
have tolerated each other in the same room in 10 years.\"
Radiation and all different kinds of chemotherapy,

00:56:10.000 --> 00:56:14.999
and trial drugs and… and he was you know
what, you know, how these things are.

00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:19.999
It’s just always bad news, you know, there wasn’t
any good news. I was driving him to hospital

00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:24.999
umm… you know, for these radiation treatments every day which
were terribly painful for him and the only palliative.

00:56:25.000 --> 00:56:29.999
You know, it weren’t really designed to cure him or anything
but I think it probably improve the quality of his life.

00:56:30.000 --> 00:56:34.999
Doug didn’t really wanna have too many visitors or guests.
He was kind of embarrassed how he looked and he just didn’t,

00:56:35.000 --> 00:56:39.999
most of that he just felt it was awkward and, you know,
people feel sorry for him. And, but we have developed

00:56:40.000 --> 00:56:44.999
this reporter over the years of this project. You know, they
only have with someone that’s just about your closest friend,

00:56:45.000 --> 00:56:49.999
you know, you can sort of sit around and say
nothing for hours and feel each other’s presence

00:56:50.000 --> 00:56:54.999
or you are not feel it but just feel totally
comfortable. So I was traveling with a Grenadian friend

00:56:55.000 --> 00:56:59.999
around Europe doing chocolate promotion. And one of
the things that we wanted to do was go to Lourdes

00:57:00.000 --> 00:57:04.999
and uh… it’s funny, the woman who is an atheist
like myself. And when we checked into this

00:57:05.000 --> 00:57:09.999
little hotel in (inaudible) and I mentioned her we’re
going to Lourdes, and she was like, \"Why?\" And I…

00:57:10.000 --> 00:57:14.999
and I explained that umm… my Grenadian friend who I’m
traveling with comes from a very Christian family.

00:57:15.000 --> 00:57:19.999
Her mother persuaded us to go to
Lourdes to get holy water and then

00:57:20.000 --> 00:57:24.999
for me to bring it to Doug because I was planning
on going to Doug’s right after that anyway.

00:57:25.000 --> 00:57:29.999
I called out Doug about one week before actually when
he was obviously weakening really terribly and but we

00:57:30.000 --> 00:57:34.999
even discussed the nature of fixing a certain machine that that
I knew was problematic from talking to the Chocolate Factory.

00:57:35.000 --> 00:57:39.999
And he gave some clever advice, even though he was
extremely weak and could barely talk. And then I mentioned

00:57:40.000 --> 00:57:44.999
to him on the phone, \"Well, I’ll be back to
Grenada in a week and then I’m gonna immediately

00:57:45.000 --> 00:57:49.999
straight to California to see you, I already
have my ticket.\" Umm… A ticket which I ended up

00:57:50.000 --> 00:57:54.999
using but for his funeral.

00:57:55.000 --> 00:57:59.999
I think it might have been the same night
that Obama won the election actually.

00:58:00.000 --> 00:58:04.999
The news was that Obama
had won and Doug died.

00:58:05.000 --> 00:58:09.999
[music]

00:58:10.000 --> 00:58:14.999
Life without Doug, it’s uh…
I know just developing it,

00:58:15.000 --> 00:58:19.999
you know, it hasn’t been, hasn’t
been that long. I feel like it’s

00:58:20.000 --> 00:58:24.999
only me now in terms of the bigger picture.
From that point of view,

00:58:25.000 --> 00:58:29.999
I feel totally abandoned.

00:58:30.000 --> 00:58:34.999
[sil.]

00:58:35.000 --> 00:58:39.999
I grew the corporate

00:58:40.000 --> 00:58:44.999
rather quickly the last few years. Now it seems
like we’re turning a corner, it seems like

00:58:45.000 --> 00:58:49.999
we’re just about able to market all that we’re making.
Which means, if we keep improving we should be able to,

00:58:50.000 --> 00:58:54.999
you know, market more. So we’re just
getting ready now to probably take on a

00:58:55.000 --> 00:58:59.999
few more farms for the
first time in a few years.

00:59:00.000 --> 00:59:04.999
Morning Miss. Nelice. Well, I understand

00:59:05.000 --> 00:59:09.999
you might be interested in joining us. Yes,
I’m interested. Doing your cocoa farm.

00:59:10.000 --> 00:59:14.999
Umm… I’d love to see the land.

00:59:15.000 --> 00:59:19.999
And this cocoa farmer cooperated, which I’m
hoping you might join, I started more recently,

00:59:20.000 --> 00:59:24.999
about five years ago.

00:59:25.000 --> 00:59:29.999
Yeah, very much, you know, it’s
organic cocoa farmers co-operative,

00:59:30.000 --> 00:59:35.000
so the main thing is people have to
agree not use any chemicals in the lab.

00:59:40.000 --> 00:59:44.999
When… when what was the last time you
think chemicals got used in the land?

00:59:45.000 --> 00:59:50.000
Never, yeah, well, that’s encouraging.
Which way we’re going?

01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:04.999
Since like, since like all the best farmers
in the cooperative are… are (inaudible),

01:00:05.000 --> 01:00:13.000
you don’t like to sit down?

01:00:20.000 --> 01:00:24.999
To me, it seems like all the
agriculture in Grenada is almost gone.

01:00:25.000 --> 01:00:29.999
Now it’s just maybe there’s some interest in bringing it
back, but to me, it’s been pretty much completely destroyed.

01:00:30.000 --> 01:00:34.999
So for… so for me cocoa is

01:00:35.000 --> 01:00:39.999
what I’m hoping can… can turn
everything around with agriculture.

01:00:40.000 --> 01:00:48.000
But we pay $2, a pound weight.

01:01:00.000 --> 01:01:04.999
Wet cocoa? Yeah, because we want to encourage
people to go organic, we’re making chocolate bars,

01:01:05.000 --> 01:01:10.000
so we can add all that value and then bring that value back
to Grenada, you know, and share it with all the farmers.

01:01:15.000 --> 01:01:19.999
I never say by the grace of God, I
always say by the grace of chocolate.

01:01:20.000 --> 01:01:25.000
Yeah, I don’t believe in God but
I do believe in chocolate. No.

01:01:35.000 --> 01:01:39.999
Yeah, we will try to do it.
If you umm… decide to…

01:01:40.000 --> 01:01:44.999
For too long have we thought of industrialization as
progress, for too long have we thought of corporate

01:01:45.000 --> 01:01:49.999
takeover of production system as
inevitable. I think, humanity

01:01:50.000 --> 01:01:54.999
will not be able to get out of these
multiple problems that we face

01:01:55.000 --> 01:01:59.999
without recognizing that
corporate control over anything.

01:02:00.000 --> 01:02:04.999
Is an aberration that neither democracy
nor human life should tolerate.

01:02:05.000 --> 01:02:09.999
The sustainability to be
something that works,

01:02:10.000 --> 01:02:14.999
everybody has to be a winner. You have the farmers,
you have industry, and you have consumers.

01:02:15.000 --> 01:02:19.999
If one of those pillars is not satisfied,

01:02:20.000 --> 01:02:24.999
is… is not successful. Then,
you can’t have sustainability,

01:02:25.000 --> 01:02:29.999
no matter how you close it or how you make it
look. We are consumers but we’re also citizens.

01:02:30.000 --> 01:02:34.999
We bring our values to our consumer
decisions. We often will pay

01:02:35.000 --> 01:02:39.999
more to express our values, to
express our outrage over… uh…

01:02:40.000 --> 01:02:44.999
over system, or our desire to support one
way of making things and not another.

01:02:45.000 --> 01:02:49.999
And… and this whole food movement going on
here is really about bringing other values

01:02:50.000 --> 01:02:54.999
to these formally narrow consumption
decisions. It doesn’t replace

01:02:55.000 --> 01:02:59.999
voting with your vote, it’s obviously very important
but sometimes you can achieve great change

01:03:00.000 --> 01:03:04.999
by voting with your fork(ph).
They cremated Doug

01:03:05.000 --> 01:03:09.999
and a little bit of the ash, his sister
sent to a company to do this thing.

01:03:10.000 --> 01:03:14.999
I had never heard of, to make these
beads with some decorations, sparkles

01:03:15.000 --> 01:03:19.999
and this white dust which
is uh… Doug’s ashes.

01:03:20.000 --> 01:03:24.999
One tries to have a sense of humor about the most painful things
in life but I, you know, sometimes I, you know, glance over

01:03:25.000 --> 01:03:29.999
and I’m, you know, thinking, brainstorming about how to fix
something here, bring it up thing you wanna be nice to (inaudible),

01:03:30.000 --> 01:03:34.999
what he had thought about it, I look over and like, you know, realize
well. You know, Doug’s in a particular quiet mood today kind of…

01:03:35.000 --> 01:03:39.999
When I get these, you know,
moments of sadness and uh…

01:03:40.000 --> 01:03:44.999
also moments of inspiration, it just
seems like life is so transition. And…

01:03:45.000 --> 01:03:49.999
and as Doug like to say, we’re all, you know,
we’re all dying. Just embrace every moment

01:03:50.000 --> 01:03:54.999
and you… you really don’t know what’s happening next.
You know, in Grenada there is this expressions,

01:03:55.000 --> 01:03:59.999
if you asked someone how they are, they’ll
tend to say they’re good for the time.

01:04:00.000 --> 01:04:08.000
We’re so far.

01:04:20.000 --> 01:04:24.999
[music]

01:04:25.000 --> 01:04:29.999
And it turns out in 2010, we sold well
over a million easy dollars of chocolate

01:04:30.000 --> 01:04:34.999
including our local and export sales. Blows one’s mind, that you can
make a million dollars of chocolate in that little building in a year.

01:04:35.000 --> 01:04:39.999
It’s been my dream for
years to deliver chocolate

01:04:40.000 --> 01:04:44.999
sustainably from island to Island on a sailboat(ph). It’s
also been my dream to sail across the Atlantic one day.

01:04:45.000 --> 01:04:49.999
Relatively recently, a few months ago, I
ran it to these brilliant Dutch fellows

01:04:50.000 --> 01:04:54.999
and have an amazing company called Fair
Transport. They’re coming to Grenada

01:04:55.000 --> 01:04:59.999
in early March and they’re picking up about
eight tons of chocolate bars and me.

01:05:00.000 --> 01:05:04.999
And we’re selling right into New York City, which is
gonna take two or three weeks and we’re gonna drop off

01:05:05.000 --> 01:05:09.999
by the year’s worth of chocolate for
the whole North American market.

01:05:10.000 --> 01:05:14.999
And then, we’re gonna sell across the Atlantic
30 days at sea. And we’re gonna deliver

01:05:15.000 --> 01:05:19.999
the UK whole lot of chocolate to
Portsmouth, England to our UK importer.

01:05:20.000 --> 01:05:24.999
Then we’ll have every single
bar sustainably distributed

01:05:25.000 --> 01:05:30.000
after being made with cocoa
sustainably growing right outside.