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What's with the quotation marks? Is the wink implied?
The region of Africa where the cocoa plant is harvested is so chaotic that it's impossible to say 100% that no slaves, children, or even child slaves are used in the farming process. There's a documentary that follows UN workers onto farms and they ask the kids working how old they are and every single one says 21+ when they don't even look like they're 16, and the reporter is like "it's impossible to tell" since most of these people were born out in a village and don't get a birth certificate until they are around 10+ years old, and then it's just the doctor asking them how old they are and when is their birthday.
don't get a birth certificate until they are around 10+ years old, and then it's just the doctor asking them how old they are and when is their birthday.
So you're telling me all I need to do to get a fake identity is go to a doctor in a village and Africa and pay them to write a birth certificate for me?
So what the hell is stopping people from simply growing it in other countries, like the U.S.?
Climate mostly.
Can't it be grown in Florida? Or Puerto Rico?
Hawaii and Puerto Rico are the only suitable regions. And they do, just nowhere near enough, nor could they. They are too small.
Here is an article about chocolate grown on Hawaii. https://www.chocolateuniversityonline.com/growing-cacao-on-american-soil/
Yup, too small.
Greenhouses then.
Likely technically possible. Loops back to expense and capitalism.
OTOH, someone with the cash to fund it could actually have cruelty free chocolate. 5x the current price is likely viable, but 100x seems unlikely.
Replying to myself.
Article about growing chocolate in homes/greenhouses.
https://practicalselfreliance.com/grow-chocolate-tree-indoors/
This might be doable as a co-op.
Edit: they got about 5 beans from one plant.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoa_bean
To produce 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) of chocolate, around 300 to 600 cocoa beans are processed.
20 to 120 trees per kilogram of chocolate.
Note this is not the same as a finished candy bar or baking chocolate.
I think we have found a use for all of those old empty office buildings
But slaves are a lot cheaper and you gotta keep the shareholders happy.
This is why we should have nonprofits produce goods