Is Child Labor in Your Chocolate?

Chocolate is a thriving business, and big companies make a lot of money selling it. The chocolate industry is worth a whopping 135 billion dollars, and it continues to grow. However, as these big companies continue to gain bigger market shares and higher profits, millions of cacao farmers bear the costs.

Cacao doesn’t grow just anywhere. The trees need hot, humid climates. That’s one reason that nearly 70% cacao trees are grown in West African countries. However, most of the money is earned after the beans leave the farmers and only when they reach the Global North, where the beans are processed and made into chocolate as we know it.

Back on the cacao farms, farmers and their workers scrape by with an average income of less than $1.25 a day. The disparity is shocking. Cacao farmers in Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and Ghana alone make 60% of the world’s cocoa but earn only 3-6% of its retail value.

On this amount, they cannot afford the basic necessities. They have little food, water or shelter. They cannot afford to send their children to school and are often forced to send them to work on cacao farms for another source of income. They work to survive, and their families depend on it.

Unfortunately, the industry takes advantage of the situation. Much of the cacao harvested for mass-produced chocolate from major companies is often done by young teens and children. In fact, as many as 1.56 million children are estimated to be working on cacao farms in West African countries.

Cacao farming is a challenging labor-intensive process. The fruit is cut straight from the branch with a sharp blade. Then it is cracked open with a machete or a wooden mallet so that the cacao beans can be scooped out. Imagine a child doing such dangerous work! On top of that, they are exposed to chemicals daily.

Even if conditions were safe, child labor exploits children. They can’t attend school, and they are subject to abuse, injury, malnutrition, and exhaustion as farm workers.

We should never tolerate child labor so that the rest of the world can have cheap chocolate. But what can we do to hold the chocolate industry accountable? We can start by paying a little more for a bar of chocolate.

Water Justice

Students look at where water comes from and the ways we use it, with a focus on who controls access to water. They are introduced to issues of fairness and actions individuals can take to help rectify inequities regarding water use.

Unit Overview

Through readings, activities and discussions, students follow the story of Coco’s Aunt Carmen whose well has inexplicably dried up. Coco learns how her aunt and cousin have been affected by the water shortage. After participating in a protest march, she is inspired to take action. Students look at where water comes from and the ways we use it, with a focus on who controls access to water. They are introduced to issues of fairness and actions individuals can take to help rectify inequities regarding water use. At school, Coco shares her experience with her friends. They talk about what it means to be an activist and learn that even children as young as they can make a difference. They are inspired to become activists themselves—water protectors.

Grades

Kindergarten
Grade 1
Grade 2

Lesson Type

In-class or online lesson

Environmental Topics

Environmental Justice, Health, Pollution, Resource Conservation

Environmental Literacy Core Principles

For a summary of the environmental literacy principles and concepts embedded in this lesson series, please visit Green Guardians Environmental Literacy Core Principles.

Standards

ELA: RL.K.1, RL.K.2, RL.K.3, RL.K.4, RL.K.6, RL.K.7, RL.K.10, RL.1.1, RL.1.2, RL.1.3, RL.1.4, RL.1.7, RL.1.10, RL.2.1, RL.2.3, RL.2.4, RL.2.6, RL.2.7
HSS: HSS-K.3, HSS-K.6.3, HSS-1.2.4, HSS-1.5.1, HSS-2.4.3
Science: K-ESS3-3

Guides

Teacher Guide

This project may easily be extended into optional family discussions and activities around a family’s use of water. To facilitate this engagement, a family guide has been created which teachers may choose to forward to interested parents and guardians.

Family Guide (English)

Lessons

Three lessons of 30-40 minutes each.

Lesson 1: All Dried Up

Through a story and related activities, students are introduced to the concept of inequity. Coco and her mother get word that Aunt Carmen’s well has dried up. She lives in the next county, not too far away. They drive over with cases of bottled water, passing well-watered fields and golf courses. Through interactions with her cousin Carlos, Coco comes to understand how much she takes water for granted. She learns about a serious problem: unequal access to water.

Lesson Materials

Lesson 2: A Fight For Our Rights

Through a story and related activities, students are introduced to water insecurity and how our actions contribute to it. Carlos’s friend Moki arrives to pick up Carlos for the water rally. But Carlos is sick due to the bad water he drank right before the well dried up, so Coco attends the march instead. The experience makes Coco aware of the inequities of water use in her area and spurs her to take action. When water is not shared equally, certain groups of people are disproportionately affected. Water is a basic necessity, and everyone has a right to it.

Lesson Materials

Lesson 3: Water Protectors 

Through a story and related activities, students learn about activism. Back home, Coco’s classmates want to hear all about the march. Coco shares a poem she heard at the rally, recited by a young activist named Una. The children discuss it, define “activism”, and realize that young people can become activists, too. They vow to save water and to call on others to join them as Water Protectors.

Lesson Materials

My Green School

Students follow the story of Coco and her friends and their quest to turn their school green. They look into how energy and resources are being used in different spaces and discover that their cafeteria is the least environmentally friendly.