Need to make an Easter basket for your kids? Of course that’s the Easter Bunny’s job, but you can always lend him a hand. If you’re pitching in this year, remember that an adorable organic cotton stuffed animal will take up a good chunk of space, leaving less room for those teeth-rotting Easter confections.

In addition to being terrible for your children’s teeth, conventional sweets can be harmful to the environment. Worse, candy production is often harmful to other small children.

Take chocolate for example. As I’ve said before, chocolate like coffee, comes from the cocoa bean, a crop harvested in some of the most economically disadvantaged regions of the world. Many of these regions lack sound environmental policy and proper industry laws that protect against child labor. According to New York Times reporter Sharon LaFreniere that the majority of the world’s chocolate supply is produced on Africa’s Ivory Coast, where it is largely harvested by child slaves, some even as young as six.

This Easter, of course shower your children some sweeties (fair trade and organic of course), but fill some room in the Easter basket with an organic cotton stuffed animal instead. There are plenty to choose from. More to come on the different ones next post.

This little Bunny Rabbit from Kathe Kruse makes the perfect basket stuffer.

Posted on March 12th, 2008 by Olivia Zaleski