Theonistas Unite!

OMG Cargobike!

Check out this tewtally awesome video by Daniel Kopald who writes this cargobike blog transporting a zillion pounds of cocoa mulch on his rad cargo bike. Woohoo!

Eat Local Now! Dinner and Celebration

Tuesday, April 29th

Join Sustainable Ballard, BALLE Seattle, and Ballard High School (Go Beavers!) Earth Service Corps for the Fifth Annual Eat Local Now! Dinner. Speakers include local farmers affected by flooding, and a Silent Auction will benefit a local farmer emergency relief fund. Tickets and more info available here.

Greenfest, Green Power, and FREE THEO CHOCOLATE!

Be sure and stop by our booth at Seattle Greenfest this weekend! Greenfest has much to offer, including a swap-o-rama clothing swap booth and free electronics recycling courtesy of 3R technology (laptops, PDAs, cellphones, CDs, & household batteries - no CRTs)

What's greener than that you might ask? Stop by the Seattle City Light or Puget Sound Energy booth and get free Theo Chocolate for signing up with their green energy programs. By buying renewable energy credits, you are offsetting the costs associated with adding more green energy sources to the local grid, offsetting your carbon footprint, and making an environmental(reducing carbon  dioxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, mercury, and particulate matter) and social impact. Who knew as little as $3 a month could make such a big difference? What am I, Sally Struthers? No, but seriously, it's nice to see how big a change we can make by ganging up together to be a force for green. Tacoma Power is also giving Theo for signing up for RECs but will not be attending Greenfest. Below are links to sign up on their respective websites

Plenty o' Love from Plenty Magazine

Check out this excellent article on ethical chocolate sourcing, featuring our own Joe Whinney. You can read more about the DNA mapping of our chocolate mentioned in the article here. Woohoo!

Reusable Coffee Cups

Big ups To Grist.org's Ask Umbra for bringing this awesome web page to my attention! Brought to you by the Institute for Lifecycle Environmenal Assessment, the article provides a very accessible comparison of single use to reusable cups. Illuminating! And from the same source, may I reccomend this list of Ten Big Things You Can Do for the Environment. Real food for thought.

Join us at Eco Gift Expo December 15th & 16th

We look forward to seeing some fellow Theonistas at the Eco Gift Expo next month in Santa Monica. We will be at booth 101with all of our lovely holiday items for sale as well as individual bars to recharge your engines on the go, and of course, many tasty samples!

Chocolate Can Save the Planet!

This is a very cool article about sustainable cocoa growing in Brazil. Maintaining the natural ecosystem means not only better chocolate yields, it generates greater carbon offset, and a healthier planet. In fact, poor, over farmed soil can be returned to healthy biomass in only a few years of conscientious planting and care. And it's nice to see the big companies recognizing the value of sustainability.

Focus on Farming Conference IV: From Soils to Sales

We will be providing some of our excellent confections to the Focus on Farming Conference this year. It's going to be an amazing forum for members of the local farming community to focus on some issues close to our hearts, such as creating a successful CSA, using bio-energy sources and growing bio-energy crops, reclaimed water, & organic certification for the small farmer. Keynote speakers include Dr. Fred Kirschenmann, of the Iowa State University's Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture