Category: Fair Trade
by Gero Leson
This excerpt from my book, Honor Thy Label, describes how Serendipol, Dr. Bronner’s Sri Lankan supplier of coconut oil, uses every part of the coconut to create a highly ecological operation. A Perfectly Ecological Production After operating Serendipol for some five years and improving trees, soil, and processing, I increasingly marveled at the “inherent sustainability” of the project.
Ever read the Dr. Bronner’s soap labels? Our founder Emanuel Bronner was on a mission to “Unite the whole Human Race! For we’re All-One or None! … Exceptions eternally? Absolute None!” Emanuel’s parents were murdered in the holocaust, and with the rise of the nuclear war machine, Emanuel saw clearly that if we did not unite a global human race,
The United Nations 2019 Climate Gap Emissions Report laid bare the stark reality of the climate crisis. 27 years after the Kyoto Protocol that committed nations to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, GHG emissions have actually increased. 2019 represented a critical milestone in the global climate crisis—it marked the hottest year on record in the northern hemisphere.
In 2014, the U.N. reported that at current erosion rates, less than 60 years of farmable soil remains on our planet before we lose this precious living membrane to wind and water erosion. Meanwhile, increasing temperatures are causing more frequent and severe climate catastrophes. No one is immune to the global climate crisis, but those least responsible for human-caused climate change are often the most severely impacted.
“Journey to Pavitramenthe highlights that Dr. Bronner’s is not just a brand name, it is a healing company. It not only walks its talk, it dances it, combining the highest regenerative agricultural practices with the fairest, kindest, social practices. I do not know of a company that does more per dollar for the earth and its people than Dr.
by Gero Leson
Beyond Organic, Beyond Fair Trade Dr. Bronner’s helped set up its sister company Serendipol in Sri Lanka in 2007—and it has since become the world’s foremost supplier of fair trade and organic coconut oil. Serendipol works with more than 1,200 farmers farming 21,000 acres, employs over 250 workers and professional staff at its factory in Kuliyapitiya,
In 2012, just hired as a communications associate with Dr. Bronner’s, I began working on a project to support fundraising for the purchase of bed nets to curtail malaria, and support the building of a maternity ward in the local health care facility in Asuom, Ghana, where Dr. Bronner’s palm oil is produced. A great success,
by Gero Leson
The story of Serendicoco Samoa, and an island’s reach for agricultural, economic, and cultural abundance This article appears in our 2018 All-One! Report, read the full report here. I grew up in Cologne, Germany, part of the post-war generation. We didn’t have much, but we did have books. When I was just 11 or 12, my dad let me read “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,” a frightening account of the Nazi regime.
Preserving trees, tradition and livelihoods in Palestine. This article is excerpted from Dr. Bronner’s 2017 All-One Report. In 2004, I was returning to Palestine from the US to conduct anthropological research for my doctorate. As I traveled through the land—the Jenin, Nablus, and Ramallah areas of the West Bank—I noticed a number of uncultivated olive tree terraces.
by Ryan Zinn
Small farmers are on the front lines of the global climate and hunger crisis. Despite the fact that small farmers feed the majority of the world on just ¼ of farmland, small farmers face an unfair marketplace, displacement and disenfranchisement. Dr. Bronner’s fair trade partner, Fair World Project is launching Grow Ahead, a new crowdfunding platform to support and stand in solidarity with small farmers around the world as they address the challenges of climate change in their communities.