We recently attended a couple of events that highlighted what impact we, as consumers, can have on the environment just by the simple choices we make every day.

I have to admit, although we take great care in not supporting tourism products that exploit wildlife and negatively impact the environment, we don’t give a lot of thought to how the essential items we consume every day (like water and chocolate) impact the environment. We make most of our choice based on economics, convenience and preference.

We were quite delighted when we learned of the Cocoa Life program, which focuses on empowering and uplifting cocoa farmers in West Africa. 45% of Cadbury chocolate in South Africa is made from Cocoa Life cocoa – and they are planning to make it 100% by 2025.

We got to meet Yaa Amekudzi, Head of Cocoa Life Ghana, at a bloggers #ECMeetUp lunch at the posh No 5 Boutique Hotel by Mantis. As our whole family adores Cadbury’s rich and creamily smooth chocolate, it was fascinating to learn a little more about the origin of the chocolate – how West Africa produces 70% of the world’s cocoa, and how Cocoa Life is reaching out to nearly 40,000 cocoa farmers in 450 communities across 17 districts in five regions of Ghana’s cocoa belt. The program focuses on the sustainability of cocoa farming and helps farmers address challenges like global warming, deforestation, women empowerment, youth development and child protection.

Look out for the Cocoa Life stamp on your Cadbury Dairy Milk slabs – making it easy for us  chocolate lovers to support farmers on our continent while getting our chocolate fix.

We also learned from Yaa that her very positive sounding name means “Thursday” in Ghanaian, and that all girls born on a Thursday are called Yaa. This sounds like it could be really confusing but Yaa explained that her second name is her unique given name. She also gifted us with our own unique Kente cloth, a source of pride for many Ghanaians. Kente is a status symbol of wealth and identity as it is a luxurious and expensive fabric. Each hand woven design has a specific meaning and I was delighted to hear that my cloth’s dominant colour of yellow means royalty, wealth and beauty.

The rich and colourful stories shared by Yaa have rocketed Ghana right up near the top of our wanderlist.

In another event, hosted by Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism at The Plantation, we listened to a talk about single use plastic and how it impacts the environment. We all know about saying no to straws, but when Ronelle Potgieter from Enviro-Quest spoke about the production cycle of a simple plastic spoon – how it is produced in a factory, packed and transported to distribution warehouses and eventually to the specific shop, where we pick it up, stir our coffee for 2 seconds, and throw it away, after which it makes it way to a landfill where it takes 500 years to break down – this really hit home.

As a society, we need to eliminate single use items, especially plastic which pollutes the environment and often ends up in the sea, killing our marine life. As consumers, we need to demand of our producers that they come up with ways that we can consume their products without killing our planet. If we stop buying, they will be forced to consider alternatives, and it is our collective responsibility to make sure that our children inherit a world that is sustainable, not doomed to failure.

It is quite humbling to think of how the simple everyday things we do can meaningfully contribute to a more sustainable lifestyle for our planet.   We are starting to actively limit our use of single use plastics – refilling our water bottles, saying no to straws and refusing plastic utensils. We will be on the lookout for eco-friendly alternatives to each and every item that we consume, and be more cognizant of the impact our little family and our purchase decisions can have on the future of our planet and its inhabitants.

Yours in travel