Triple signal boost

First, cookiegirl has links to the sign-ups for several fandom creative things going on now or about to start.

Secondly, a friend-of-a-friend needs somebody to foster their cat and dog for six months. They do not need to be fostered in the same home.

Thirdly, gwydion, who posts good link lists, is still a little under the water and could use some donations to stay afloat another month. Paypal is Lethran@gmail.com if you're so inclined.

Fair trade...

For non-essentials like coffee, tea, chocolate, and sugar, I like to buy fair trade as much as possible. It's extremely difficult or impossible to excise slavery/coerced labor from your life entirely, and I don't stress about it if I forget or just can't, but I do make an effort, at least when buying things I can technically live without.

Somehow, this haphazard commitment to justice has resulted in me having a lot of loose tea and coffee beans in my cabinet instead of teabags and ground coffee, but I digress.

My mother really likes chicory coffee. I can get her chicory coffee any day of the week, and because I love her a little more than I love justice and equality and the general idea of humanity I will get her some now and again, but ideally I'd like to minimize the slavery in my French press. I've had no luck finding fair trade chicory coffee. Does anybody have a source? (Alternatively, does anybody know where I can get chicory root to add to the coffee myself? Is that something that comes in slavery-free packaging? Do I even need to worry about this when it comes to chicory? Geez, I have no idea. Almost don't want to know.)

On a related note, Ana likes hazelnut coffee. The ethical issues around her coffee are solved, but does anybody know where I can get hazelnut coffee that's not "artificially flavored"? Not creamer or syrup - just the coffee, thanks.

Note: I like to believe I'm doing the best I can, but the more I find out about slavery in the production chain of everything, the more disheartened I am. If you're feeling tempted to list off other things I use every day, like this computer, that probably were produced with a hefty amount of coerced labor... unless you have an affordable alternative that doesn't mean giving it up altogether, please don't. I'll just feel bad, and you'll feel bad, and we'll all feel bad together.

Edit: I have found chicory! I'll order some and see how Mommy likes it. Hm. I wonder if I should go this route with the hazelnut as well, just... get regular hazelnuts? Back to google....