Regeneration

12 SOLUTIONS TO END THE NATURE CRISIS

Real chocolate is regenerative

Heal the Future,
Don’t Steal It

Chocolate is one of the world’s favourite foods.

Like so many other foods, chocolate struggles with the problems of the big industrial food complex, including a negative impact on the world’s climate, extreme poverty among its 5 million farmers, power in the hands of Big Candy which, together with the supermarkets, keep 80% of a chocolate bar’s price and consumer malnutrition and obesity, since most chocolate products are more sugar than anything else.

Our Regeneration Catalogue

With Regeneration.org
To show you why we believe that it is possible to regenerate what you consume, we have produced a “Regeneration Catalogue” in collaboration with Paul Hawken. Paul built the first organic retail chain in the USA and one of the first national green companies, already back in the 1980s. His best-selling books and speeches have influenced millions of people.

Each solution here below introduces an Original Beans chocolate and in turn proves Paul’s key point: Everyone can do it!

Solution 1

Meat and dairy are important elements of our ancient rural food cultures - but also products of one of the largest industries in our society. Eating more plants and less animals is the single most effective choice we individuals can make every day to change our own health and the world. 75% of Original Beans products are vegan.

Solution 2

Law requires chocolate makers to indicate the percentage derived from cocoa beans (solids and butter) and their ingredients in sequence of the respective largest quantity. Reading “sugar” as the first ingredient should give you pause. When we make chocolate with only one ingredient - beans - law even requires us to call it “cacao” instead of chocolate. Our products are 100% free from lecithins, vanilla or other additives.

Solution 3

There are more than 70 tree species that produce edible food. Food-producing trees play an important role in sequestering atmospheric carbon in their leaves, stems, trunks, roots and associated soils for extended periods. They also prevent erosion and flooding, recharge groundwater, restore degraded land and soils, and support biodiversity by providing habitat. Original Beans sources 100% single varietal cacaos.

Solution 4

In all likelihood, you have eaten pesticides today. It is almost impossible to eat pesticide-free food, unless you go 100% organic. Over four billion kilogrammes of pesticides are used annually worldwide. The effects of pesticides on human health require long-term research and an open debate. Not up for debate are the catastrophic effects on insects. 100% of Original Beans cacaos are certified organic.

Solution 5

Just as pre- and probiotics feed and improve gut health, compost does the same for the soil. Compost represents an opportunity for nearly everyone to connect to a climate solution they can get their hands on. 95% of Original Beans packaging is compostable or biodegradable.

Solution 6

Tropical forests shelter at least 2/3 of all species on earth, including a huge diversity of animals, plants, birds, insects, fungi and countless soil microbes. Any strategy to protect these critical natural resources must honour and support Indigenous rights. In 2021, Original Beans growers protected 27,908 soccer fields of pristine rainforest.

Solution 7

When we think about how to end the climate crisis, we rarely consider wildness as being integral. Swamps, elephants, penny bun fungi, termite mounds and coral reefs fall under the rubric of biodiversity. Nature repairs quickly when harm ceases. When life regenerates, complexity proliferates. Productivity soars. Species reappear. And the climate responds. In 2021, the Original Beans’ foundation donated USD 136,000 to conservation in origins.

Solution 8

Nowadays it seems like tree planting initiatives … grow on trees. That’s not a bad thing.  But you can understand how it makes communicating about our very effective, decade-old, core-to-our-business tree planting programme a bit tricky. The first trackable tree planting programme, One Bar: One Tree has never been about marketing nor ticking a box. In 2021, Original Beans customers and growers helped to grow 1.66 million trees in origin.

Solution 9

If you travel, you are probably familiar with carbon offsets. While offsets have a role, the bottom line is clear: greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced now. Instead of simply neutralizing emissions, why not  triple the reductions in order to work down the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere instead? Original Beans “Climate Forests” offer certificates for Euro 10 per ton of CO2.

Solution 10

Poverty is an extractive industry. It takes value from people, transfers it to others and disvalues the producers. The impoverished may dwell in makeshift shelters where there is pollution, insufficient sanitation and marginal schools. They suffer economic stress and lack of healthcare. Most of the five million cacao farming families live under such extreme conditions. Living Income is a human right. Even as a tiny start-up, we guaranteed the Latin American grower families incomes that are currently 15% (US$ 1,415) above public living incom.

Solution 11

The UN reported that if women farmers were given the same access to resources that male farmers have, they could reduce malnutrition 12-17% globally. This highlights the deep connections between forests and food systems – integrating the two through ecological farming practices has been at the heart of a number of regenerative movements led by rural women. Original Beans actively empowers hundreds of women cacao growers.

Solution 12

Indigenous peoples steward about 1/4 of the world’s landmass and inhabit around 85% of areas designated for biodiversity conservation globally. For millennia, indigenous nations have existed in places where most other people would quickly perish – in deep rainforests and remote Arctic regions on our planet. Original Beans “select tribal” chocolates feature peoples’ cacaos and traditions.

Mix & Match

Create your very own custom chocolate gift set by selecting at least 10 of our delicious Original Beans chocolate bars. With this Mix & Match offer, you'll not only get a unique combination of flavors but also an exclusive discount on your order.