Activism, Meet Impact.

Grace introduces our newest Impactfull series on climate refugees by sitting down with Kelsea Best, a PhD candidate in the Earth and Environmental Science department at Vanderbilt University. 

Kelsea studies environmental and climate migration in coastal Bangladesh, thinking about the relationship between humans and their natural environments as well as the complexity of decisions made about migration. 

From the terminology we use, to the types of research we conduct, climate change and climate-driven migration requires interdisciplinary collaboration and a sense of our shared humanity as to develop equitable and just policy for climate refugees. 

Read the introductory article to our climate refugees series here: https://novelhand.com/climate-refugees-impactfull-intro/ 

Learn more and create impact at: http://www.impactfull.novelhand.com

Nonprofit Director Katherine interviews Todd Larsen of Green America about how they campaign large cocoa companies to change their business practices. They discuss the Chocolate Scorecard, why changing business models from the top down is so difficult, and the future of the cocoa industry.

Green America is our June Impactfull partner. Your Impactfull subscription supports Green America and their work to create systemic change in the cocoa industry. Learn more here: www.impactfull.novelhand.com

Today I’m sharing my conversation with professor and cocoa scholar Dr. Kristy Leissle. She literally wrote the book when it comes to the cocoa and chocolate industry-- her book Cocoa explores the cocoa world from a variety of angles. 

Dr. Leissle is unique because of the perspectives that she takes in learning about this issue. I really enjoyed getting to ask her a few lingering questions that I had after finishing her book. Here’s our conversation-- we discussed everything from trade justice to her work at the Cocoapreneurship Institute of Ghana. 

This is our third podcast episode in this month's Impactfull series. Check out the articles and the rest of the series here: www.impactfull.novelhand.com

This week, we're focusing on child labor in the cocoa industry. I spoke with Ayn Riggs, the founder of Slave Free Chocolate.

Ayn is advocate for greater accountability and transparency in the cocoa and chocolate industry. Through Slave Free Chocolate, she organizes consumers to petition companies and to eat chocolate that isn't created with slave labor.

I spoke with Ayn about why she recently took Tony's Chocolonely off of her slave free chocolate list, the upcoming Supreme Court decision concerning Nestle and Cargill, and her favorite kind of chocolate.

Learn more about the humanitarian and social issues of the chocolate industry at www.impactfull.novelhand.com 

Perhaps the most important aspect of the chocolate industry is who grows cocoa. 

Child labor is an endemic problem in the cocoa industry. According to a recent study conducted by NORC and the US Department of Labor, about 1.56 million children in Ivory Coast and Ghana are engaged in child labor.

Today on Handful, Alexa explains the prevalence of child labor in the cocoa industry and the failed regulation of this exploitation.

Read the full article here: https://novelhand.com/child-labor-in-the-cocoa-industry/

Learn more and create impact at www.impactfull.novelhand.com

Haiti’s political unrest and constitutional crisis have been a fixture of news about the country for the last several years. As Haitians continue to leave an environment of violence and repression, the United States has been one of the primary destinations for these vulnerable migrants. In an attempt to assist Haitians in their transition to life in the United States, the Biden administration extended Temporary Protective Status to migrants from Haiti on May 24. 

To understand why the Biden administration turned to TPS, it is essential to examine the conditions that Haitians experienced at home which led them to migrate. Today on the podcast, Grace and Natasha discuss the political, economic, and social unrest in Haiti and also examine the relationship between Haiti and the United States in recent history. With a deeper understanding of the identities and experiences of Haitian migrants, they also suggest actions that may alleviate the short- and long-term problems driving the immigration crisis. Consider donating to Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees and Haitian Bridge Alliance, who are working towards providing long-term solutions. 

Read more: https://novelhand.com/haitian-migrants-tps/

What does chocolate have to do with deforestation?

For the first episode of our chocolate series, I spoke to Sam Mawutor of Mighty Earth. He runs campaigns to influence business and government to act to end deforestation in cocoa-growing regions.

Sam and I discussed how farmer poverty and deforestation are connected, his favorite kind of chocolate, and what average consumers (like you!) can do to create impact.

Learn more about Sam: https://www.mightyearth.org/about-us/samuel-mawutor/

To create impact, head to www.impactfull.novelhand.com to sign up for Impactfull. This month, we're exploring the social and environmental impacts of the chocolate industry-- from living incomes for cocoa farmers to deforestation. 

Who doesn't like chocolate?

Everyone's favorite treat has a dark secret-- a whole host of humanitarian and environmental issues. This month on Impactfull, Alexa goes behind the scenes of the lucrative chocolate industry. You'll learn about child labor, living income, and deforestation-- and how these problems can be remedied. You'll want to make an account at www.impactfull.novelhand.com to create impact in the chocolate industry through this month's impact buttons.

Today's Handful is an introduction to the series. Alexa read's today's Impactfull article, "Bitter Chocolate: What's Going on in the Cocoa Industry?"

Read the article (and see pictures of cocoa pods!) at https://novelhand.com/bitter-chocolate-the-cocoa-industry/

IMPACTFULL IS LIVE!

Go to www.impactfull.novelhand.com to create your account and start creating impact. 

Over the past six months, we've been building an innovative platform to help you turn your activism into impact. Impactfull features a monthly humanitarian topic, with weekly articles and podcasts to help you become an expert. Impact buttons give you opportunities to create impact right on the site. 

For $5 per month, you can access personal impact statistics and an expert panel. $4 will go to an effective nonprofit, and $1 will support the Novel Hand team.

For $10 per month, you'll get access to Q&A with our team and a pre-test and post-test to see how much you've learned each month. $9 will go to an effective nonprofit, and $1 will support the Novel Hand team. 

On June 1st, we're launching Impactfull to help you turn your activism into impact. Monthly topics will educate you about the world's most pressing humanitarian issues-- and you'll have ways to make an impact right from our site. 

Over the next week, we'll share more about why we created Impactfull, how we created it, and why you'll learn so much from it. 

We're so excited to introduce you to Impactfull!

Learn more on Instagram at @novel.hand and at novelhand.com