Most Huggable: Sustainable Burritos, Big Oil Bad Boys, Non-Leaching Nalgene + More
by Team Treehugger, Worldwide 
on 04. 2.08
Chipotle Mexican Grill beefs up their eco-cred with sustainably raised pork.
Plant a seed and a tree with Jenn Savedge’s book, The Green Parent: A Kid-Friendly Guide to Earth-Friendly Living.
Are big oil companies April’s biggest fools?
Nalgene gets plastic surgery and re-enters the reusable bottle race.
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While it's great that Chipotle is serving good-for-the-environment food as part of the chain’s “Food with Integrity” commitment – a very admirable position for a chain restaurant to take. This commitment, however, leaves out an essential ingredient: justice.
Chipotle’s definition of “Integrity” doesn’t seem to include the notion of human rights – or at least not the right to a fair wage, the right to overtime pay, the right to organize, or the right to basic benefits like health insurance, sick leave, paid vacation or pension. Tomato pickers in Florida, for example, earn about 45 cents for every 32-lb bucket of tomatoes they pick – a rate hasn’t changed in nearly 30 years. On average, farmworkers in this country earn $7,500 - $10,000 per year. Many farmworkers toil under conditions that amount to modern-day slavery: there have been five federal criminal prosecutions by the Department of Justice and the FBI for modern-day slavery in Florida fields in the past seven years, involving over a thousand farmworkers.
While it is wonderful that Chipotle provides organic and healthy food, and other restaurants should do the same, the definition of integrity must also include the full respect of human rights for the farmworkers who cultivate and harvest the food.