It's 1 a.m. and I'm sitting on my bed listening to Taylor Swift, eating enough espresso beans to fill 17 shots of regular espresso. They're fair trade espresso beans, though, so that compensates for some of my concerns regarding gluttony and sleep deprivation.

What is fair trade? It basically means that everyone involved in the process of creating the item and transporting it is treated fairly. For example, everyone gets paid a reasonable wage. This program also helps to promote sustainability (something that's very important at Conn, as well) and empower producers in lower socio-economic groups.

I bought my fair trade chocolate at Fiddleheads, a local, non-profit co-op in New London that offers natural, fresh foods (plus a hodgepodge of other thing-a-ma-bobs) and promotes fair trade products. I also just learned that Fiddleheads visits campus every week, and they'll alert you when fresh products come in.

I'd never heard of the store before my friend Emma mentioned that a local artisan fair was being held there. So, I went with her, got some chocolate and socks, and learned a lot about the store. To be honest, before I went I had no idea what a co-op was, nor did I know what fair trade was or what the difference between "non-profit" and "not for profit" was. (Feel free to Google if you need to.)

To put it in a nutshell, all of those programs are meant to help make businesses more conscious of the ways in which they negatively affect other parts of the world, and then businesses work to counteract these negative effects.

After exploring Fiddleheads, my friends Emma and Michelle and I decided to go to another local fair trade store, Flavours of Life. There, I bought some decorations for my room and some cozy winter gloves. The two stores were in walking distance, and I'm sure there are many other businesses in New London with similar missions. We're fortunate to have a number of businesses nearby that care about their products and the people who make them — but also have really good chocolate.