No, not a emerald. And definitely not some Cracker Jack bauble that leaves a green stain around your finger. I’m talking environmentally friendly precious metals and stones. According to GreenKarat,
Throughout history, jewelry has held a special place in the fabric of human culture. Unfortunately, industrial methods of extracting jewelry’s precious metals and gems from the earth damage the land and endanger ecosystems. Further, industrial values frequently reduce the labor component of production to the level of a cog in a machine.
Their goal is to end destructive mining of gold and diamonds and so forth by encouraging people to buy jewelry that lives up to fair trade and positive ecological standards. I can definitely get behind that. Mining can be pretty dang destructive to people and living things. Certain types of mining inject the earth with poisonous and potentially lethal chemicals that then drain into water systems, killing wildlife and making people sick. To that I say, Bleah.
Being that I’m always tossing jewelry-related hints The Beard’s way, I can usually be heard pushing for fair trade metals and beautiful, eco-friendly Moissanite. Gotta keep this earth clean and green for the brides and grooms of the future!
Very pretty – I like.
Wahoo for the Moissanite plug!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I love my Moissanite ring.
And that’s not all, CBOT! They have some faaaaaantastic rings for sale, and many of them aren’t all that pricey. It was love at first sight, for me!
It’s a beautiful ring. And of course human right and property rights have to be respected for both human dignity and for the advancement of society.
But, I tend to take claims of environmental groups with a grain of salt. Sounding the alarm is one way they raise money. And there is an element that is simply anti-technology and know little about science.
Several years ago, I worked on an open-pit gold mine project located in Peru. As I recall, there were plans for environmental cleanup of the cyanide used for refining the gold, and reforestation of the area. (Despite the reputation that gold mines have for being big money-makers, I got the impression that this wasn’t always the case due to environmental protection, remote location–a 12,000 foot mountain in this case, fluctuating gold prices, etc.) This was an American company; perhaps some companies from less-developed countries are not as conscientious.
Wow, Lori, what an amazing experience that must have been. I’ve never been face to face with a mine.
I think that awareness of good mining techniques and good human resource usage differs from company to company. The problem is that it is difficult to determine on one’s own – depending on one’s resources, of course – which companies are good and which are bad. Of course, any green company can lie as much as non-green companies. Who to trust? Who knows! Ack!
Please note that I chance ‘mining is pretty dang destructive’ to ‘mining can be pretty dang destructive.’ In this modern world there are of course ways to go about it that won’t much harm the earth or the folks living on it.
Actually, Never teh Bride, I’ve never been to an open pit mine either. I was writing data sheets and evaluating vendor bids for equipment from the comfort of my office in Colorado. The equipment ranged from dust collectors to a sewage treatment system; without this and other equipment, the mine certainly could have harmed the workers and poisoned the ground.
I don’t know how to tell whether a certain piece of gold was mined in an ecologically sound way. Maybe some ecologically-minded brides would like an antique wedding ring–vintage looks are popular now, and recycling is good.