From Blood Diamonds to Green Gemstones

Posted by ricky26 on February 12th, 2014

Prior to 2007, the jewelry industry had little to no experience with ethically obtained precious gemstones and metals with which to make fine Majestical Jewelry. Think about the civil war in Zimbabwe when former president Robert Mugabe owned harvested blood diamonds. Diamonds were used to finance arms purchases to bring down legitimately recognized governments. Small wonder these stones have such a history! Other sustainable efforts can include creating diamonds in the lab, using recycled metals and even buying jewelry from companies that work to revitalize local communities, which helps that community’s residents to triple their incomes when they stop subsistence farming.

From Blood Diamonds to Ethically Harvested Diamonds
Two factors contributed to the development of blood diamonds: The Great Depression and the chokehold that the DeBeers Company exerted on the production and pipeline of diamonds. These diamonds came from The Congo, the Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Angola, and Liberia being mined by rebel armies. These diamonds are used to help buy weapons. Residents of these countries were forced into slavery and violence, mining even more diamonds, in a relentless cycle of violence, bloodshed, and murder.

In late 2000, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution that sets in place a certification scheme, helping to determine where diamonds originated. This program is only voluntary. It is up to consumers to assert their desire for a conflict-free diamond, requesting the certificate or origin when deciding what diamond to buy.

Using Recycled Gold
Gold is undeniably beautiful, but the consequences to the Earth of gold mining are many. These include inhumane labor practices, water pollution, disregard for the rights of indigenous peoples and poor mining safety standards. This particular category of mining is the most environmentally destructive. It takes about 20 tons of ore to produce the gold needed for just one ring.

Consumers have the option of asking about the origins of the jewelry that they are considering buying. As they look at different pieces of womens gemstone jewelry, they can let their jewelers know that they want jewelry that has been made with recycled precious metals. This has the effect of reducing the destruction to the earth that mining silver and gold causes. Best of all, silver and gold won’t degrade in quality even when they have been repeatedly recycled.

From Subsistence Farming to Extracting Gemstones
Jewelry retailers can help economically revitalize small communities and villages that have been freed from conflict. In these developing countries, subsistence farming isn’t enough for families to support themselves and their children. Now that these countries are no longer torn up by war, they need to find other ways of stimulating their economies.

Environmentally conscious jewelry companies place a premium on safe, environmentally friendly gemstone extraction, which can help families essentially triple their annual incomes. By doing so, these jewelry companies help to further ensure that the previous conflicts that existed over diamonds is less likely to re-develop.

A Growing Movement
The green jewelry movement is one that is growing bigger year by year. Examples of this include fair trade gemstones, recycled precious metals and wearing vintage or estate jewelry. Big jewelry companies aren’t the only entities that can help this movement. Individuals can, by insisting they will buy only recycled jewelry or wearing vintage jewelry. You can learn more by visiting the Majestical website.