When most hear the term eco-friendly jewelry, the immediate thought is either vintage or rings, necklaces and earrings created from recycled supplies. Nevertheless, when buying new stones, especially diamonds, the word eco-friendly becomes a holistic method that addresses both the practices utilized to acquire such stones and also the impact that mining has on the neighborhood communities. It is crucial to look for conflict free and free trade diamonds and insist that jewelers verify the full chain of custody of their stones, from harvesting to finish.
Jewelers are also working to address the concern of "dirty mining" of precious metals, particularly gold. Classic mining methods have evolved into open pit mining, heap leaching and amalgamation.
With open-pit mining, companies save the time of creating underground shafts and merely blast the complete surface of the mining area creating enormous craters and damaging the surrounding eco-system. Moreover, from the huge amount of materials brought towards the surface of gold-hunting are for the most part worthless. Discovering an ounce of gold through open-pit mining can result in 30 tons of mine waste.
Heap leaching is really a particularly toxic approach to extract gold from ore. Ore is crushed and piled into heaps after which sprayed with cyanide, an incredibly toxic substance, that seeps through the ore and bonds with the gold. The gold-cyanide combo is then shuffled to a mill where the two are chemically separated. The cyanide is then kept in an artificial pond for re-use while the ore waste is piled into an unofficial dam of sorts. These dams aren't only toxic but very unstable.
As if it couldn't get any worse, the third typical practice, amalgamation, utilizes mercury to form an alloy with the gold. That alloy is then broken apart with the use of nitric acid which releases mercury vapor into the atmosphere. The unwanted effects of mercury vapor on humans and animals? Damage to the kidneys, brain, liver, heart, lungs, colon and immune system.
Just as with diamond mining, gold mining also raises fair trade and human rights concerns as workers are usually exploited and indigenous communities relocated inside the quest for gold.
Much like soda cans and old t-shirts may be recycled into jewelry, so can gold. Eco-friendly jewelers look to recycled jewelry and industrial material for their gold sources. It is also critical to look for the "fair trade" label on any gold purchase you make this holiday season. Savvy consumers can also ask if jewelers are Green Circle Certified, which means that a third-party has verified the gold is indeed made of 100% post-consumer recycled content.
Jewelers are also working to address the concern of "dirty mining" of precious metals, particularly gold. Classic mining methods have evolved into open pit mining, heap leaching and amalgamation.
With open-pit mining, companies save the time of creating underground shafts and merely blast the complete surface of the mining area creating enormous craters and damaging the surrounding eco-system. Moreover, from the huge amount of materials brought towards the surface of gold-hunting are for the most part worthless. Discovering an ounce of gold through open-pit mining can result in 30 tons of mine waste.
Heap leaching is really a particularly toxic approach to extract gold from ore. Ore is crushed and piled into heaps after which sprayed with cyanide, an incredibly toxic substance, that seeps through the ore and bonds with the gold. The gold-cyanide combo is then shuffled to a mill where the two are chemically separated. The cyanide is then kept in an artificial pond for re-use while the ore waste is piled into an unofficial dam of sorts. These dams aren't only toxic but very unstable.
As if it couldn't get any worse, the third typical practice, amalgamation, utilizes mercury to form an alloy with the gold. That alloy is then broken apart with the use of nitric acid which releases mercury vapor into the atmosphere. The unwanted effects of mercury vapor on humans and animals? Damage to the kidneys, brain, liver, heart, lungs, colon and immune system.
Just as with diamond mining, gold mining also raises fair trade and human rights concerns as workers are usually exploited and indigenous communities relocated inside the quest for gold.
Much like soda cans and old t-shirts may be recycled into jewelry, so can gold. Eco-friendly jewelers look to recycled jewelry and industrial material for their gold sources. It is also critical to look for the "fair trade" label on any gold purchase you make this holiday season. Savvy consumers can also ask if jewelers are Green Circle Certified, which means that a third-party has verified the gold is indeed made of 100% post-consumer recycled content.
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→Eco-Friendly Jewelry: Certifications To Care About
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→http://fromemaliwithlove.blogspot.com/2011/02/eco-friendly-jewelry-certifications-to.html
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