Are Canadian diamonds clean?
Apr 16th, 2007 by Katie
“There are no clean diamonds. Exploring for them, digging them out of the ground and selling them requires sacrifices from the natural environment, from the wildlife and fish that live on it, and from the Aboriginal people who depend on it.” Mining Watch
To open the diamond debate, we have picked up on a thread in the Ethical Weddings Forum suggesting that Canadian diamonds, often seen as the hassle free way to find conflict free diamonds, are perhaps not as clean as they seem.
The thread takes us to Mining Watch and their article: There Are No Clean Diamonds: What You Need to Know About Canadian Diamonds
The gist of the article seems to be that huge transnationals operating in Canada are using the ‘conflict free’ tag to keep their diamonds sparkling clean – so sparkling in fact as to blind the consumer to the impacts of diamond mining on the environment and on the Aboriginal people who are living there.
A typical example is De Beers who declare their diamonds conflict free but are under boycott for their involvement (with the Botswana government they jointly run all the country’s diamond mines) in the eviction of the Kalahari Bushmen after diamonds were discovered on their land.
And De Beers is one of the big operators in ‘clean’ Canada.
We’re talking about exploitation of resources – human and environmental – and the article details the scale and scope of each major Canadian mine and the impact it is having and will have once its stash of diamonds has been exhausted, the mine is abandoned, local jobs are lost and the environment irretrievably damaged.
Mining Watch encourages the public to fight for justice, human rights and environmental protection for miners worldwide.
Check out the Canadian diamonds article and let us know your thoughts in the Forum.
Katie
Great topic!
There are no clean resource industries. They all destroy environments and aboriginal lives. Since raping the land of resources is Canada’s main industry … Canada is a HUGE environmental and human rights violator.
See examples here
http://cfar.proboards104.com/index.cgi?board=canadalaw&action=display&thread=1176787374
ok … can you please tell me how the world can survive without industry?
I believe balance and sustainability are more important factors …
It’s nice to see this problem being discussed. ‘Ethical, eco friendly’ jewellers have been hiding behind Canadian diamonds for too long. As has the wrest of the jewellery industry.
I have found most industry’s don’t have to cause damage and destruction. Just look at any of the eco-directories and you’ll see there is something for everyone and remember our governments aren’t helping much either. Most humans want stuff now, that’s how we are hard wired. Unfortunately the speed that we consume means we have to remove materials from the earth as quickly and cheaply as possible rather than concentrating on the best way to do it. Perhaps if we slowed down sustainable living wouldn’t just be a dream.
In my experience Lisa’s comment above “ok … can you please tell me how the world can survive without industry?” is a very normal reaction and we need further education to help people understand what would really need to be done to ‘change the world’. Another great question to ask yourself is what world do you want to leave for your great grand children? More importantly, what are you doing to achieve this goal?
Unfortunately I cant see any great change in political or public will. We are consuming at a rate far greater than our earth can handle and we wont be slowing down until its far too late.
How will we survive without industry? Your great grandchildren might just be able to answer that question when there is nothing left to dig up!
Diamonds don’t have to come from ethically suspicious areas like Canada, but without governmental interference the public will continue to believe the spin and ‘buy the dream’.
Buy antique or estate jewellery and have it remade by your local jeweller, it will cost a bit more but you will be supporting your community and reducing the destruction caused by the mining industry. The other option is to search out a good eco jeweller and let them do the hard work for you.