I was reading about Daryl Hannah being arrested in protesting for Mountain Top Removal and got to thinking about mining in general, because it’s not just the coal mining that is bad, it’s all ore and gem mining for our unending thirst for baubles and other things.
I just Gotta Tell Ya
- 1 gold ring generates 20 tons of mine waste.
- In Applachia- Mountain Top Coal Removal destroyed 1208 miles of streams and 380,547 acres of forest in 10 years.
- Every time you turn on your TV, you are using 35 different minerals procured through mining
- The US Jewelry retail industry generated about $25 Billion. Diamond jewelry sales = (46%) , Gold (11%) and colored gemstones (9%)
Mining Effects on the Environment
- Deforestation
- Loss of Biodiversity
- Pollutions- chemicals used like mercury, cyanide, sulfuric acid, arsenic and methyl mercury are used in mining. Eventually they leach into water bodies and you drink them
- Loss of Aquatic Life
Greening Your Jewelry
- Use your current pieces that you own
- Trade or borrow jewelry from friends
- Recycle and Re-make new jewelry from old pieces. Metal can be melted down and gemstones can alway be re-used
- Buy Vintage and Estate Jewelry
- Buy Jewelry made from Recycled goods
- Buy Fair Trade Jewelry
Where to Buy
- Etsy- Huge selection of Fashion and Trashion- all jewelry made by hand and using recycled materials.
- Bario Neal– Uses reclaimed precious metals, ethically sourced stones. 1% of profits donated to the Association of Responsible Mining
- Designs by Micha- Uses materials from recycled fabrics, home decor and whatever else she finds to create these one of a kind pieces.
- Gaiam offers Fair Trade jewelry such as this – Double Happiness Necklace
- Bonnie Meltzer– makes recycled computer part jewelry.
- Sasthamcotto- recycled computer parts jewelry
Resources
This is the reason why I love etsy sellers who recycles vintage jewelry, like alexkeller (http://alexkeller.etsy.com) who redesigns vintage jewelry to reflect today’s fashion. Thanks for bringing up this important environmental issue. As always, you have a knack for looking beyond the obvious.
Thanks ecokaren! It just seemed to make more sense to use what is out there already.
Aloha, an excellent post, very informative with many great ideas.
For another take on recycling precious metals, our company here in Hawaii, Designs ‘N Gold is taking old, unused and broken jewelry and recycling it into new pieces of Hawaiian jewelry. We find that many of our customers love their new jewelry and the fact that it was created from what they thought was scrap.
Mahalo and aloha from Hawaii
Colette Aoki
Designs ‘N Gold
Love to see anyone recycling. My line of jewelry and accessories has been in existence for over 6 years and consists of recycled and upcycled components of all kinds including authentic keys of all types like typewriter, pocketwatch, cash register, clock and cabinet keys, chandelier parts, railway/transit tokens, optician lens and a full line of bullet casing jewelry and accessories as well. Visit The Key of A at http://www.thekeyofa.com where we believe in the four R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Repurpose.
Many thanks for the good write-up, I was hunting for information similar to this, going to look into the other posts.