Demand is surging for gold from mines that don't destroy the enviroment or the lives of local people
Ian Johnston, The Independent 25 May 08;
Gold rings are given as a symbol of love. But for the thousands of people who get married every year, the way they choose to display their pure intention is mired in suffering.
According to campaigners for "ethical bling", the wedding rings exchanged in the UK in a year are produced using three-quarters of a million tonnes of poison, mainly cyanide and mercury. In addition to the environmental damage and risk to health caused by such practices, thousands of the world's poorest people have been forced from their homes to make way for mines.
However, there are signs of a rebellion among small-scale jewellers, with hundreds queuing up to join a new ethical association – months ahead of its launch in September – that will ensure its members use gold produced to high environmental and social standards.
The ethical jewellery market has become the industry's fastest growing sector, rising from almost no sales at all two years ago to more than £1.5m projected for this year.
Vivien Johnston, who is setting up the British Ethical Jewellery Association, said jewellers were flocking to the cause, with close to 300 asking to become members. "There's quite a demand for membership. We haven't even been actively looking for any," she said. "I don't know what the response will be like when we really advertise."
Ms Johnston runs her own jewellery business, Fifi Bijoux, in Glasgow, sourcing her gold directly from mines run by collectives such as Ora Verde in Colombia and Eco Andina in Argentina. She has seen sales treble since 2006.
One fan of Ms Johnston's work is Livia Firth, who together with her actor husband Colin, runs an ethical shop called Eco in west London, where Ms Johnston's designs are sold. "I didn't really know about some of the things that happen in the jewellery trade. People buy without thinking. Every time you buy something you are giving a vote to what you are buying, saying it is OK," Mrs Firth said.
"If you don't have the information necessary to express that vote, it's not right. You need someone to give you that. There's absolute ignorance in this field."
The charity Cafod, which has been campaigning on this issue, has a photographic exhibition showing conditions in mines around the world at the Oxo Gallery in London, which runs until next Sunday.
The exhibition highlights the experience of a family in the Philippines. In 2006, they were restrained by armed mining company police as their house near Cagayan de Oro was destroyed. After being beaten and threatened with guns, 51-year-old Anna-Garcia told Cafod: "They took a metal cable and attached it to a bulldozer and then pulled it. Our house collapsed. We saw them cover our house with earth."
For many in the ethical jewellery movement, the mainstream is moving too slowly, but Cafod's policy analyst, Sonya Maldar, said people power could force the pace. "I think more and more people will be shocked to hear about these things. I'm sure people wouldn't want to be giving a ring when they know about the hidden harm behind gold mining."
