SAY NO TO “DIRTY GOLD”
step #5
“Mining is like a search-and-destroy mission.”
STEWART L. UDALL
FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN
Personal-care products made with sustainably extracted rainforest botanicals is a great example of where your consumer dollars can make a beneficial impact on the rainforest and its communities. On the contrary, gold is not. At the time of this writing, there are very few gold mines with sustainable practices in the world, let alone the tropical rainforests. When it comes to gold, it’s best to refrain altogether or direct your consumer power to recycled or vintage jewelry. Jewelry lovers need not despair—the world of recycled gold and vintage jewelry is exciting and filled with wonderful pieces that have character and beauty. Go for the good gold on this one!
THE SCOOP
Gold mining in the tropics is a dirty business all the way around. It’s dangerous to workers, the environment and the local communities. The gold ring you may have on your finger or the gold chain that may be around your neck or the gold investments that may be in your financial portfolio is, in part, fueling rainforest destruction and human-rights abuses in tropical regions around the globe.
Gold mining has the distinction of being one of the most destructive industries in the world. The production of just one gold wedding band generates 20 tons of mine waste, according to Earthworks, an organization that runs the “No Dirty Gold” campaign against irresponsible gold mining. Gold mining is particularly destructive in tropical areas such as Ghana, the Amazon, the Philippines, West Papua and Papua New Guinea, where both large- and small-scale mining outfits have cleared extensive amounts of vegetation and forest to access minerals below. The large mines require roads and open up more isolated areas to settlers and small-scale miners, who further destroy the rainforest with destructive activities and who sometimes spread disease to indigenous populations, where they still exist.
But perhaps even more destructive is the release of toxic chemicals such as mercury and cyanide, used in the process of gold extraction, into the environment. Small-scale miners, in particular, tend not to dispose of mercury properly, putting themselves, others and delicate tropical ecosystems at risk.
Larger, open-pit mines in the tropics run by corporations do not have a good environmental track record either. Bellavista, an open-pit mine in Costa Rica, was suspended in 2007 due to ruptures in its leach pad lining releasing cyanide and other contaminants into the environment. A 1995 Guyana spill of waste holdings made international headlines when more than 1 billion gallons of cyanide-laced wastewater were released into a tributary of the Essequibo. It caused widespread die-offs of aquatic and land plant and animal life as well as contamination of drinking water for thousands of people.
Gold mining operations large and small also produce tons of sediment that devastate aquatic environments and wildlife. Sometimes the sediment can be the biggest problem of all.
Human rights violations compound the problem further. There are numerous reports of slave labor in small-scale mining operations. In The Slave Next Door, the authors document that enslaved men, women and children mine gold in Brazil, the Philippines and Peru under terrible conditions with no pay and no way out.
Gold is mined in more than 60 countries, including, as we mentioned, many countries in the tropics. Yet unlike other commodities, gold has no traceability. The industry that supplies gold to retailers is widely dispersed, with many refineries purchasing the metal from mines around the world—often melting the different sources together before shipping it off to manufacturers or banks. Dr. Assheton Carter, director of energy and mining at Conservation International, says, “You don’t know if your gold comes from a responsible company like Rio Tinto or Newmont or from a child laborer in Sierra Leone,” in a 2009 CNN report.
So when you go to your local jeweler and purchase a piece made of gold, you are likely propagating this cycle of destruction to rainforests and those who live there.
HERE ARE TWO COMPANIES MAKING BEAUTIFUL JEWELRY WITH RECYCLED GOLD:
Brilliant Earth
800-691-0952
or 415-354-4623
www.brilliantearth.com
Appointment at showroom in San Francisco
Green Karat
www.greenkarat.com
To ensure you are not harming rainforests when you buy gold, follow these suggestions:
RESOURCES
Brilliant Earth
www.brilliantearth.com
Green Karat
www.greenkarat.com
Tiffany & Co.
www.tiffany.com.
Love Earth
www.loveearthinfo.com
No Dirty Cold (Earthworks)
www.nodirtygold.org, www.earthworksaction.org
Say no to dirty gold. Help rainforests by sticking to the recycled, vintage and sustainably sourced gold.