12/08/2005

The Real Price of Gold


Speaking of jewelry again, it seems:
Are you thinking about gold this holiday season? Did you know about this?
I can admit to having way more jewelry than I could ever need, and typically don't wear it very often. Nowadays I prefer to buy the wares of area artists, to support them in their efforts to keep art alive in a world of mass production and big box stores.
Anyway, this is what their
online petition website states :

The production of just one gold ring produces 20 tons of mine waste.

Toxic chemicals such as cyanide and mercury that are used in producing gold have polluted drinking water supplies, contaminated farmland, and harmed the health of workers and communities. Gold mining operations can also leave a trail of social destruction, displacing communities from their homelands against their will and destroying traditional livelihoods.

This is the real price of gold.

Jewelers may not operate heavy equipment at mine sites, but more than 80 percent of gold mined each year is used to make jewelry. Jewelry firms are thus uniquely positioned to help make real change in gold mining practices.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, yeah, It does get on my nerves. More than I let on, actually.
But probably because I am hopelessly NOT romantic either. At least not in a traditional sense. I did not have a wedding at all, we bought a house and our families helped us in doing that instead of blowing twenty thousand or more on a one time party- I got an actual house in my twenties with furniture and lots of stuff that we needed instead, and I will never regret that decision. People were suprised but I told them that the time to celebrate will be our tenth anniversary, when we have actually accomplished something. And we have- kids, grad school, home, and we have survived. THAT is what deserves the bling! LOL
We are pretty simple people, for Valentine's Day we give money to a charity instead of giving silly predictable gifts ,and we enjoy that little game of trying to decide what obscure thing to support. Last year we gave in honor of a radio personality we both listen to but in different places. I listen to what he listens to on his way to work,so we gave in honor of the station (a non profit) Silly, simple, but we have no need for more gold, more junk, and more 'stuff'.
Sadly, I think some girls like the idea of the wedding more than marriage...perhaps they have not had many opportunities to express themselves or to decide things. Maybe an event represents a first taste of power? I guess its harsh to say that I wouldn't want my brain's coming out ball to be about picking colors for a centerpiece!!Maybe I should feel sorry for those that place such a premium on material things.
By all means: Have a party, sure, with some friends,family. Honor one another. Treat it as an important event if you want to, but don't miss the forest for the trees.
Most of my big wedding friends were divorced a few years later. And some of their parents took out second mortgages to pay for these things. How do they feel now? One freind I know threw away her wedding album that cost hundreds...but what use was it? Life's like that maybe. But we can do without the high price of a mistake!!!

Lew Scannon said...

I cringe every time I hear a jewelry ad on the radio, especially as they make it seem normal for females to be greedy and demand their man spend far too much money on something as totally useless and pointless as jewelry. Just more product that Americans have been conned into wanting that loses half it's value the minute it walks out the store. Perhaps that's why I'll never get married again, I'll never spend the money on a ring that I would lose in a divorce anyway.I know, I'm a hopeless romantic!

Lily said...

The cost of weddings and bling seems to keep going up- and so does the divorce rate. Whats the point of it all? Its an industry. I would be offended by a really gargantuous ring because I would question the priorities. I would not want a man that would spend so much on such frivolity. A modest token, something plain. Whats so wrong with that? I don't measure myself by what I own. Its also a matter of proportion, a person with high income spending ten grand is different than a person trying to make ends meet, forcing that man to take on debt and stress to buy something to show he cares. I would not want that for a person I love.

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