Let Them Eat Jewels
Creative Directed by Amelie Carter
Written by Jake Moreland
A universal truth among almost every culture around the globe is that few items are as valuable or beautiful as gemstones. Throughout history, gemstones were incredibly rare and reserved only to adorn the crown jewels of royalty, but today, the market for precious stones has opened up to the average consumer. In 2024, the value of the global gemstone market reached over 100 billion USD, and is expected to grow to upwards of 183 billion by 2033.
In the west, the beating heart of our gemstone industry is none other than the not so humble diamond. Diamonds make for dazzling accessories as they sparkle on earrings and necklaces, and are beautiful symbols of love and commitment on engagement rings. But, with how ubiquitous they are in our society, few question where these precious jewels come from. The truth is, the extraction of gemstones is as unethical as it gets.
According to the US Bureau of International Labor Affairs, diamond extraction in multiple countries relies heavily upon child labor, namely in Angola, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, and several other countries. And these aren’t small teams of children employed from time to time to get into hard to reach crevices of the mines. Millions of children in the global south are employed full time, in extremely dangerous conditions to scavenge for the precious stones that end up getting shipped overseas to the global north. They do so in order to help their families make ends meet, or without a choice under threats of violence. More likely than not, many of the gems laid into the accessories you see in jewelry stores across the country have passed through the callused hands of working children.
According to a 2021 UN report, in Myanmar alone, over a million children work to extract gemstones from quarry waste. 13 year old Min Min, a Myanmarian child, left his noviceship as a Buddhist monk to join his family in jade extraction, where he began to live a harsh work life. He would work two shifts daily, one in the morning and one at night, climbing along steep slopes of loose dust and rock to scavenge jade with nothing but a pair of work boots, jeans, and a jersey to protect him from the elements. Daily, he would be exposed to death, a witness to it with his own eyes, only to keep working. In a single day in July 2020 at the site he worked at, a mudslide killed upwards of 200 people, despite this, there were no changes made to improve the safety of the site. And when Min Min would collect the jade he desperately sought after, he would have to pay a 50% share to the mining company security team, leaving little left for his family. He dreams of owning a home one day, and taking care of his parents.
Another core problem within gemstone mining is its impact on the environment. Across the globe, mining operations have led to deforestation, and destroyed the biodiversity of many local ecosystems. In Madagascar alone, desertification due to mining, or the decay of wet forests into arid wastelands because of human activity, has decreased remaining lemur habitats by up to 90%. Additionally, mining runoff has poisoned local waterways, such as in the Amazon river basin. According to Greenpeace, illegal gold mining runoff has steadily polluted the Amazon river with mercury and other hazardous metals, which has been directly harming the health of the indigenous peoples who live in the region. This has led to the forced displacement of hundreds of indigenous communities, who have no choice but to leave as their land becomes more and more toxic. Additionally, tens of thousands of acres of critical South American wilderness has been blasted away to make space for colossal open pit mines. These mines are dug shallow and wide, with some spanning more than a dozen miles. Rather than digging mineshafts down into the earth, open pit mines obliterate entire landscapes through the use of mind-bogglingly massive excavation vehicles, transforming lush, green forests into brown-grey expanses of loose dust. While legislation works to shut open-pit mining down, it remains as an ever widening blemish on the environment.
So, as a consumer, what can you do? If you’re in the market for new jewelry, then you may want to consider buying lab-grown gemstones instead. Mimicking the processes that go into the natural formation of them in the earth, lab-grown gems are identical to natural gemstones in every way, and cut out the mining process altogether. Additionally, lab grown diamonds are often up to 90% less expensive than those found in the ground, making them leagues more affordable than their counterparts when bought new.
Another great way to shop for jewelry outside of big name stores at the mall is by buying them secondhand through thrifting and antiquing. When bought from local sellers, you acquire gem-inlaid jewelry without allowing unethical sources of those gems to profit. Instead, by antiquing for your jewelry, you’ll be supporting local businesses and helping to decrease the demand that creates the conditions that allow for child labor and ecological destruction.
As a conscious consumer, it can be hard to keep track of all the companies and industries that you would rather avoid, and harder to potentially pay more for inferior alternatives. But when it comes to objecting from the gemstone industry, your wallet will benefit from having a vigilant eye. You’ll be able to acquire the same quality of jewelry without your money going towards the unethical practices that go into extracting them from the earth.
