L'acqua pura persone parabola
(Questo estratto da Marc ChoytGioielli etico Exposé: Bugie, bugie maledetti, e diamanti di conflitto gratuiti, è stato originariamente pubblicatoqui.)
Vivi in una casa di adobe con un tetto di lamiera che ti sei costruito sulla tua terra ancestrale. Coltivi cereali e ortaggi vicino a casa tua, e fonte la tua acqua da una sorgente profonda situata proprio nelle vicinanze.
Sei un membro del "Popolo dell'Acqua Pura", anche se tra di voi siete semplicemente conosciuti come "Il Popolo". Tuo zio, cugini, madre, e i nonni vivono in fondo alla strada, vicino a un profondo, piscina chiara che è alimentata da un piccolo ruscello che porta dalla primavera.
Sei il guardiano della primavera, parte di un lignaggio tramandato da generazioni. Sei stato scelto quando avevi sette anni, perché gli anziani hanno notato quanto spesso volevi andare in primavera e guardare le acque sgorgare. Ti hanno iniziato alla tua tutela quando avevi tredici anni.
Ti hanno raccontato le storie. Il tuo primo ricordo è di tuo nonno, un tempo guardiano stesso, che ti tiene, raccontarti la storia di come The People è emerso da queste acque come esseri umani pienamente formati, benedetto dalla luce blu intenso delle stelle, spiriti eterni e puri, lungo, molto tempo fa.
Fintanto che The People può ricordare, dolci acque sono state gorgogliate dalle rocce. Anche nelle peggiori siccità, la primavera è sempre fluita, e le acque sono sempre state dolci.
Principalmente quello che fai è semplicemente mantenere la recinzione in buono stato per proteggere la molla dalle capre. Qualche volta, dopo una lunga giornata nei campi, sei raggiunto da tua nipote, sortita. Nella tua lingua tradizionale, si chiama "Song Making Woman". Ascolta le acque e trasforma i suoni dolci in canzoni, regali dalla primavera. Le canzoni ti aiutano a radicarti nelle tue relazioni con tutto ciò che ti circonda.
Un giorno, quando sei fuori ad arare, trovi una minuscola pepita d'oro. Poi un altro.
Vai nel tuo villaggio per trovare tuo nonno. Ora vecchio e cieco, si siede sulla sedia a dondolo, ascoltando. Gli dici dell'oro.
"Non dirlo a nessuno,” he says. "Tienilo segreto."
"Saremo ricchi!" gli dici.
“Siamo già ricchi,"Dice il vecchio con calma.
Vendi l'oro a un uomo straniero in un villaggio vicino. Compri un telefono a fogli mobili, e dai il resto del denaro al nonno. Presto nipoti e nipoti indosseranno nuove divise scolastiche.
Allora, un giorno, sei seduto vicino alla primavera con Sally. Appoggia il telefono sulla roccia e chiudi gli occhi. Ad un tratto, senti un plop. È il tuo telefono, caduto in primavera.
A nessuno è permesso andare in primavera. Alla tua iniziazione alla tutela, gli anziani ti avvertirono che entrare in primavera era un tabù da non attraversare mai. “La connessione con gli antenati verrà interrotta, e saremo inghiottiti di nuovo nella terra,"Disse il nonno.
Queste sono solo vecchie storie, non così rilevante nel nostro mondo moderno, te lo dici. Oltre a, il telefono inquinerà l'acqua!
Ti togli la maglietta, Fai un respiro profondo, e tuffati giù, giù e giù. Quando raggiungi il fondo, sei quasi senza fiato. È difficile da vedere, and you begin to run your hand along the bottom—until finally, you feel your phone—and rush back up toward the light. You feel as if you are going to drown, but just as you release your breath you make it to the surface.
In your hand, along with the phone, is a roundish stone about the size of an antelope dropping. You rub off some algae, and see the rock is as clear as glass.
You stick it in your pocket. A few weeks later, you bring more gold to the foreigner. He is having his lunch—flat bread, hummus, olives from a jar. A fly lands on the side of his plate. He brushes it aside.
He takes your small stone, then pulls out a small magnifying glass, gazing through it as he rolls it between his fat index finger and thumb.
“Do you know what this is?” he asks.
Non sai di cosa si tratta, ma annuisci con la testa, yes.
"Dove lo hai trovato,” he asks?
“Alla nostra primavera," gli dici. “Ce ne sono molti di più così, alcuni ancora più grandi!"
Le sue labbra si curvano in un lieve sorriso. Noti le piccole gocce di sudore sulla sua fronte. I suoi occhi si restringono mentre dice, "Portami di più."
Improvvisamente ti senti a disagio per quello che hai appena detto. Non sai che ci sono più pietre nella parte inferiore della primavera.Perché l'ho detto? pensi a te stesso.
Torna a casa sua, ed emerge con una busta. Te lo consegna. Cammini per strada e acquisti un nuovo smartphone e una moto.
Guidi fino alla casa di famiglia, e tutti sono entusiasti di vederti.
Il nonno sta dondolando sulla sua sedia. Gli dici tutto quello che è successo.
“I’ve always known those diamonds are there,"Ha detto. “So did my father, grandfather, and his grandfather too. Did you tell him where you found them?"
“No!” you shout. “I would never tell anyone!"
“We have to keep it a secret,” he says, closing his eyes. “We must, we must.”
Outside, your nieces and nephews are excited at the prospect of how their lives might improve.
Several days later, the foreign man shows up while you are plowing your field. How did he even find you? “Sell your land to me,” he tells you. “I’ll give you the best price.”
“No,” you say. “I will not sell to anyone.”
You tell him to go.
A few weeks after that, a black SUV shows up at your house. Following them is a pick-up truck filled with a dozen armed men wielding automatic rifles. The foreigner steps out of the car with several government officials—including your second cousin, who works in the mining office.
You haven’t seen your cousin for a while, and after some small talk, he puts his arm around you and leads you off to the side.
“We will be partners,” he says, squeezing your shoulder even tighter. “Look how poor everyone is here!” he continues, pointing to the goats and adobes. “As the Guardian of the emergence waters, you speak for The People. Tell them that there will be jobs and money. Tell them that a good change is coming.”
That evening, there is a meeting in the village. Everyone is gathered. You stand up. “A good change is coming,” you tell your clan brothers and sisters.
But then, disorder. Some want smartphones. Jobs that pay money, not goats. To send their children to school.
Others, the “traditionalists,” you call them, say that the mine is a threat to the way of The People.
“You’re all living in the past!” you shout at them.
As the roar of words draws to a crescendo, Grandpa stands up—and everyone goes silent. He takes his finger and points it straight out, then turns three hundred and sixty degrees. “We are already rich,” he says, quiet but firm. He sits back down.
For a moment, all are silent. Then the argument erupts anew.
Over the next few weeks brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, take up opposite sides—with many refusing to speak to each other.
Un giorno, trucks and massive earthmovers arrive. The iron teeth bite into the spring, and with one bucket it’s gone. By the end of the day there is a twenty by thirty-foot hole reaching into the kimberlite.
Not far away lie the quartzite veins full of gold. Giant earthmovers. The town where you sold your gold and diamonds to the trader is full of motorbikes, new stores…and before long, prostitutes.
“Maybe the veins go down to the center of the earth itself,” your cousin ponders aloud, a year later, over a beer at a London pub.
You take your whisky and down it. You lift you hand and signal the waiter to bring you another.
“You hear that Grandfather died?” your cousin asks.
“He was old,” you respond, reaching into your shirt pocket for a cigarette. “Got a light?"
In time, a war starts. Diamonds are being found all over the land, in some places just a few feet under the soil. The mine hires mercenaries to keep the mine safe. They also buy up all the diamonds from others who find them. Thousands and thousands of people are killed.
But after a few years, the mining companies begin working with government peacemaking forces. Everything is under control until a new problem arises: a non-governmental organization (NGO) has started telling the story of the diamond and gold wars.
You go to their website. There’s Sally on the homepage, now missing her right hand.
The stockholders of the mine visit you to plan. You tell the NGO that you represent The People, and that the mine had nothing to do with the outside soldiers.
Henceforth, your company will not purchase any more of those diamonds that are funding the rebellion. But as far as what’s already happened, it can’t be changed. “We just have to make sure this type of thing doesn’t happen again,” you tell them.
The NGO agrees. Insieme, you can create a diamond story that is “conflict free.” You contact all your friends in the diamond business. You all determine that, from now on, your diamonds and gold will bear this “conflict free” label.
Over the next several years the conflict free story catches on. But you know that you need to take it further, to protect all your mining interests. Così, you create a coalition that certifies you and your mining friends—a new “responsible jewelry” brand.
Everyone congratulates you for your achievement. Some NGOs even join your cause.
You have massive amounts of money for marketing, and NGOs are the perfect organizations to build your credibility.
Other NGOs will fight you—but even when they argue against your practices, telling you how you should reform, they inadvertently reinforce your initiative.
There is one exceptional member of your group called the Brilliant Terra. They plaster the terrible story of the Pure Water People, while doling out 5% of their profits to help fund orphanages.
Fortunately, they collaborate by selling your “conflict free” diamonds in a manner that supports the story you feed the public—the story that the slaughter of The People is just something of the past to be forgotten.
There’s just one irritation. A certain NGO is working with distant cousins of The People in a neighboring region, helping them mine gold that is fairly traded.
Fortunately, the market doesn’t catch on—because Brilliant Terra has a stranglehold on the market narrative, talking about the issues related to The People to massively profit from the ethical consumer, yet not supporting the development of their fairly traded gold.
They declare “eco-friendly” recycled gold the most ethical gold, and nearly everyone believes them.
Small-Scale Gold and Diamond Mining
A miner in Tanzania mixes gold and mercury, by hand, to amalgamate the gold. Mercury is then burned off in a frying pan, which will later be used for cooking. Photo by author.
Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), aka small-scale mining, is a major global industrial sector.
No one knows the exact number of small-scale miners. Digging is often seasonal, dependent upon agricultural cycles. What we do know is that this activity has been growing significantly in recent years. For your reference, here’s a good summary of the small-scale mining sector.
While large-scale mining contributes7 million jobs to the global economy, the latest research tells us that roughly150 million people across 80 countries survive by digging in the earth with shovels.
Though there is some debate over what constitutes small-scale versus medium-scale mining, let’s keep it simple. A small-scale miner is someone who uses a shovel and a pick. S/he might be able to dig a ton of dirt a day.
Approximatelytwenty percent of gold and diamonds comes from artisanal miners. Small-scale miners also supply the vast majority of colored gemstones—perhaps aroundeighty percent.
Small-scale mining is often characterized by exploitation, poor and unsafe working conditions, lavoro minorile, and extreme poverty. Largely overlooked are women, who comprise25% a50% or more of miners.
An ASM gold miner in Kenya, drying gold-laced dirt. Photo by author.
The purchase of diamonds from small-scale miners financed major conflicts in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and continues to do soin the Central African Republic today.
Small-scale gold mining is the world’ssecond largest contributor of mercury pollution after coal-fired plants, and a major source ofconflict and dirty gold thatfilters into jewelry from war-torn areas.
Yet small-scale mining has huge development potential. If structures were put in place to create fair and ethical trade by connecting the consumer directly to the source, untold progress could be made. But, naturalmente, establishing traceability and transparency with small-scale mining is extremely challenging.
Much of the mining occurs in countries with marginal civil institutions. Given its informal nature and hand-to-mouth economy, getting traceable and transparent material from exemplary small-scale sources often requires what is known as “capacity building."
Legions of NGOs are currently working to assist artisanal mining communities to mine in a safer manner. If this sounds promising to you, you’re right—kind of. Mining the gold is just one of many steps.
It also has to be exported—which involves a whole set of logistical issues.
It has to be integrated into jewelry supply houses and jewelry stores themselves. But for that to happen, jewelers have to want this gold, which is going to be slightly more expensive to use. To drive demand, consumers need to be educated—which means creating a new forward-facing market narrative explaining why this gold is more ethical.
Suppose that you are selling a gold heart pendant. In addition to the beautiful design, the sourcing of the gold to make that heart is actually helping a small-scale miner in Peru to live a better life.
This amazing new product in fact represents a paradigm shift: the alignment of sourcing with meaning.
If a company with 2900 stores, for example, were to create a demand for this ethical gold, it would accelerate this change on the ground. We’d have a virtuous supply chain in no time.
But this new story, the alignment of meaning with sourcing, is actually a highly disruptive threat. By embracing this new, “ethical” material, the company is admitting that what they have previously been selling is, nel migliore, less than ethical.
Così, the company is faced with the need to develop a strategy that satisfies the market need to be an ethical jeweler—driven in particular by the Millennial customer—without disrupting the current consumer-facing narrative.
The strategy is to thread the needle: brand yourself as ethical using a certification system which creates no disruption in how you’ve always conducted your business, branding it in a manner that that satisfies the “green,” socially-concerned consumer.
What Makes Ethical Jewelry Ethical
We can now offer a simple, unequivocal definition of ethical jewelry.
In nearly every trade publication you read, the narrative is that ethical jewelry equals traceability and transparency. In altre parole, you know where the mineral is mined and how it gets to the jewelry case. In best-case scenarios, you also know what is taking place at the mine itself—such as environmental and labor conditions.
Yet traceability and transparency are in themselvesjust the foundation. By themselves, these two elements do not make jewelry ethical. A certification based upon traceability and transparency certification can bypass conditions at the mine. Additionally, the certification does not address environmental and human rights atrocities perpetrated in the past.
Even in the best of circumstances, “Free, Prior and Informed Consent” of impacted communities leading toImpact Benefit Agreements can still pit traditionalists against those who are pro-development, failing communities disastrously.
All ethical sourcing must focus on bringing benefit to small-scale producers, The People.
Primo, ilpeople of the land must fully control and benefit from the resources of their land.Ethical jewelry must support small-scale mining models that uphold the cultural integrity and sustainability of the People.
Secondo, there must be standards around labor, diritti umani, and the environment. Idealmente, these standards need to be verifiable. To be most valid, particularly in relation to scalability, these audits need to be performed by a third party that has no financial interest in the product being audited.
Terzo, products must be transparently traceable to source. You know the conditions at the source mine, and that the mineral is traceable all the way to the piece of jewelry.
The Ethical Jewelry Battleground is:
Who is going be able to decide the ethical jewelry story in North America: the company with 2900 stores and their large-scale mining interests with hundreds of billions of dollars of resources, or a few voices of dissent hoping to build a coalition to create great change? R
Explore the Full Ethical Jewelry Exposé
**All writing and images are open source, underCreative Commons 3.0. Any reproduction of this material must back link to the landing page, qui. For high resolution images for publication, contact us at expose(AT)reflectivejewelry.com.**
