Human-friendly diamonds - by Monica

Image credit: Brilliant Earth

Many women dream of the day when their boyfriend (or future boyfriend) proposes with a beautiful diamond ring. Ironically, my friend Margaret and I went into a diamond store at Somerset mall today as we imagined what the rings would look like on our fingers (and Margaret took pictures of the rings in case my boyfriend needed suggestions...oh how I love my friends!)

When I got home from the mall, I came across the website brilliantearth.com. And there I learned the sad truth about diamonds and what this company is doing to try and stop this. All of the diamonds come from Canadian and Namibian mines that follow human and environmentally friendly practices. For anyone who has seen the movie "Blood Diamond" or heard the song "Diamonds" by Kayne West, you know of the unethical ways diamonds miners in countries such as Zimbabwe and South Africa are treated. According to Brilliant Earth's website, in Zimbabwe, killings, rape, torture, forced labor and child labor are all used to subdue the local population and extract the diamond wealth for the benefit of the military and the political allies of President Robert Mugabe. In order to achieve wealth and power, these countries overlook the way they are treating their workers...and then sell the diamonds to us, Americans who don't realize the practices that are going on in these countries or who want diamonds so much they try not to think about it.

I think what Beth Gerstein and Eric Grossberg, a married couple from San Francisco, did for the diamond industry is amazing. When trying to find a ring to propose to Beth with, Eric could not find any diamond stores that sold conflict-free rings. So, Eric and Beth decided to create their own company where they sold ONLY conflict-free diamond rings. They are the founders of Brilliant Earth, and just looking into what they have done is very happy news. All of the diamonds they sell are conflict-free diamonds. All of their diamonds are tracked to make sure that they come from ethical and environmentally responsible sources. You can still have a diamond and not put your money into an industry that hurts others for their own personal gain and wealth. So I encourage anyone who is thinking of proposing anytime soon to seriously look into buying a conflict-free diamond for your significant other. If countries who treat their workers so badly stop making money for their diamonds, maybe then they'll finally reconsider the way they treat others.