Ethical Diamond Purchases

By: Alter's Gem Jewelry

What does it mean to buy ethical diamonds? What does it mean when a diamond is “conflict free”? How can we continue to celebrate the incredible miracle of diamond formation, a gift from nature itself, without destroying nature in order to do just that? These questions and more have often kept conscientious diamond buyers awake at night, contemplating how to live their lives in line with their ethics. We will break down some of these environmental and ethical concerns today, and examine the three most important parts of buying ethical diamonds. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="578"]Buy Conflict Free Diamonds from Alter's Gem Jewelry Buy Conflict Free Diamonds from Alter's Gem Jewelry[/caption]   One of the things you should know is that the current vetting process for conflict free diamonds is inherently flawed. A “conflict free” diamond is not necessarily conflict free – the guarantee only serves to make sure that the diamond production and sales have not been used to finance rebel armies and related violent groups. The truth is that diamond production can be conflict or cruelty free but still be produced in conditions of violence, coercion, fear, child labor, and assault. Knowing the companies that you are buying from and where they source their pieces from is going to make a significant impact on how and where you spend your money. This is true of more than just jewelry buying, of course. As a general rule, understanding what it is you are buying or paying for is vital. A conflict free guaranteed diamond is a great place to start. Knowing the company is step two. Step three is doing your own vetting process. A little bit of research on the mine itself, the distributor and the local area politics will give you the insight you need to understand whether or not this is something you want to be contributing your money towards. Given the ubiquitous accessibility the world wide web gives us, this should be relatively easy information to search up and track down. It will give you the tools that you need to make the right decision, and to look glamorous and classic without violating your baseline for ethical behavior and production standards. We all love diamonds. They have something absolutely indescribable about them. No one wants to support war, famine and abuse, but we have been doing so inadvertently through the monetary support of unethical diamond sales and production. Keeping an eye on ethical production is how we keep ourselves doing the right thing and evolving the fine jewelry industry.