"Customers don't realize that one wedding ring weighs 10 grams and causes three tonnes of toxic waste,"
Greg Valerio, Reuters
My friend Greg Valerio of Cred Jewellery, who I have mentioned before, is in Los Angeles over the next few days, meeting with entrepreneurs and venture capitalists regarding some new social enterprises in the fair trade gold and jewellery sector. If you want to meet with him, email info@credjewellery.com
I saw Greg last August at the wedding blessing I was performing. It was quite intimidating for me because I have heard Greg say that the church is partly to blame for our current injustices since it insists on wedding rings, and usually without thought to where they came from or how they were mined. So when I asked the groom, "Do you have the rings" it was one of those moments when you really didn't want Greg Valerio in the audience. Of course, nothing happened and Greg didn't jump up and demand to know the origin of the rings. [I am sure the bride and groom had thought it through]. Although we did have a good chat on fair-trade and slave-free issues afterwards over a drink and managed to solve most of the worlds problems.
Question:How much more does one pay for a fair trade gold ring?
Answer: About 10% more than common prices and 15% below top luxury brands like Tiffany
Blurb: "Greg Valerio is a prominent campaigner in the Association for Responsible Mining (ARM), currently fighting for the rigorous gold-mining standards he has helped develop to be adopted by the international Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO)." From Developments.
Technorati Tags: fair trade, gold, slave-free
