This lab-grown diamond is set on a recycled gold band.
Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but there are many ethical issues associated with them and other precious gemstones. Many people prefer not to buy diamonds simply because the price is so high that it is often that money can be spent on better things. But like designer clothing, millions of people will continue to buy real diamond rings, so are there better alternatives?
Conventional mining of diamonds and other precious stones is not just bad for the planet and wildlife, but often the miners themselves live in severe poverty. The best solutions are to buy recycled diamonds (to stop new mining) or to buy lab-grown diamonds that require no mining, and are so identical, that even a trained jeweller can not tell the difference, unless viewing under a microscape.
Diamonds are one of the hardest substances on earth, so unless lost, diamonds last years as they are very hard to scratch. You can also find ‘ocean diamonds‘ that claim to be sustainably mined from the seabed by hand-harvesting divers.
Another alternative is sea-glass jewellery. This is made naturally by the sea, which over the years smooths broken bottles (like from Pirate bottles of beer – shiver me timbers!) and then is washed up and hand-harvested by many jewellery makers around our coastlines. Look for makers who then string the gemstones on recycled silver or recycled gold (there is enough on earth to never mine again). Seamaid (Cornwall) is a good brand.
The Kimberley Process is the certificate to avoid ‘blood diamonds’, whose profits fund civil wars. But many conventional jewellery still uses mined diamonds, which is not really much better.
Lab-grown diamonds are also grown in different colours, just like real diamonds that are given colours due to trace chemicals that trap, as they grow. They also cost around a third less. Whereas natural diamonds grow from subjecting carbon to high temperatures and pressure (often brough to the surface by volcanic activity), lab-grown diamonds use heated gases and high pressure to the same effect. Cubic zirconia is a bit like a diamond, but less durable and doesn’t have the same sparkle.
