So what about the higher scale V-Day gift – jewellery?
First off, as I’ve fast reached the age where proposal-bombs are going off all around me, I’ve started to notice that luckily many Gen Y’s prefer man-made jewels as we have become aware of the behind the scenes of the ´blood diamond´ industry where the gems are mined in African warzones which in itself is known to abuse human rights and what’s left over from Queen Elizabeth II crown and chariot, are then used as dirty money to encourage the terrorism group Al Qaeda for example.
To add injury to another injury it’s researched that in order to produce one 18 karat gold ring, 18 tonnes of waste is left behind with a lot of the toxic ingredients in there, like mercury, ending up in drinking water.
Continuing with chokky. Ahh, the bitter side of sweet chocolate… The major issues related to chocolate is cacao farming as it requires deforestation which causes habitat loss for a lot of primates and more often than not, the use of child slave labour. Did I mention, most of these criminal actions are of course illegal? The leader in this travesty is Nestlé – one of the biggest motherships in the food and cosmetics industry.
Unfortunately the cacao farmers only use 30% of the fruit itself so the rest of it is left to rot in the fields where the decomposing produces pathogens that are harmful to both soil and air.
Now, we might think that a Valentine’s card is the least harmful way to appreciate your friend or loved one but it’s easy to not think further that the pretty message on the card – around 200 million cards are sold each year solely in the US so imagine that just so someone could buy a paper card with a paper envelope, present it to their other half who will glance at it once and then either bury it in the drawer or throw it out, whole forests are being taken down, ecosystems destroyed and air polluted. It’s just careless… Let’s remember that humans are the only species that take down forests to produce paper and then write ”SAVE TREES” on it.
There are alternatives though. You can still show someone you love them all the while being considerate to Earth:
Choose man-made gems or cubic zirconiums if you fancy jewellery.
Buy jewellery made from recycled gold.
Make chocolate yourself or buy Fairtrade and organic sweets.
Donate to charity.
Go out for dinner, picnic or potluck.
Send a love email (or a love fax if you’re mr. Big)
Ultimately, just tell them you love them. And watch ”Blood Diamond” with Leo today.
♥ ♥