Greg Valerio of Cred Foundation spoke to us last week about fairness and justice in the jewellery business, fairness to everyone from the mine to the shelf. Fair Trade is a first step, says Greg, but we still have a long way to go. He talked about his company Cred Jewellery and the challenge of mining gold and silver without using harmful chemicals. Quite a challenge. Next step is fair trade diamonds
Related: Counting the Cost of Gold (PDF)
What a great conversation. I am interested to read what is said about diamonds.
Some while back, I was involved in a Cafod campaign around Gold. A bunch of us – mostly old ladies and seasoned campaigners – paraded around town hand handed in long paper chains to local goldsmiths.
[I’ve just realised the pdf linked above is from that campaign..]
Anyway. To be honest, it all seemed a bit pointless. I was tempted to hand in my gold and tell the shop I bought it from that I don’t want to wear the blood it represents.
But the problem is the emotional ties that link my gold to my relationship with my wife. My ring is not essential, but it is symbolic…
ANdrew, regarding the Silver Ring Thing… read this. Amazing stuff
http://www.ministryoftruth.org.uk/2007/06/25/silver-bling-thing/
dave – nice article. always more than first meets the eye. much thanks!
Dave, yes, thanks – that was very interesting!
Here’s Christianity Today’s collection of news articles about the ring. I’m not sure if any bring up the fair trade aspect – I haven’t read them all.
Christianity Today: Another U.K. Jewelry Row
I think it’s good for Christians to read secular reports on what they’re doing because it gives them an idea whether the stands they take are drawing people to Jesus or not.
My guess would be that taking a stand on fair trade as Greg does impresses people who aren’t Christians whereas a girl making a fuss over her right to wear a ring simply makes them roll their eyes and wonder why Christians don’t have anything more important to worry about. I haven’t read any secular reports about fair trade jewellery but I have read some of the news articles about the ring and they tend to bear out my theory about that.
thanks for the pdf:) counting the cost of gold
Very nice jewelery collection.I like all the jeweleries that u have posted..Thanks!!!