The environment and many people have to suffer for their Butterfly Ring and other pieces of jewelry. Only when you know more about it can you make the right decision and not have to go without jewelry.
Right now the environment is getting a lot of attention from activists. Greta Thunberg speaks to the United Nations and holds up a mirror to us. Critical artists like Campino von den Toten Hosen or Leonardo DiCaprio are committed to ensuring that something changes in the world. The pursuit of economic growth and money is devastating, but each of you can do something to counteract this.
Climate change and butterfly ring
The climate is changing. You notice it in the hotter summers, in the melting glaciers and also in various natural disasters that you hear about in the daily news.
Jewelry made from conventional jewelry materials such as gold, silver or precious stones is often won in crisis regions. The working conditions there are poor and in many cases, the ordinary workers are exploited. The high profit is distributed among a few and thus creates a high imbalance in society. In addition, chemicals are often used to extract raw materials, which are bad for the environment and also cause illnesses in day labourers.
Mostly, they mine gold in South Africa, Australia, Russia and the USA. But because of the high gold prices, remote areas in South America are also interesting. The mining creates huge mines, the rainforest is cleared and the areas resemble a lunar landscape. Toxic chemicals such as cyanide and mercury are used to wash the gold out of the mined rock. This poisons the waterways, the soil and the workers. Most of the time the workers are badly paid for their deadly work, many of them children.
What is the solution to the problem, should you no longer wear a butterfly ring?
No, there are several options here. If you love the color of gold and want to continue to wear gold jewelry, there is the possibility of melting down old jewelry or dentures and extracting pure gold from them in special gold separators. Gold is also used in many electronic products and can be recycled. Let them create your new, individual jewelry from it.
But jewelry doesn’t always have to be made of metal. You can get sustainable jewelry made from natural rubber. Natural rubber is a renewable resource.