Rock With You — Finding an Ethical Ring
Since way before the movie “Blood Diamond” came out, I knew I didn’t want a conflict diamond on my ring finger. Not that I was anywhere close to engaged at the time. Rather, this was a hypothetically unwanted gemstone set in a future, as-yet-unpurchased ring.
So when my fiance and I started discussing such things, I told him I’d prefer a jewel that wasn’t mined using slave labor, or child labor, or to fund wars in nations like Angola, The DRC and Sierra Leone. I also wanted to avoid gems mined in hazardous conditions. I couldn’t imagine our shining symbol of “‘til death do us part” having played a role in anyone’s actual death.
True, there’s a protocol called The Kimberley Process, meant to minimize conflict stones in the diamond industry. But it’s far from perfect, and it doesn’t account for humanitarian conflicts or environmental impact.
Speaking of the environmental cost, a single carat of mined diamond requires about 250 tons of earth to be shifted, and is responsible for an estimated 57kg of CO2 emission. That’s a huge toll for a single accessory — no matter how hard, how shiny, or how often pop culture insists that diamonds are a girl’s best friend. This girl knew she could do better.
Digging deeper (metaphorically, of course)
First, a little exploration. What other engagement ring options were out there?
We could opt for lab-grown diamonds, virtually indistinguishable from the earth-mined variety. But to me, that would feel like I was still buying into the diamond industry’s world domination.
Then there was cubic zirconia. Which made me think of costume jewelry sold on the home shopping networks I watched growing up. I couldn’t get past the perception.
Colored stones? A bold ruby, emerald or sapphire could really make a statement. Still, mining natural stones can have a harsh environmental and humanitarian impact.
After some searching, there was one rock that intrigued me the most. A super-sparkly, almost-diamond-hard, lab-grown gem called moissanite.
Unearthing a rare beauty
Moissanite is a natural stone. At least, it was. First discovered in a meteorite crater by Dr. Henri Moissan in 1893, moissanite literally fell from the stars! Science took it from there, learning to replicate this rare find in the 1990s. Moissanite has a hardness rating of 9.25 on the Mohs scale, while diamond ranks highest of all at 10. It also has more brilliance than a diamond. So if you ideally want your stone to look like a real diamond, moissanite’s sparkly fire might give it away.
I didn’t care. I wanted that stone and I wanted it bad. My guy (wisely) looked at ring styles with me, and I sent him a bunch that I liked. At the end of the day, I got the perfect engagement ring. And we got to break with the decades-old “diamonds are forever” tradition in a way that was perfect for us.
