Ethically Sourced Crystals
What “Ethical Gemstones” means and why it matters
What you’ll learn: The complexity of ethical sourcing and manufacturing + how we can all make a huge difference in promoting ethical crystals and ethical fashion!
Growing demand for products, even healthful products, often unfortunately leads to over-consumption of natural resources. When something becomes popular, like crystals, essential oils, or any natural resource, people start consuming a lot more of it.
This necessitates the ethical discussion of How Much is Too Much? Can we continue to provide more and more product while still respecting and protecting the earth and the people involved in this production?
Ethical sourcing is not only how you take care of the environment, but also how you treat the people along the chain of production. From miners, suppliers, producers, shippers and even down to the packaging, there are many individuals involved in supplying the raw materials for my crystal jewelry. From getting a crystal out of the ground, to getting it onto your neck, there is a large span of people and processes that can determine if a product is ethically sourced or not.
Watch the entire video here.
What makes a crystal ethically sourced?
There are two factors to consider:
1. Environmental impact of the mining process: Ever seen pictures of where they have dug up crystals, and it looks like giant wastelands and piles of earth? It's a lot like any other mining process in the sense that we have to get under the ground and extract these buried gems. Mining crystals can leave a huge hole in the ground and may also require swaths of trees to be cut down. Ethical sourcing requires an answer to this question: How can we remove these minerals from the earth without leaving irrevocable damage on the landscape and environment?
2. Treatment of workers: Beyond the effects on nature, ethical sourcing also includes the effects on humanity. Are you treating the people who are digging the crystal out of the ground with the appropriate respect? Are you paying them fairly?
Of course, this also goes beyond the Crystal Industry.
These same principles apply cross every industry - food, oil, natural gas, paper, skin care, fashion etc. Were there children use for labor? Were there adults use for labor that weren’t appropriately paid a living wage?
The Good News… As the importance of Ethical Sourcing and Ethical Manufacturing has gained more popularity, we’ve also seen changes happening within many industries. Consumers are demanding products that are ethically made, and companies have to change in response to the consumer demand.
Sourcing Ethically as a Crystal Jewelry Seller
As a crystal jeweler, it has become my mission to find companies that follow ethical sourcing practices for all my gemstone beads, pendants, and raw crystals.
Here are some of the steps I take to promote Ethical Sourcing within my business:
I search, first, for ethically sourced raw materials to use in all my jewelry designs.
If I can't find a specific crystal, I’ll see if there is an alternative that will provide similar healing benefits, and I source that ethical gem instead.
When working on custom orders, if I can’t find any ethical source or alternative, I will occasionally source high quality gems from respected (but not labelled as ethical) wholesale companies.
The longer I’ve searched for these ethical sources, the more are becoming available. So for my jewelry collections, if I can’t find an ethical source I just wait…. knowing that some time in the future I’ll be able to find an ethical option for a gem I really want to use in my jewelry.
The same applies for tumbled stones and display pieces. The more ethical options I find, the more stones I can add to our shop!
Every time I sell jewelry that uses gemstones beads from my older stock, I buy replacement beads from companies that are ethically sourcing their products.
It’s more expensive for me to purchase ethically sourced crystals, but I feel so much better knowing that I can label my crystal jewelry as ethically sourced!
Benefits of purchasing ethically sourced crystals
The quality of ethically sourced gems is noticeably better. When you purchase a crystal from me that is ethically sourced, you can expect it to be absolutely beautiful… very often more beautiful than a cheaper, non-ethically-sourced stone.
The energy is better too. Think about the love that went into it - extracting it gently from the earth, carving and polishing by well paid craftspeople, all the way to the care that I take in making a piece with these gems and other high quality materials - the entire process is full of love, care, craft, and positive energy!
The crystal benefits are more reliable. When you get a crystal that was verified from the mine, you’re less likely to be lied to about the quality of the gemstone, whether it's been dyed, whether it's been heated, it's actual name, healing properties, etc. You're sourcing from an ethical company because they care. They're not just in it for the money. They care about you. They care about the earth, they care about their employees. And they care about your experience with these crystals when they reach your home.
SHOP ETHICAL JEWELRY
BROWSE ETHICAL CRYSTALS AND STONES
Here are some of key takeaways:
Ethical sourcing of crystals encompasses many important aspects of Sustainability, including Environmental Stewardship, Social Responsibility, Fair Trade, and Quality Control.
Ethically sourcing crystals means that they have treated the earth with as much love, care, and respect as possible while getting these crystals out of the ground, ensuring sustainability throughout the process.
The ethical sourcing process also includes appropriately paying their employees to mine these gems.
There are more steps between the crystal coming out of the ground and getting to you in the form of jewelry, including paying workers fairly to create beads or carving large gemstones. When you're paying for any product, if you want it to be ethical, you're paying for all of those processes along the way.
“SUSTAINABILITY = Ensuring that the sourcing and production are done in a way that meets present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
You can now see the complexity of verifying gemstones as ethically sourced. There are so many processes within this industry and so little regulation. However, the more that consumers demand ethically sourced products, the more crystal jewelers can afford to purchase and sell these gemstones. Together we can create better products that protect the environment and compensate all the people that bring these beautiful pieces to life!
