Hey, guys! Just wanted to have an open discussion on ethics. I've found that I learn better when speaking with different people and thinking on other perspectives. I was going to make this a video but I felt a bit scatter brained and decided to try and write out my thoughts clearly.
As you may or may not know I am vegan; that's not what this is about, however, ethics come into question whenever veganism is brought up and so it is a reoccurring thought. Now I absolutely love pearls, however, they don't fall into the category of vegan or cruelty free. A friend of mine was saying oysters don't feel anything and I spoke to a woman who works directly with a pearl farm for her jewelry. I would just squash my heart beat for pearls but when talking to this woman the comparison of lab grown to natural diamonds was made; this did make me feel better about my wanting of pearls but it's never that simple. I've been doing some research and of course there's more to be done but like I said I work well with sounding boards. A lot of pearl farmers are looking into ethics as it's becoming an increasing concern for consumers. I'll leave a link to an article I'm reading here and they mention cleaning the oysters by putting them in shallow water for fish to pick clean, which intern diversifies the fish population creating a positive effect. It's no secret the oceans are in danger as well as nature in general, the meat industry isn't going away anytime soon if ever and is extremely wasteful.
There are some "radical" vegans that think once you go vegan you basically shouldn't even be near animal byproduct but I am of the mind set that if I already had it or I bought it second hand, preferably not made in recent years it's fine, as I'm putting to use what would otherwise be wasted. Buying new product can be a bit of a grey area. On one hand when you don't buy second hand it contributes to the demand but if you don't some fashion houses don't re-purpose what isn't bought. On the jewelry side organic pieces are beautiful. It's still a matter of sourcing in some regards; horn falls off naturally all you have to do is collect it. Bone and shell are byproducts of the food industry, therefore putting to use every bit of the animal. When it comes to wood jewelry i would ask the company directly, I know oracle uses a specific type of wood that they replant and has a fast growth rate. Also honey, obviously not vegan as it is byproduct, however, honey is good for you and bees do overproduce honey which is bad for them. As some bee keepers just want the profit from the product sourcing can be an issue. There are a good amount of places where you can visit the bees to know the bees are being kept properly so I don't find honey to be something for vegans to fuss over.
Back to lab grown vs natural diamonds. They're both diamonds, just made in different environments, which brings up the concerns of mining. I read that certification has helped and somewhat hindered ethically sourced diamonds. The question becomes how much mining is too much? I was watching an opal documentary and it was said that while speaking to an aboriginal you're supposed to put the dirt back after mining, which is not being done and is compromising the areas. It was even said by the owner of a dig site that he wouldn't be able to drill at a site anymore or it would collapse. There's a mine I was thinking about going to and they have off limits areas and I thought to myself how much digging if any should we be doing? When will the site be closed down from all the digging. I love gems but I'm now wondering how many more we can dig up; lab grown gems are great alternatives, especially from a price standpoint. Then I think of all the gems already mined and set, they're beautiful and I want them but I don't want to contribute to the detriment of earth, however, mining creates a living for a lot of people. So I would consider this a grey area.
Lots of thoughts, hopefully they came out coherently. I'd love to hear you guys opinions on everything and anything else you want to converse about.
There are some "radical" vegans that think once you go vegan you basically shouldn't even be near animal byproduct but I am of the mind set that if I already had it or I bought it second hand, preferably not made in recent years it's fine, as I'm putting to use what would otherwise be wasted. Buying new product can be a bit of a grey area. On one hand when you don't buy second hand it contributes to the demand but if you don't some fashion houses don't re-purpose what isn't bought. On the jewelry side organic pieces are beautiful. It's still a matter of sourcing in some regards; horn falls off naturally all you have to do is collect it. Bone and shell are byproducts of the food industry, therefore putting to use every bit of the animal. When it comes to wood jewelry i would ask the company directly, I know oracle uses a specific type of wood that they replant and has a fast growth rate. Also honey, obviously not vegan as it is byproduct, however, honey is good for you and bees do overproduce honey which is bad for them. As some bee keepers just want the profit from the product sourcing can be an issue. There are a good amount of places where you can visit the bees to know the bees are being kept properly so I don't find honey to be something for vegans to fuss over.
Back to lab grown vs natural diamonds. They're both diamonds, just made in different environments, which brings up the concerns of mining. I read that certification has helped and somewhat hindered ethically sourced diamonds. The question becomes how much mining is too much? I was watching an opal documentary and it was said that while speaking to an aboriginal you're supposed to put the dirt back after mining, which is not being done and is compromising the areas. It was even said by the owner of a dig site that he wouldn't be able to drill at a site anymore or it would collapse. There's a mine I was thinking about going to and they have off limits areas and I thought to myself how much digging if any should we be doing? When will the site be closed down from all the digging. I love gems but I'm now wondering how many more we can dig up; lab grown gems are great alternatives, especially from a price standpoint. Then I think of all the gems already mined and set, they're beautiful and I want them but I don't want to contribute to the detriment of earth, however, mining creates a living for a lot of people. So I would consider this a grey area.
Lots of thoughts, hopefully they came out coherently. I'd love to hear you guys opinions on everything and anything else you want to converse about.
-HopelessAndFluffy
This is really interesting and insightful Especially because I love pearls!! Thanks for this!!
ReplyDeleteThanks! You're very welcome!
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