Shine On You Crazy Diamond

I have no plans to get hitched any time soon… but I’ve just wondered from a strictly environmental (and not social) standpoint if one is more environmentally friendly than another.

I spoke with Neil Koppel, president and CEO of Renaissance Diamonds Inc and a thirty-year veteran of the jewelry industry. I asked him the 28-carat question: do cultured diamonds have less of an environmental impact than ethically-mined ones?

I suppose his answer is not all that surprising, given his occupation:

“Between the destruction of the environment and pollution caused by run-off chemicals… ‘yes’ is the appropriate answer,” he said.

We do already know that mining is one of the dirtiest industries on the planet. And according to the Environmental Literacy Group, most diamonds come from a process called “open pit mining,” which involves moving large amounts of rock and dirt around and can cause environmental damage from all of the energy used, the disruption to ecosystems and animal habitat, and acid runoff.

I’ve never personally witnessed diamond mining (though I did see "Blood Diamond")… but I was curious to know more about how diamonds are created in labs. This is what I learned from Neil:

A cultured diamond grown in a laboratory takes about four days to create. I’m told that the whole process uses about as much energy as a blow dryer uses to blow dry a wet head of hair. Neil says the quality of cultured diamonds does not suffer. In fact, the Gemological Institute of America grades them exactly the same as natural diamonds, as far as cut, clarity, color and carat.

Sounds pretty good to me, if what you’ve got your heart set on is a diamond. But I’m not going to make the final call until I talk to more people in the know and see these processes for myself.

If you’re interested in more information about conflict diamonds, check out this page from Amnesty International, or this one from the United Nations.