Would You Pay More For Fair Trade Gold?

[Joe]

Am I missing something here? So, you would actually rather support the poverty and the damage to the environment by bying the 'dirty gold'?

"Would you rather"... reductionist questions are the grist of marketing companies and politicians. Whenever I hear that sort of question, I imagine Peter Mandelson setting it to get the right vibe.

Not one child fewer will die in Bolivia if every single gram of gold sold in the UK is tagged as responsibly sourced. But fewer cameras will record those deaths.

If you have energy for change, focus it where it will cause change, don't allow it to be used to ease the consciences of those that can make changes.

Fairtrade coffee, organic food, free-range eggs... these are marketing ideas taking the place of social reform in the sight of the masses. Don't let our industry go there.

[lilia]

"Would you rather"... reductionist questions are the grist of marketing companies and politicians. Whenever I hear that sort of question, I imagine Peter Mandelson setting it to get the right vibe.

Not one child fewer will die in Bolivia if every single gram of gold sold in the UK is tagged as responsibly sourced. But fewer cameras will record those deaths.

If you have energy for change, focus it where it will cause change, don't allow it to be used to ease the consciences of those that can make changes.

Fairtrade coffee, organic food, free-range eggs... these are marketing ideas taking the place of social reform in the sight of the masses. Don't let our industry go there.

I am not going to argue with you Joe, you have your opinion and I have mine, we are obviously on different waves. I use recycled gold to ease my own concience, that the jewellery I make didn't actually hurt anyone, not to ease the consciences of some polititians. No, nothing will happen, if nobody does anything and keeps using dirty gold, because supply has to meet demand.

Yes, I eat organic food and free range eggs. Again not because those politians told me to do that, but because I know where that food came from and how it was grown. I would hate to eat something (and never will) from a low cost supermarket, which was sprayed with so many chemicals that the colour of that vegetable turned slightly yellow, instead of bright green. If you are happy with that, that's upto you.

[Joe]

The noteworthy rises in the price of gold indicate an increase in demand, but not for jewellery. All of that demand is from speculators and people seeking secure currency. In fact, the high price has resulted in a lot of jewellery being melted for scrap as the value of the raw material exceeds the value of the manufactured items.

So how is making new jewellery from recycled gold going to affect demand when it's not the driving force behind demand?

The sorts of people looking to back their assets up in gold are not the sort of people who would find the plight of the poor in South America of any import.

Don't do it, don't create another screen for westerners to hide the plight of the world's poorest.