OPINION: Harming, not Healing: Crystal Mining abuses demand accountability
Gemstones and crystals have immense environmental and human rights implications (PickPik)
“The world of crystals is a Wild West,” reports National Geographic. With no mandates on ethical or sustainable sourcing labels and limited regulation of working conditions, the gems in fast fashion jewelry pose serious environmental and ethical risks. Powered by trendy aesthetics, demand for overseas crystals and gemstones in the United States has doubled in recent years, according to The Guardian. Yet despite this growth, the true cost of gemstones largely remains hidden and undiscussed.
While there is little information about the size of the crystal industry, in 2019 it was estimated to be at more than one billion dollars, according to The Guardian. In addition, per Credence Research, North America is propelling the growth of the gemstones industry, accounting for more than one-third of the market in 2022.
Healing crystals have gained significant attention. Popularized by celebrities, healing crystals have gone viral on TikTok, becoming lucrative for many brands from Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop to fine arts auction house Sotheby's, per the Washington Post. Beyond crystals, gemstones used in fast fashion jewelry have also become very profitable revenue streams, valued at more than 30 billion dollars globally, according to Fortune Business Insights.
Gems and crystals are promoted for the ability to help people connect with natural forces, bringing harmony and balance to their lives, according to Harper’s Bazaar. Due to the crystals’ promises of tranquility and immunity, they are used in rituals, jewelry, and home decoration, all with the goal of promoting the user’s well-being. While these “healing” properties have been attractive to many, the reality is much more harmful.
Recently, a study from the University of Basel unearthed the dark reality of the gemstone industry. The study demonstrated that mining gemstones can have adverse environmental impacts, including water contamination, landscape destruction, soil erosion, and habitat loss. In Sri Lanka, the study linked an increase in cases of malaria to gemstone-producing regions, as stagnant water in mining pits attracts mosquitoes.
While crystal mining may seem less environmentally destructive than other mineral mining due to the smaller footprint of the mines themselves, miners still discard vegetation to find crystals, destroying habitats and reducing biodiversity, per National Geographic. Land clearing can also generate dust pollution, contaminating local waterways.
And it’s not just environmental impacts.
In Madagascar, more than 80 percent of crystals are mined artisanally, meaning by small groups and families who do not have proper labor protections, as reported by The Guardian. A lack of safety regulations makes the possibility of death, in particular due to landslides, very high. Yet, people are willing to continue working for minimal wages because the mines often represent their only source of income.
The mining process also smashes rocks, which create fine dust and particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs, causing respiratory diseases and breathing problems, such as silicosis.
Additionally, experts at the International Labor Organization believe that there are more than one million children working in artisanal, small-scale mining for crystals and other precious materials. With the dangers inherent in mining, the ILO considers it “one of the worst forms of child labor.” Children mining, paying with their lives the cost of your sparkly ring, is simply wrong and unfair.
Moreover, the exploitation of miners has severe societal consequences. In Burma, the mining of jade and rubies helps finance violent militant groups who protect the supply chains of these gems, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. As investigated by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, in Afghanistan, emeralds and tourmalines are mined and sold on the global market, and the precious gems are a lucrative source of income for militant groups, local warlords, and the Taliban.
Ordinary miners are caught in an exploitative system that perpetuates inequality and undermines sustainable development in resource-rich regions while mining companies profit, the environment degrades, and revenues fuel further violence.
Knowing this, consider your purchasing habits. Do you know what path the gemstones that line your shelves took to get there?
In the United States, gemstones were once mined ethically and on a smaller scale within Native American communities, following mining laws they placed on themselves, according to the Smithsonian Institution. However, modern crystal retailers like Goop have little concern for environmental impacts, human rights abuses, or their cultural origins, leaving the sourcing of the gemstones unknown. Websites lack specific information about gem origins, with no guarantees that their products are produced without child labor or environmental impacts.
Industry experts have pushed back against regulation, with the Coloured Gemstone Working Group indicating that regulation could have adverse effects on competition in the industry by raising barriers to small enterprise entry. From the gemstone industry’s perspective, current trade structures allow for the livelihoods of small individual traders to use their income to support their family and children’s education in local settings, contributing to development.
This industry position runs contrary to the real human and environmental costs inherent in gem and crystal mining.
Thus, without corporate accountability, the solution must come from individuals. Regulations to ensure sustainable mining need to be put in place. However, the current demand for crystals and lack of awareness of abuses make this a hard sell. Solutions such as having consumers be more “aware” of where their crystals are sourced, buying lab-grown crystals, and finding sustainable crystals on websites like Etsy have been proposed, but is this enough?
Awareness campaigns are not sufficient, as they have continually failed to provide meaningful social change. We cannot be satisfied with solutions that simply state that we should be more “aware.” This strategy has continually failed. Be “aware” of your use of plastic straws. Be “aware” of single-use plastics. Be “aware” of your carbon footprint.
Even if consumers wanted to be “aware,” they would be unable to find meaningful information. It’s time to demand accountability from major fashion and retail companies that have not published information on gemstone origins. It’s time to make “Harming Crystals” the trend on social media. It’s time to move away from environmentally draining and human-abusing trends.
The larger question is, why can’t we explore alternative means of healing and wellness, not through fashion trends or materialistic consumption, especially methods more grounded in science? Perhaps it’s time to analyze why people seek consumption to heal and have to be on top of a “trend” so much. While we do that, it’s time to return these traditions to the indigenous communities who had sustainably used them.
We can no longer pretend to connect with nature through bloody crystals. As new trends infiltrate social media every day, we need to reevaluate what these trends promote. As Gen Z attempts to promote environmentally and culturally conscious mindsets, it is integral for rising trends to reflect such attitudes. Overconsumption isn’t healing, it’s killing.