"Getting Jewelers To Clean Up Mining: No Dirty Gold Campaign"

[orleans]

got this in a mailing from earthworks

Gold mining is one of the world's most destructive industries. Ore is dug out of huge open pit mines so big they can be seen from space. To leach out the gold, the ore is then crushed and sprayed with cyanide.

Yes, cyanide! The deadly poison. Mines can use several tons of cyanide a day. And just a rice-grain does can be fatal. Then, smelting and refining require extraordinary amounts of water and energy. Plus, gold mines are one of the largest producers of airborne mercury emissions, and are unregulated under the Clean Air Act!

The gold needed for one ring creates 20 tons of waste.

And 80% of the gold mined today is used to make jewelry.

If you think that makes you mad, imagine how a responsible jeweler must fee. Gold should mean romance, not pollution, health threats, and human rights abuses

Target's Gold Policy is Off the Mark
The No Dirty Gold campaign has been in dialog with the Target Corporation since 2005, a year after we first approached the company seeking a commitment to more responsible gold sourcing.

Despite our best efforts, Target refuses to formally endorse the Golden Rules. As a result, the company has been added to our "laggards" list.

More than 15,000 people sent faxes to Target CEO Robert Ulrich the week before Valentine's Day. That same week, hundreds of you picked up the phone and called Target stores around the country asking the company to do what other leading retailers have already done -- endorse the Golden Rules. And, dozens of NDG activists at ten schools including the University of Texas at Austin, University of South Florida and George Washington University sent handmade valentines to Robert Ulrich.

As a result of these actions, Target issued a statement acknowledging the importance of issues related to jewelry sourcing and production. But the company still has not taken the important step of endorsing specific criteria for responsible sourcing, as other retailers have done.

We urge you to continue to tell Target to step up to the plate and sign the Golden Rules.

TAKE ACTION!: target.nodirtygold.org.

http://www.nodirtygold.org/NDGnews.cfm#200703TARGET

[orleans]

1. come on, no comment? i didn't fucking know they used cyanide to get gold

everyone already knows this? no comments? or it's no big deal?

20 tons of waste for one ring?

hello? (is this thing on?)