Some of the information contained in this rant was obtained from a NY Times article which you can read here.
My vanity side likes to wear a small amount of jewelry, a couple of rings at the most. I choose to wear silver jewelry. I realize that gold is very expensive which means to me its hard to come by. It means that for a simple gold bauble that weighs an ounce, miners dig up and haul away 30 tons of rock and sprinkle it with diluted cyanide. Cyanide ain't a good thing. The piles of earth moved daily in one quarry alone can reach a half a million tons..thats one day. They are of the size of the Great Pyramids and they are irrigated with a cyanide solution for years or decades.
Most of the gold is mined in the poorest of the third world countries.Hard-rock mining in general generates more toxic waste than any other industry in the good ol US of A sportsfans..according to the EPA. These mines must be tended in perpetuity, unless its a third world country..then god if I know what they do with this near-toxic mess.
Remember..Bush supports and in some cases aids business's whose interests are to weaken the EPA and increase their profit margin..even if it jeopardizes our health and that of our children's children.
The article mentioned is a good one, its a nice expose on the mining industy and its horror-filled legacy. It is a very detailed, long one so be prepared for a long read..but hell..thats what your doing right now anyway..isnt it?
