No dirty gold: consumer education and action for mining reform

摘要

Armed with mock Valentine cards and dressed in colorful sandwich boards, No Dirty Gold campaign activists were on a mission last February: to educate consumers about gold mining and enlist their support in cleaning up one of the world's dirtiest industries. In Boston and Washington DC, activists stood outside busy subway stations at rush hour. In New York City, the venue was 5th Avenue, home to all the famous jewelry stores, including Cartier, Bulgari, Harry Winston, and Piaget. Most consumers of the metal, including retailers and shoppers of gold jewelry, are not aware of the environmental and social toll inflicted by gold mining operations. A report published by Earthworks and Oxfam America, Dirty Metals: Mining, Communities and the Environment, details the massive pollution, huge open pits, devastating community health effects, worker dangers and, in many cases, human rights abuses that have become hallmarks of gold and metals mining in countries such as Peru, Indonesia, Ghana and in parts of the United States.