Designer Diamonds Newspaper Article What have been the effects of diamond mining had on the environment and people of Africa (or India) especially those in Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone? Sierra Leone has been through decades of resource exploitation. Also a brutal ten-year war has taken its toll on all the people and their land that they are living on. Most of these are among the poorest and the most uneducated people in the world. In Sierra Leone, mining is basically a way of living for them. When the dry season comes around many of the young men are able to dig down into the gravel. This is when they head to the diamond fields. Mining companies hire most of the men but sometimes others just do all the work for themselves and their families. Most of the men that are working for the mining companies will earn only one dollar a day. Lots of men are forced to leave school as kids to work in the mines. Sierra Leone has only just recently discovered large deposits of iron and oil. The families in Marange believe their village would be safer if they had never discovered enormous deposits of alluvial diamonds. Marange’s major challenge was the invasion of tens of thousands of miners, merchants and dealers who did not submit to the local traditional leaders. The diamond rush was followed by lots ad lots of violence. Murder and armed robberies were the most recorded attacks. Over 200 miners were shot within 5 weeks. Sabi River was the main water source. The river provided fish, drinking water for humans and livestock and abled people to do chores such as their laundry. The river was also used for baths, for the children and for the adults. Since September 2009 villages have had to watch in pain as the mining companies are rapidly taking th... ... middle of paper ... ... get it back to the way it was. This can include refilling the pits were the diamond mining was located. Diamond mining faces big challenges that relate to energy. This can contribute to the global climate change. Artificial diamonds can effect miners because the artificial diamonds will get sold in stores for less money than real diamonds would, this means that miners are losing business. Mining can effect the environment majorly; one of these ways is deforestation. Before the mining process begins, the whole land that is being mined has to be cleared. Deforestation decreases the amount of habitats for animals. In worse cases this can even lead to death of animals. Land dredging happens when holes are filled with contaminated water. The holes then become a breeding nest for mosquitoes and other disease carrying insects. This can lead to spreading of diseases.
Deep within African mines, elusive diamonds lay enveloped in the Earth’s crust. Possessing much influence, beauty, and tension, nature’s hardest known substance causes parallel occurrences of unity and destruction on opposite sides of the globe. Diamonds, derived from the Greek word "adamas", meaning invincible, are formed deep within the mantle, and are composed entirely from carbon. Moreover, only under tremendous amounts of heat and pressure can diamonds form into their preliminary crystal state. In fact, diamonds are formed approximately 150km- 200km below the surface and at radical temperatures ranging from 900-1300 C°. When these extremes meet, carbon atoms are forced together creating diamond crystals. Yet how do these gems, ranking a ten on Moh’s hardness scale, impact the individual lives of millions of people besides coaxing a squeal out of brides-to-be? These colorless, yellow, brown, green, blue, reddish, pink, grey and black minerals are gorgeous in their cut state, but how are these otherwise dull gems recognized and harvested? Furthermore, how and why is bloodshed and violence caused over diamonds in Africa, the supplier of approximately 65% of the world’s diamonds? (Bertoni) The environmental, social, and economic impact of harvesting, transporting, and processing diamonds is crucial because contrary to popular belief, much blood has been spilled over first-world “bling”.
Being located in the west coast of Africa and between Guinea and Liberia, “Sierra Leone has an abundance of easily extractable diamonds”(BBC News). The diamonds had brought “encouragement” for violence in the country in 1991. Attacks of the Revolutionary “United Front (RUF) ,led by former army corporal Foday Sankoh”(Encyclopedia Britannica), were on government military and civilians. In response to a corrupt government, the RUF performed violent and terrorist acts that scarred many. “The RUF captured civilians and forced them to work”(Analyzing the Causes) in their army to gain control over Sierra Leone. The savages went a...
War-ravaged Sierra Leone had trouble maintaining order, many still unclear what type of government they were living by. For years, the government of Sierra Leone had “made repeated commitments to...
Summary of Source Information: This article talks about the health conditions of many miners and diamond diggers that are affected due to substandard working conditions in sub-Saharan Africa. In these areas, where there are many unregulated mining locations, workers are prone to being exploited to hazardous working conditions. Children are especially vulnerable in these environments because they already suffer from poor health conditions due to lack of care and nutrition. Children have often been exploited in the diamond industry due to their ability to get into small spaces and dig out packs of dirt. Another health effect associated with diamond mining, in which this article talks about, is how diamond deposits have often mixed with vegetated areas, leaving it unsuitable for farming activities. Mining equipment leaves heavy minerals and chemical products that run into the rivers and contaminate vital sources of water for the mining community and people who live in these rural areas. Currently, diamond companies, as well as labor and health activists, are trying to do something to help improve health conditions of workers.
Should diamonds be seen as such highly sought-after, luxury goods, and marketed and sold at such extravagant amounts? While some individuals might be of the impression that diamonds are lavishly priced, because of limited supply, it is of my opinion that a very shrewdly-created cartel disguises the very reason for these “rare” gems seemingly being worth your “pretty penny”.
...violent and underground culture of diamond workers. These workers were treated terribly and would often be exploited for their man power by the rebel army in order for the army to have more weapons to fight the government of Sierra Leone. However, when I comes down to the real issue, the rebel army is the center of all the problems that arise, including the child workers and soldiers. The army was one of the major reasons why Sierra Leone's Civil War was as violent as it was. There was nothing to stop them from doing what they wanted and the diamond industry was seen as a income source to fund themselves against the government. However despite all the money and power the rebel army had, they were defeated and the government was reestablished, with order and democracy leading the new leaders reign.
...t that their sons were child soldiers holding guns and striking down innocent civilians. The horrors and violence that occurred during this ten-year period are unthinkable. Many families are still rebuilding more than ten years later. For a resource that was supposed to bring Sierra Leone out of poverty to leave it in even worse conditions is sad to think about. Though diamonds from conflict areas are banned, some still find their way into the markets. It is up to the buyers of these products to really trace the history of each and every diamond for a stop in this conflict to happen. Consumers can also help by asking for the history of their diamond before buying one. If the world can do this, profit made from diamonds will be going to the right people and the responsibility of violence in conflict areas will no longer be on the diamond industry or the world.
In “ “Blood Diamonds” and Africa’s Armed Conflicts in the Post – Cold War Era, “ Orogun (2004) said that diamonds are referring as “clean stones”. This article explains about the black market is really happening in African. I am using this article to support how the black market of diamond trades is still not regulated, and they defined it as “licit” trade.
The acts of violence that were performed by rebels in Africa were horrific. Adults and children were murdered, mutilated, tortured, and raped. The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone performed despicable acts of cutting off a people's body parts with machetes to instill fear in the community. If you were working in the diamond mines and not performing up to the standards of the rebels you would lose a body part as punishment. Rebels would continue to do this from one village to another in order “to take control of the mines in the area” (Hoyt). It is estimated that in Sierra Leone that over 20,000 people suffered mutilation. The acts that the rebels performed to these innocent victims was clearly a violation to their human rights. The RUF collected 125 million a year to fund their war on the government and the people of Sierra Leone.
...l the flow of conflict diamonds. Both assure consumers that more than 99% of rough stones today come from conflict-free sources which are regulated by the Kimberley process. According to the people who profited from diamonds, the blood diamonds problem is passé5. Further research tells us that it is not. According to Father Rocco Puopolo of the Africa Faith and Justice Network, he says “It’s not passé,” “the diamond industry can claim what they want and the film will always serve as a template for what is going on in Africa today.” This point out that labour exploitation and conflict (for control of precious resources such as gold) may still be going on in Africa.
What comes to mind when you think of coal mining? If you're like me, coal mining means living in darkness and a cold hearted industry. Other words that come to mind are poverty and oppression. Coal mining is not a job that you dream about or get a degree for. People who are coal miners do not chose a life full of danger and repression, they get stuck with it. There are many dangers that come along with coal mining, not only for the workers, but for the environment. Coal mining and the coal industry have caused irreversible damage to our environment and has killed innocent miners.
Burning and mining coal for fuel is harmful to the environment, but because of how cheap and easy it is to find, many people are unwilling to give it up as a fuel source. One of the problems with coal is that they are limited and are non-renewable, so once it has been used we won’t be able to use it again. When coal gets burned, they start to release harmful, dangerous toxins such as mercury, lead and arsenic that will then escape into the air. It also releases large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. These emissions increase the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere and lead to global warming.
At the height of the conflict, about one third of the country's people were displaced. The chronic financial crisis became severe and the economy was close to collapsing. Poverty has become deeper in the rural areas of the Congo where poor people are now powerless, vulnerable and isolated. This is a big contributor to the poverty Congo is experiencing today, because little has improved and won’t improve until these problems are fixed. Overall, Central Africa’s dependence on agriculture could improve the wellbeing of the people but a long history of corruption, violence, and prevalent transportation issues have hindered an improvement in the economy resulting in poverty in the region.
In our days, mining for resources is inevitable. The resources we need are valuable in everyday life. Such resources mined up are coal, copper, gold, silver, and sand. However, mining poses environmental risks that can degrade the quality of soil and water, which can end up effecting us humans if not taken care of and many of the damages are irreversible once they have occurred.
Mining is the process or industry of obtaining minerals from the earth. Topics in this paper I’ll be specifically discussing are pros and cons of mining, structures of a mine, mining in general, California gold rush, diamonds in Africa, and comparison of diamond and gold mines.