Retail giant Wal-Mart is joining with Conservation International as well as mining companies Rio Tinto and Newmont Mining to launch a pilot project that lets customers trace the path of their jewelry from mine to mega-store. Marketed as Wal-Mart's "Love, Earth" brand jewelry, the items stand out from others in that once they're purchased, customers can go to the Love, Earth website, plug in the tag number from their jewelry item and see what mine it came out of and the path it traveled from refiner to manufacturer to retailer. Wal-Mart has been marketing Love, Earth items as more eco-friendly, but there's some reason to question the designation. Some of the gold used in the Love, Earth items comes from Newmont's Nevada mines, which, among other techniques, use cyanide heap-leach mining to extract gold. Project partner Conservation International says of the practice, "Cyanide ... can filter into the surrounding ground, water, and air if not properly contained." However, despite questionable greenness at the Newmont mine, Wal-Mart maintains that a more open supply chain will eventually lead to industry improvements.
A Hole-istic Approach
Wal-Mart, mining companies team up to trace path of jewelry supply chain 3
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Posted 7:31 AM on 16 Jul 2008
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mathnsci Posted 1:17 pm
16 Jul 2008
wal-marts size also requires large parking lots. these destroy rivers because the water can not seep into the ground. when it rains the rivers flood and when it is not raining the rivers are dry.
Wal-Mart has been sued by the government for breaking environmental regulations so many times its not funny.
When you look at the history of wal-mart manipulating consumers and showing a total disregard towards the environment, and take into account that all these environmental measure they are taking are a drop in the bucket compared to how much they have hurt the environment, it is clear that this is no more than a marketing ploy. While we should not discourage wal-mart from being environmentally friendly (every bit counts) they are still environmental menaces and we should spend our money elsewhere. shop local.
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thenvironmentalist Posted 12:38 am
17 Jul 2008
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zenkate Posted 1:46 am
17 Jul 2008
I say applaud the information. Applaud the effort. And encourage the changes to the companies with your own buying habits. How many of you know where your earrings came from?
And most importantly, work to pass legislation that promotes clean earth practices. But to chastise a company for selling a product that people buy? No. Chastise our government for not regulating it.
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