Today we can hear about the urgent need for protecting the environment more often than ever before. The environmental focus is present in every area of business and social activity. Whatever we do, mass media obstinately call us to do this in an eco-friendly manner associating it with ethic, safety, responsibility, and social awareness. Have you ever thought what is this: just social trend, profitable marketing approach or indeed the only way to sustainability?
The hottest fight of the age
I guess I am not a single person who dares question this issue. Please do not think I want to contest the environmental stand but some of the marketing positionings make me challenge and look for rationale. I mean the hottest jewelry fight of the current age – natural versus lab-grown diamonds. The latter option is positioned as ethically-sourced and thus more preferable to buy. You would not find a single article concerning man-made diamonds that not emphasize the ethical and safe way of their production. I should say, this advertising message is rather effective. Being founded just 65 years ago, lab-grown diamonds are just in one-step to replace their natural counterparts on the market. Due to the latest forecasting, market revenue related to them will reach 14.9 billion U.S. dollars by 2024.
Questions for considerations
Producers accent "not bothering the Earth" as the primary advantage of their technology. However, what's about the safety of the production process? It is an evident fact that it requires energy. One lab-grown gemstone needs three hundred hours to be produced! So, the producers should maintain a high temperature and pressure for three hundred hours.
What's about outcomes? Do the laboratories growing diamonds heat the air less than any other factory? And does the production process cause less influence on climate change than natural mining?
Moreover, I could not stop thinking about consumerism. Society calls overconsumption one of the biggest environmental issues. However, promoting lab-grown diamonds as a cheaper and more affordable alternative of natural diamonds we indeed promote increased sales of this product. While one person should collect money for a long time to buy a valuable natural diamond, he or she can purchase two or three synthesized options for the same period. Consequently, the issue of utilizing enormous volumes of lab-grown diamonds will rise soon enough.
So, I question again whether producers know the safe way to utilize or recycle their products.
It's not all bad news
I put these questions not to discourage you buy lab-grown diamonds. In no case. The fact is that not everything the producers tell us is indeed true. There are laboratories, which make all their efforts to make the production process as harmless as possible, but some of them just use environmental positioning to promote their products.
Apparently, this direction is the youngest one in the jewelry industry and now it is too early for making a conclusion. However, believing in marketing messages unquestionably we promote producers’ irresponsibility. As soon as we start questioning, we will create an impulse for improvements.
So, buy lab-grown diamonds but put the mentioned questions before purchasing. Believe me, you will be surprised by answers or their absence. Both first and second will show you the right responsible producer, which strives for developing a sustainable production process instead of exploiting a profitable marketing approach.
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