the ring

about a month before i began to seriously look for a ring, i came across this article on National Geographic’s website about conflict or “blood” diamonds. reading this article made me do some more research to find out more about how i can avoid inadvertently supporting African war-lords who use the diamond trade to fund their destruction.

after running this idea by vivien, she was more than on-board and was excited that she would one day wear a beautiful, conflict-free diamond ring! i started to look at a few different jewelers in Dallas and i soon realized that these diamonds are more difficult to come by than i first thought. i eventually realized that i would have to buy the ring online if i wanted to make sure it was conflict free.

the two best websites i came across were:

bluenile.com (canadian diamonds and kimberly process diamonds)
and

brilliantearth.com (canadian diamonds only)

the only real ways to know if your diamond is conflict-free is by tracking it all the way from the mine to you. the kimberly process, started by a coalition of diamond traders in africa, forces participating nations to track all of their diamonds from the mine to the re-seller. this process has a weakness that you can read more about here if you would like. the other (best) way to ensure that you have a conflict-free ring is by buying diamonds from canada (eh). these diamonds are all tracked from the mine to the re-seller as well. and let’s face it, there are no war-lords in canada. they’re all too busy staying healthy and living productive lives with their universal healthcare.

all that to say, i had a blast picking out the ring. i went with one of the canadian diamonds at bluenile.com and spent a lot of time mixing and matching diamonds and bands and finally came out with one that i (and vivien) loved!

i would highly reccommend ordering from either of these websites. i had phone and email conversations with both of them and they are extremely helpful!

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