I've been reading about diamonds lately and found reference to this film The Blood Diamond with Leonardo DiCaprio which is going to be released in December:

http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-6-28/43281.html

It stirred up a ruckus at the diamond convention. The industry fears it will deter people from buying diamonds, especially in the Christmas season, and hurt the industry and the African economies. They claim the problem of blood or conflict diamonds has been almost completely solved.

Do you feel strongly about this issue? Does this film interest you? I would like to see it. On different diamond sites on the Internet they're saying only Canadian diamonds certified by the Government of the Northwest Territories can be considered conflict-free, although they claim new regulations have stopped all but 0.2% of illicit diamonds.

Anyone in the market for diamonds and thinking about this?

Historically the development of natural resources, especially from third world countries, has been injurious to the indigenous people. I find it interesting to focus on the relatively small diamond industry when the oil industry is guilty of the same offenses and on a much lager scale. Ten of the top fourteen oil exporting countries are run by dictators. So it seems that there is Blood Oil as well.

The answer, cubic zirconia and electric cars.

There is a blind spot in people's eyes that can't see Blood Oil. I sold my last car in 1967 and I use public transportation, Tommaso, so I plead innocent.

Unfortunately it's not that easy, 50. The world runs on oil. Transportation(passenger and freight), heating, manufacturing, construction, etc.............

This reminds me of the second hand smoke controversy. With all the petrochemicals(Oil) burning we chose to focus on a relatively small amount of burning leaves.

Oil is the elephant in the room that nobody wants to acknowledge. Much easier to pick on luxury goods and vices.

And, I'm guilty on all counts.

I couldn't agree with you more, Tommaso. It annoys me that people pick on perfume as the culprit when it's things like vehicle exhaust and other major industrial pollutants that make people's lungs sensitive to other relatively innocuous substances in the first place. I do believe public transportation is one solution, though, given the immediate options. For every 50 people who pile on the bus to go to work that makes 50 less cars on the road.

Interesting your mentioning electric cars. As a little girl growing up in a small town in New Jersey, there were two elderly sisters who had an electric car from 1925. They used to drive it around town to do their errands. It was silent, a little black thing that literally looked like an old-fashioned closed horseless carriage. I wonder what ever happened to that car. Some friends of mine have a hybrid and they like it very much.

I do have grave misgivings about diamonds. Even if just one of them could have caused the spilling of blood, that is too much. Granted, it is practically impossible to go through life today without indirectly causing some misery (many articles of clothing are made in sweatshops, and of course there's the oil issue), but that doesn't mean that little gestures in the right direction mean nothing.

I don't think I could accept/wear a diamond engagement ring under current circumstances. Are there any blood sapphires, I wonder?

The certified Canadian diamonds are not blood diamonds, MizLiz, and in fact the diamond workers (mostly native) have just signed a new labour contract. I don't know if they are the only unionized diamond miners in the world but apparently the industry is well controlled as to working conditions and the stones are certified by the Government of the Northwest Territories and engraved with a number and a little maple leaf or polar bear. (Cute.)

In some of the sites I was reading they were saying that other gemstones could also be tainted. I don't go around buying lots of gemstones, of course, but if I were to buy one I would definitely go to a reputable dealer and ask questions on provenance.

I don't like diamonds because their value isn't based on scarcity but on prices set by one company, De Beers. I prefer gold anyway.