Diamonds

Ten reasons why you should never accept a Diamond Ring from Anyone, Under Any Circumstances, Even If They Really Want to Give You One is a great summary of why I won’t be getting a diamond engagement ring if/when I get engaged. The short version is: the diamond engagement ring is a marketing fabrication, diamond mines are bad for the enviroment, DeBeers are price-fixing schmucks, diamond workers are exploited, and diamonds fund horrible wars.
I’m not a rabid anti-diamond person – I am aware that pretty much every corporation does bad things and where one draws the line is a personal matter. If you have a diamond ring, I’m not going to give you crap about it. In fact, I’ll probably coo over it, because those little hunks of rock are pretty. But if/when I get engaged, my ring won’t have diamonds, and I figured it was worth linking to an article explaining why. I’ll probably wind up printing out a version of this and carrying copies around to hand to people who ask why I don’t have a diamond ring.