Diamonds have long been considered a girl’s best friend but it’s time for a reality check. Aside from the fact that having an inanimate best friend is just wrong, your diamond fetish is financing rebel armies.

If you’re not familiar with the term Blood Diamond, you will absolutely not like reading this – but you should.

The term typically refers to a diamond mined in a war zone and sold to finance an insurgency or a warlord’s activity, usually in Africa. According to the Global Policy Forum, conflict diamonds date back to the early 1900s when European entrepreneurs gained control of diamond mines by instigating wars between African tribes. Over a hundred years later, conflict diamonds are still affecting the lives of people throughout Africa.

As we become more conscious of what we wear, what we eat and how we lessen our carbon footprint, it would seem only normal for us to look at something like the diamond on our finger and ask ourselves: “How did this get to me?”

The answer is not from Great Grandma Flo or your mother who just updated hers to an ever-larger stone, but where the diamond was mined and how. An old diamond is hard to trace, but these days you can do the research on a company you’re interested in buying from to make a conscious decision or, better yet, settle for a substitute.

Created in a lab, this synthetic diamond by Carat offers the vavoom without war.

The Eternity Basic by Carat

This beautiful Moonstone engagement ring by Maine’s  Turtle Love Committee has just as much beauty as a diamond without the weight of funding brutal attacks.

Turtle Love Committee’s Monhegan Moonstone Engagement Ring

While a Moonstone will certainly set you apart, you might still want a traditional diamond like this one from Diamantine, also created in a lab and not extracted in a war-torn territory where people are paid in cups of rice.

The Sophia from Diamantine

While many consider diamonds symbols of love, it’s good to consider the big picture and, yes, even karma.

Main image courtesy History.com

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