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May 25, 2006
"Shine one corner of the world -- just one corner. If you shine one corner, then people around you will feel better. You will always feel as if you are carrying an umbrella to protect people from heat or rain." --Shunryu Suzuki
The Shine of Fair Trade Diamonds
Raymond Scott retired from Boeing after 30 years, so that he could focus full-time on giving Sierra Leone –- his native country -– a chance to shine. Scott and the New York-based custom jewelry firm Finesse Diamonds plan to introduce what they say are the world's first "fair-trade diamonds," mined on territory controlled by Scott's family and neighboring chiefdoms, and polished in newly built factories staffed by Sierra Leoneans. Today, the average mine worker earns less than $1 a day. One of Scott's current missions is to negotiate agreements with tribal leaders and landowners to create a collective of sorts, where each member is dedicated to fair-trade ideas such as livable miner wages, a rejection of child labor, worker safety, environmentally sound mining, and on-the-books diamond trading. This is just one of many ideas Scott is planning to put into action.
BE THE CHANGE
Shine the corner of the world you're in today, perhaps with a project, maybe an action, or even a smile. To learn about what Fair Trade is, click here. More ...
