The gem and mineral industry is rife with things like environmental damage, terrible wages, dangerous working conditions, and child labor, among other things. Going forward, we’re going to define “ethically sourced” as not supporting those things.
Unless a crystal seller is buying directly from a mine they’ve flown out to and monitored while the crystals are extracted, they can’t be 100% sure of where and under what conditions their crystals come from. And that’s not taking into consideration that crystals often pass hands multiple times before arriving at your home – the mine, distribution centers, factories for processing, etc.
We haven’t been able to follow our crystals every step of the way, and so we can’t guarantee they’re ethically sourced. And we want to be honest and upfront about that.
There are some steps we do take to lessen our negative impact, though.