This is a text-only version of an article first published on Monday, 2 February 2015. Information shown on this page may no longer be current.
The wedding ring is a familiar symbol of permanent and loving commitment in a marriage . . .
and a new Fairtrade campaign is helping people to see how it can also be a symbol of our commitment to love our neighbours as ourselves, writes Maranda St John Nicolle.
Fairtrade supporters form a human ring of gold to symoblise the human chain of miners who toil to make our gold rings.
David Paryy/Wire.
The "I do" campaign encourages couples to buy wedding rings made from Fairtrade gold, which is produced by small and artisanal miners who have received a price that is above the industry norm, as well as a premium that they can invest in social and environmental projects. To qualify for Fairtrade certification, miners must meet key labour and environmental standards.
The artisanal and small-scale gold industry, which employs around 25 million people worldwide, is rife with child labour and the unregulated use of toxic chemicals such as mercury and cyanide.
The Fairtrade gold standard prohibits child labour and requires miners to reduce, and to safely manage, chemical use - with an additional premium for miners who eliminate harmful chemicals entirely. Christian activist and jeweller Greg Valerio, who has spent years helping to develop Fairtrade gold, has explained how using Fairtrade gold wedding rings in the UK could make a difference in some of the world's most marginalised communities.
If 50,000 couples exchanged Fairtrade rings, he notes, around $1 million in premiums would be available for community projects such as education and mercury reduction. Greg says: "As a jeweller I know the value and joy that wedding and engagement rings brings to couples' lives, as well as the jewellers' income.
The Church in the UK has the power to revolutionise the wedding ring purchase.
If every member of a congregation, priest, minister and pastor promoted Fairtrade gold to their members and asked their high street jeweller to stock it, we would transform the lives of the poorest miners and be making a significant contribution to economic and environmental justice throughout our world.
I ask the Church nationally, let's bring the best Gold story in the World to every UK high street.
Insist on Fairtrade Gold when you get married. "