The Ethical Pearl Consumer

[pearlescence]

In Europe you can dominate the market but if you do you must not abuse that dominance by using tactics to squash out any attempts at competition
Perhaps Paspaley simply hasn't been investigated yet?
There is a lot of ignorance out there in businessland, even among big companies, about the rules

 

[Josh]

Ana, what's grass beating?

 

[pattye]

Beating the grass to flush out the snakes?------------oops, I'm not Ana!

 

[PearlA]

I've been thinking about this topic a lot over the last few days. That is, the environmental aspect of it. There are really two types of ethics being discussed here ... one being the ethics of the 'bargains' that may come about as an industry and the farmers suffer; and the other involving the processes of how the product itself is made. I do emphasize that. And I actually have talked about this via email with another of the members here, but to be completely honest with myself, what I'm about to say genuinely is part of my quandary over "ethics."

I must admit, the environmental aspects have really been weighing on me the last few days. If I were to be completely honest, I'd say that it began when I first read the article in Modern Jeweler (I think???). The part that stuck with me being the comments on how the freshwater mollusks in China could 'put up with' more pollution around them, and if I'm remembering correctly, that too many high density pearl farms actually contributes to that pollution. ... That the freshwater mollusks were different from the salt-water mollusks, in that the freshwater mollusks could put up with higher pollution, while their salt-water cousins had to maintain at least some level of water cleanliness or the pearls would be of uselessly low quality anyway.

In my heart of hearts, I'm genuinely concerned for the pollution being put into the Chinese land. The smog in the air, the chemicals in the ground, and the pollution in the water as well. And if overdoing the freshwaters is contributing to that in some rivers, yes, that does weight on my mind. While I am new to the world of pearls, I am better versed in the world of Chinese adoption, and I simply cannot shake the reports we keep hearing of increasing birth defect rates due to pollution. And to be completely honest, I can't shake the fact that my daughter's birthmother may very well be eating fish from one of those rivers. (Truly, daughter came from a city near the coast, and near where at least one major river dump out.) On a purely person level, it has genuinely begun to weigh on my conscience, and has turned me off a bit from freshwaters. I wish ... I WISH WISH WISH ... the farming industry there could get cleaned up a bit, because I would love nothing more than to buy daughter strand after strand of freshwater pearls, saying, "These are from China! These are from you birthhome!!!" But it's like a catch22 ... I have a hard time celebrating it as part of her heritage, when the process itself might be poisoning her birthfamily.

Where it leaves me I guess, so far, is preferring the saltwater. (Or maybe Japanese or American freshwater? I don't recall having read much yet about those farming methods. And even within the saltwaters, I would lean toward those with the least pollutant impact.) ........ I can't help it. If I want to be able to make a purchase and not feel constant pangs of guilt, I can't help it. (And it has *nothing* to do with any vendors here ... I gather most vendors who post here sell all these types of pearls ... it's the flavor of the pearl, *not* the vendors I'm speaking ov. Indeed I've purchased salt-waters from at least two different vendors here within the last month. I just want to be completely clear this has nothing to do with the retailer.)

 

[Hanaleimom]

I can't speak for the vendors, but I would imagine they purchase from various farmers. Maybe some farmers are repeat business, but there will be new farmers that they have not purchased from in the past. For FW or akoya, our vendors may travel to China or buy via pictures and other communication means. For Tahitian pearls, there are lots of farmers out there. Not all of our vendors travel to FP every year to purchase new inventory. Besides knowing Kamoka Farm's mission and beliefs, we don't know much about other farmers. How do the vendors verify the environmental friendliness of the farms' operation w/o seeing it with their own eyes? Go by what the farmers say? Is it reliable ? As far as consumer, we get our information from our vendors of the pearls' sources. But the vendors must rely on the farmers' words.

 

[Hanaleimom]

And even within the saltwaters, I would lean toward those with the least pollutant impact.) ........ I can't help it. If I want to be able to make a purchase and not feel constant pangs of guilt, I can't help it. (And it has *nothing* to do with any vendors here ... I gather most vendors who post here sell all these types of pearls ... it's the flavor of the pearl, *not* the vendors I'm speaking ov. Indeed I've purchased salt-waters from at least two different vendors here within the last month. I just want to be completely clear this has nothing to do with the retailer.)

Doesn't the cleanliness of the water affect the pearls' quality? Someone help me out here. I was thinking if the water is polluted, the FW pearls wouldn't be as nice compared to cleaner lakes, rivers.

 

[perlenforum]

PearlA,

I don;t think you should be too worried of pollution caused by the cultivation of freshwater pearls. To successfully grow pearls of good quality it is necessary to watch out that the water is not too polluted. If the farmers wouldn't pay attention they would harm their own interest, which is cultivating a growing quantity of good quality pearls.
Biwa lake in Japan is a good example for what happens if pollution gets out of control. The once world famous production of Biwa pearls was run down and reduced to a tiny harvest which was only sold locally.

 

[PearlA]

Yeah, I know. I guess for me, the basic factor between just 'overall' saltwater vs. 'overall' freshwater, was the statement I read in that 'How green are the pearls' article. (Title was something like that, and I *think* it was in Modern Jeweler.) The jist was that freshwater mollusks can handle a higher level of pollution in their immediate vicinity, than saltwater can. If the saltwater mollusks get too much build up of pollution, then the pearls they put out are of much lower quality to begin with. So if the saltwater mollusk is to put out anything of usable quality, the water has to be maintained with at least a *little* more cleanliness than a freshwater mollusk could withstand. Obviously, that statement is made "overall", but is stated as a boundary condition of what the mollusks themselves can or can't withstand.

Learning that has really stuck in my head. But yes, of course that's obviously an 'overall statement' that doesn't get down to the nitty-gritty of each individual farm. The only 'nitty-gritty' I have to work with, is what I've read about Josh's farm ... for example, what high-pressure blast cleaning of the oysters can do to the local water quality. Yes, I fully admit, I'm only working with the information I've been able to find. It points me to saltwater over freshwater ('overall', as defined above), and then especially to the more ecologically produced saltwaters in particular.

(And yes, as I said, my statements have nothing to do with the vendors themselves. But my money is now flowing in those directions, given what information I actually have been able to find. I made a salt water purchase recently from one vendor here, and am now making a larger purchase of specifically josh pearls from a different vendor. I genuinely am trying to put my money where my mouth is. )

 

[PearlA]

>I don;t think you should be too worried of pollution caused by the cultivation of freshwater pearls. To successfully grow pearls of good quality it is necessary to watch out that the water is not too polluted.

See, I'm going by that article in Modern Jeweler. According to that, there is a pollution issue involving the freshwaters in China. And there is a difference in level of concern, between freshwater and saltwater.

Link is here:
http://www.modernjeweler.com/print/Modern-Jeweler/How-Green-Are-Your-Pearls/1$862

And what I was trying to express above can be summed up a little better by the time you reach page three of that article.

"While laissez-faire is the basic attitude of the government, even they have been encouraging farmers to make adjustments. With the downturn in the economy, many have stopped farming and those remaining plan to reduce pearl cultivation by at least one-third this year. Farmers have cut back on harvesting and are leaving mussels in the water to grow longer. The reduction in freshwater pearl production and harvest may give overworked waterways the time needed to regenerate. Even so, pearl producers in China will eventually have to address the byproducts of freshwater pearl processing.

In contrast, saltwater mollusks dictate that farmers practice environmental protection or suffer poor quality yields. Pearl cultivation and its byproducts are carefully monitored and regulated. Intense efforts are made from Tahiti to Japan to not leave behind."

The whole article is worth a good read though, and now that I've 'refound' it, I'm going to back myself and reread.

 

[PearlA]

And again, it's an entirely personal thing -- what, where, when, and how anyone buys anything. It's just that this is the ethics thread, and this just happens to be where my personal head is at.

editing to quickly add ... And I promise what I'm saying certainly is aimed at no vendors or no consumers here. It's just that, as I said, I really was talking about this offline with someone the other day, and I genuinely wanted to clarify what I meant in my first post about how environmental 'ethics' has begun to affect my purchases. Granted, this thread really deals with a couple different forms of ethics, but this seemed the appropriate place to at least try to clarify my first post. That's all.

 

[PearlA]

>Doesn't the cleanliness of the water affect the pearls' quality? Someone help me out here. I was thinking if the water is polluted, the FW pearls wouldn't be as nice compared to cleaner lakes, rivers.


See, that's where I'm trying to decipher that article.

In the saltwater section, she says this:
"Saltwater oysters have strict tolerances for growing conditions. ... Maintaining the health of surrounding waters is critical to the success of the industry in Australia, Tahiti, Philippines, Japan, and New Zealand. Pearl farmers understand that the health of the pearl is an indicator of the state of the environment."

Then in the Chinese freshwater section, she refers to a specific quality of those native freshwater mollusks, to be able to tolerate higher pollution and still keep going:
"a compliant and prolific native mussel that tolerates less than perfect conditions"

She seems to be talking about a specific function of the mollusks themselves, in saltwater vs. freshwater, regarding how much pollution the mollusks are able to endure and still keep going.

Then, while she's still discussing the Chinese freshwater mollusks, she uses the phrase 'in contrast', and states this:
"In contrast, saltwater mollusks dictate that farmers practice environmental protection or suffer poor quality yields."

Use of the phrase 'in contrast' seems to imply, to me at least, that she is again pointing to a difference in the mollusks, regarding how much pollution they can handle before it starts to affect their yield.

Really, I don't know how else to parse this article.

eta: And I do apologize to the original poster, it was not my intention to derail her thread/topic, and I really don't want to cause an argument, just wanted to clarify where my head is on the topic. I will politely shut up now.

 

[jshepherd]

PearlA,

I don;t think you should be too worried of pollution caused by the cultivation of freshwater pearls. To successfully grow pearls of good quality it is necessary to watch out that the water is not too polluted. If the farmers wouldn't pay attention they would harm their own interest, which is cultivating a growing quantity of good quality pearls.
Biwa lake in Japan is a good example for what happens if pollution gets out of control. The once world famous production of Biwa pearls was run down and reduced to a tiny harvest which was only sold locally.

The problem with this is that many of the freshwater pearl farmers intentionally pollute their farms. This is the problem China has been trying to address. The chemicals used by some farmers (usually the smaller ones as I have seen) are not "green". But they are added to make the pearls grow faster. It is an agricultural crop to them, and they are paid by weight - not per pearl.

 

[perlenforum]

I just feel a bit sorry that your worries keep you from buying something as lovely as freshwater pearls of good quality.
Even the article you are referring to ends in a consiliatory tone saying: In the end we can add „green“ to the endless palette of lustrous pearls.
It is also true that the quality of the sea water is naturally submitted to a lot of influences the farmer has no control of whatsoever. The situation for the farmer of freshwater pearls who cultivates his pearls mostly in lakes is naturally easier and not that risky.
Actually the mollusks are doing a lot of pollution themselves by their excrements. The fish though don't seem to object. On the contrary!

 

[PearlA]

>I just feel a bit sorry that your worries keep you from buying something as lovely as freshwater pearls of good quality.

Really, no need to feel sorry. Truly. I've made a couple Vietnamese akoya purchases in he last four/five months (both from vendors here), and am very happy with them. Now my hubby is having a killer strand of josh pearls put together (again, from yet another vendor here) for our 12th anniversary. (An anniversary still nearly a year away, so I get to watch them sit on a shelf above hubby's side of the bed for months ... torture at its finest. ) But I promise, I'm not sad. I keep going back to the sample picture emailed to me by the vendor ... and just sit here staring. I'm probably pretty pathetic in that regard, but not sad.

(And besides, I have what I consider the best pearl out of China ... and she's sitting here next to me practicing her coins right now. )

 

[perlenforum]

(And besides, I have what I consider the best pearl out of China ... and she's sitting here next to me practicing her coins right now. )[/QUOTE]

There of cause you are right, this pearl of yours is unique and I am happy with you.

 

[Slraep]

An old article but the ban is still in effect in Hubei province.(correct me if I'm mistaken). There is no doubt that pearl farming in China is not green. They are figuring that out by themselves.

http://www.china.org.cn/english/environment/220656.htm

And then there is this: when overfertilized freshwater ponds(and other bodies of water)used for pearl culture are hit by a flood(as is common in Hubei province), all that goo gets spread out over the land and that's when the rats come out and multiply prolifically. Hordes of voracious rats overrun the land, devouring food crops and making life miserable for the general population in many other ways. The government allows rat poison to become easily available to anyone who needs it. Misuse of the rat poison kills many people who don't take precautions while using it and it also kills thousands of cats, dogs, and other animals. The easy availability of rat poison also gives devious people ideas on how to use the poison to knock off people they hate or who's death they will profit from.......

Slraep

 

[Josh]

The problem with this is that many of the freshwater pearl farmers intentionally pollute their farms.

This has stayed with me the last few days. Am I the only one that was shocked by this?

 

[effisk]

This has stayed with me the last few days. Am I the only one that was shocked by this?

shocked, yes, but not surprised.

 

[Nerida]

Sorry Josh, not shocked, as I have known this for some time, but all I can say that if anything, the situation is improving, with some environmental protection legislation beginning in some areas. In reality, it is similar to overtilling of soil and overfertilizing of horticultural crops that still occurs in some agricultural sectors. Is it disturbing though? Hell, yes!
I guess the other ethical issue that all of us FW fans need to consider is how many pearls, and how much farming goes on to produce one strand of perfect, round, lustrous, 9mm or over gem quality pearls. I wonder just how high the pile of empty shell would be before enough such pearls for one strand was produced... my guess is several thousand shells... is that ethical consumerism to demand such perfection?

 

[Nerida]

More additions, sorry... I do feel that we have a bit of a diversity of opinions being expressed on different threads throughout our forum at the moment. We are bemoaning the fact that the Tahitian pearl industry is in such a dire situation, and seeking an ethical response to that situation... and yet we are also delighting in record low prices being offered to us on Tahitian pearl products... this is the irony that has been disturbing me for a few days now.