Valentine’s Day each year brings a flurry of advertisements for the material items we can, through money, indicate love for those special to us. The De Beers marketing department
launched the slogan “A Diamond is Forever” in 1947; diamonds and precious metals like gold
are now tightly drawn up in all aspects of the American conception of love, from dating to
marriage to love in old age. Yet mineral extraction is one of the most destructive human
activities for the environment and human rights. With demand for minerals being a key factor in
colonialism and conflict, can we ask this Valentine’s season what we can do to show authentic
love for humankind and the Earth?
Topics: Environmental Justice, Principle 7. Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part, Social and Environmental Justice