I want.

Purple lining. 'nuff said.

An Excellent Read

This NY Times Article by Jonathan Safran Foer, author of the soon-to-be-published book, Eating Animals, is really good. It's so encouraging to see things like this gaining ground in the mainstream media. The article is kind of long; I've excerpted my favorite pieces below in case you don't feel like reading the whole thing (although I encourage you to make the time!) -

My wife and I have chosen to bring up our children as vegetarians. In another time or place, we might have made a different decision. But the realities of our present moment compelled us to make that choice. According to an analysis of U.S.D.A. data by the advocacy group Farm Forward, factory farms now produce more than 99 percent of the animals eaten in this country. And despite labels that suggest otherwise, genuine alternatives ... are very difficult for even an educated eater to find. I don’t have the ability to do so with regularity and confidence. (“Free range,” “cage free,” “natural” and “organic” are nearly meaningless when it comes to animal welfare.)

According to reports by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. and others, factory farming has made animal agriculture the No. 1 contributor to global warming (it is significantly more destructive than transportation alone), and one of the Top 2 or 3 causes of all of the most serious environmental problems, both global and local: air and water pollution, deforestation, loss of biodiversity. . . . Eating factory-farmed animals — which is to say virtually every piece of meat sold in supermarkets and prepared in restaurants — is almost certainly the single worst thing that humans do to the environment.

Every factory-farmed animal is, as a practice, treated in ways that would be illegal if it were a dog or a cat. Turkeys have been so genetically modified they are incapable of natural reproduction. To acknowledge that these things matter is not sentimental. It is a confrontation with the facts about animals and ourselves. We know these things matter.

This isn’t animal experimentation, where you can imagine some proportionate good at the other end of the suffering. This is what we feel like eating. Yet taste, the crudest of our senses, has been exempted from the ethical rules that govern our other senses. Why? Why doesn’t a horny person have as strong a claim to raping an animal as a hungry one does to confining, killing and eating it? It’s easy to dismiss that question but hard to respond to it. Try to imagine any end other than taste for which it would be justifiable to do what we do to farmed animals.

Children confront us with our paradoxes and dishonesty, and we are exposed. You need to find an answer for every why — Why do we do this? Why don’t we do that? — and often there isn’t a good one. So you say, simply, because. Or you tell a story that you know isn’t true. And whether or not your face reddens, you blush. The shame of parenthood — which is a good shame — is that we want our children to be more whole than we are, to have satisfactory answers. My children not only inspired me to reconsider what kind of eating animal I would be, but also shamed me into reconsideration.

[ emphasis added by moi ] :-)

New Work

Moissanite and recycled 14k white gold ring
{ custom order; sold }

Lab-created Chatham sapphire and recycled sterling silver ring
{ custom order; sold }

Oregon sunstone and recycled 14k white gold ring
{ custom order; sold }

Nevada turquoise, moissanite and recycled sterling silver ring
{ custom order; sold }

Lemon opal, recycled 22k yellow gold, and recycled sterling silver ring
{ to be listed soon in my Etsy shop }

New Work

Recycled sterling silver Mother's ring
(with kids' fair trade birthstones)
{ custom order; sold }

Moissanite and recycled 14k white gold engagement ring, size 6.5
{ to be listed soon in my Etsy shop }

October SALE!!!

October is my birthday month, and I just decided (like five minutes ago) that I'd celebrate with a sale! Now through the end of the month, just enter 'Happy Birthday' in the 'message to seller' field during your Etsy checkout, and I'll send you a revised invoice reflecting 20% off the item's original price.

This offer only applies to regularly priced in-stock items (not applicable to items already on sale or to special orders).

Well, what are you waiting for? Get shoppin'!

September Jewelry for Charity Recap & October Kick-Off

It's that time again... time for a Jewelry for Charity update! Every month, I donate 5% of my gross sales to charity, and with your incredible support, I've donated $12,756 to various worthy causes over the last two and a half years.

During the month of September, I raised $540 for one of my favorite causes, Animal Place. I've been making a big effort to donate often to Animal Place in order to support the construction of their brand new shelter in Grass Valley. A big thank you goes out to everyone who made a purchase during the month of September, both from me and from all the critters at Animal Place!

For October, I'm featuring a charity that I just learned about recently; it's called No More Deaths. Their mission statement is as follows:

No More Deaths is an organization whose mission is to end death and suffering on the U.S./Mexico border through civil initiative: the conviction that people of conscience must work openly and in community to uphold fundamental human rights. Our work embraces the Faith-Based Principles for Immigration Reform and focuses on the following themes:

• Direct aid that extends the right to provide humanitarian assistance
• Witnessing and responding
• Consciousness raising
• Global movement building
• Encouraging humane immigration policy.

I became aware of No More Deaths' work in August upon reading about the sentencing of No More Deaths volunteer Walt Staton, who has been ordered to complete 300 hours of trash pickup on public lands as punishment littering after U.S. Border Patrol agents spotted him putting out unopened gallon containers of water, which Staton said were meant to prevent illegal immigrants crossing through the desert from dying of dehydration.

As a general rule, I prefer not to support charities with a religious component, and it appears that this is a part of No More Deaths' philosophy. I decided to make an exception because I believe it to be such an incredibly worthy cause.

If you feel inspired to join me in supporting their work, please consider making a direct donation, and/or make a purchase from my shop this month. 5% of my gross sales will go directly to No More Deaths.

As always, thank you so much for your support!

New Work

California pink tourmaline and recycled sterling silver ring
{ custom order; sold }

Oregon sunstone and recycled 14k white gold ring
{ custom order; sold }

Lab-created padparadscha sapphire and recycled sterling silver ring, size 7.5

Recycled palladium sterling silver ring, size 7.5