Diamonds Arent Forever

Diamonds Arent Forever<br /><br />Environmental Degradation Environmental degradation is the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife. and Civil War in the Gem Trade<br /><br />Gleaming gems shining from plush velvet cases in quiet jewelry<br /><br />Its illegal in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic 2005 est. pop. 295,734,000, 3,539,227 sq mi 9,166,598 sq km, North America. The United States is the worlds third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. to dump the finely ground<br /><br />ore materials known as tailings Tailings also known as tailings pile, tails, leach residue, or slickens1 are the materials left over2 after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the worthless fraction of an ore. into waterways. consumers. Large scale demand calls for large scale mining, which<br /><br />involves massive amounts of sedimentation and tailings falling into<br /><br />water systems around the world. The mercury and cyanide used to separate<br /><br />gold and copper from rock also finds its way into groundwater. The<br /><br />victims of these mining activities are generally local wildlife and<br /><br />indigenous peoples The term indigenous peoples has no universal, standard or fixed definition, but can be used about any ethnic group who inhabit the geographic region with which they have the earliest historical connection. who live in resource rich regions. Freeports<br /><br />environmental auditors, Dames and Moore, said plans to expand<br /><br />Freeports mining activities in Indonesia could increase its<br /><br />dumping of untreated tailings to 285,000 tons daily.<br /><br />The diamond trade in Angola, Sri Lanka Sri Lanka sr l Sinhalese,=resplendent land, formerly Ceylon, ancient Taprobane, officially Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, island republic 2005 est. pop. , Sierra Leone Sierra Leone s l l s l officially Republic of Sierra Leone, republic 2005 est. pop. 6,018,000, 27,699 sq mi 71,740 sq km, W Africa. and the