Jewelry and precious gems with a clear conscience | DW Documentary

Jewelry and precious gems with a clear conscience | DW Documentary

Glittering diamonds sparkling gems and precious pearls essential for any crown and true gifts from nature so we’ll give that a bit of a wash with water a beauty extracting these Treasures often means exploitation and environmental damage but there is another way to make Jew Marine if we look after nature um it

Looks after us and nature can also instruct Us in its Treasures if you know how it’s done you get a diamond at the end so how does ethical and environmentally friendly jewelry manufacturing work The water is ice cold but for the nature conservationists that’s all in a day’s work here’s one and another one here they are they seem to like it here to be they lie nestled in the bed of this small stream fresh water Pearl muscles a delicate Marvel of nature

The conservationists are in Eastern Germany working to protect the muscles from Extinction they’re important for the ecosystem but not because of their pearls Freshwater Pearl muscles have existed on this planet for 230 million years so they’ve seen a lot it’s one of the oldest species in the world today

Freshwater Pearl muscles have seen the dinosaurs come and go but now it’s us humans who might be the ones to drive them to Extinction an aqua scope helps the researchers have a clear view underwater Rebecca H uses a detector to locate the muscles that have been tagged with a

Tiny microchip that helps the scientists keep tabs on the muscle population which they monitor once a week this allows us to tell what kind of muscle it is without having to remove it from the stream which would stress the muscle but to make sure it’s still alive

We do have to take them out once a year the numbered microchips are attached to the Shell with dental [Applause] cement there it is the day is correct and it’s still where we left it super perfect for a few thousand years ago the streams here were full of

Muscles there are still people alive who remember that after the war the muscle beds here were three layers deep when they looked at the bed of the stream it looked totally black that’s how many muscles there were the pearls that can be found in this part of Eastern Germany were first

Documented in the 15th century the huge muscle population attracted Pearl fishes in large numbers but only one shell in every 2,000 muscles had the treasure nestled inside it a news report from the 1960s is a testament to that History the eye of the law keeps watch the fishing trip takes place under the supervision of the mayor this Pearl is said to be as valuable as the treasures fished from the South Pacific and the waters around Australia the pearls were sought after by kings and queens as a symbol of power and

Wealth today the muscles themselves are the treasure a single muscle can filter more than 100 L of water a day helping to keep the stream clean and healthy but now dry Summers and intensive farming are destroying their habitat these days the streams are often bordered by Farmland rather than Meadows soil makes

Its way into the water and ends up as mud but the muscles can only thrive on a loose bed of gravel it’s a huge problem for young muscles of course the mud starves their habitat of oxygen the young muscles end up covered in mud and suffocate the young muscles die leaving

Only a few adults so few that hunting for PS would drive them to Extinction what you see here is kind of like a hospice the population in the Stream is aging you can imagine them as all middle-aged 50 and up without any young muscles at all that’s our biggest

Concern right now and why we’re breeding Pearl muscles so that we can replenish the stream with young ones it’s the only way the conservationists can rescue the endangered species the next batch of young muscles is ready to be moved into the Stream on the other side of the world the South Pacific is home to Pearl oysters this species isn’t endangered so cultivating pearls here is viable and it can also be sustainable there’s a huge oyster Farm beneath the surface of the water with thousands of oyster Nets on ropes that extend for Kilometers marine biologists Justin Hunter is an expert on these delicate ocean dwellers he’s been farming the species P margariti Fara for 20 years Pearl aquaculture requires patience and a delicate touch that’s because every cultured Pearl begins with a grafting procedure that mimics what would normally be a natural

Process we don’t want to overstress them this this operation of course is quite a bit of stress but we try to handle them as gently as we can they are living animals that’s why you know they’re kept wet they’re quickly washed cleaned they’ll go through this process very

Fast and then be back into a um recovery tank and then taken back out to the Sea mazura dongalo is the most important member of the team he carries out the grafting procedure on the oyster which induces Pearl formation by imitating a natural process first he extracts a tiny piece of mantle tissue from a donor oyster that tissue is then implanted into the recipient oyster along with a tiny

Mother of pearl nucleus in a natural defense mechanism the oyster will form what is called a pearl sack around the foreign body over time the nucleus is covered with what is called nak layer by layer creating a Pearl Hunter client yna travels from Germany to Fiji every 3 or four years to buy pearls how are you I’m fine welcome to Fiji thank you come we’ll show you some of the um we were just just started um implanting of harvesting a few implants just the trial here with

Matsuda here’s the oyster that’s already been implanted with the nucleus and the mantle tissue the tissue will grow around the nucleus and over 2 years cover it with 2,000 delicate layers of naker mother of pearl with any luck the end result is a perfect pearlly perfect yeah it’s it’s it’s not a a

Short process at all but not all Pearl cultivators are as patient as Justin Hunter many oyster farmers in Asia fatten the shellfish with organic waste from chicken and pig farming the overfed oysters produce up to 60 PS after the Harvest they die and this form of mass production is harmful to the

Environment in Fiji the oysters are returned into the sea for at least 18 months after they are seeded many stay longer to allow time for the pearls to grow a single one per oyster not 60 so now we’re going to see the farm where the pearls come from in

Paradise our um our work team and what they’re working on now are oysters that will be implanted over the next couple of months other oysters will be returned to the water and left there for harvesting in 2 years time and then the pearls will be ready for y gaa’s newest jewelry Collection so let’s see what the mountain has in store for us float do you remember how to get there just like the oceans mountains are also home to many natural Treasures concealed in the Rocks twin brothers Gart and hanis haa have spent every free minute in these

Mountains since they were 12 looking for crystals and precious gems today their professional Crystal Hunters it’s our passion but it’s also a kind of addiction you look and wonder where you might find something like veins of white quartz crevices or faults in the Rock we discovered a very interesting spot a few weeks ago and it looks really promising the Haas collect up to 200

Kilos of Crystal every year about 50 of those are made in to jewelry there are many precious stones to be found in the Alps including Emerald amethyst and Garnet mining in the National Park is highly regulated only Hammers and crowbars are permitted drills and explosives are banned the site must be renatured after

Mining and larger fins must be reported what we do is very careful and respectful we’re not changing anything we’re not using any chemicals and when we remove the crystals we make sure we don’t disturb anything so we’re there here we are we’re going to work our way into

That crevice we’re going to clear this spot and see what’s down there we’ve piled it up with stones the work can be D dangerous one of them will have to venture down into the narrow crevice and inspect the rock they discovered traces of quartz here a few days ago which is a promising

Sign but they still don’t know whether there are any valuable crystals to be found here Get it’s not going in I’ll send the canister down to you done a sample of The Rock will reveal more about the treasures that might be hidden here was it all worth the Effort there’s very very fine rock crystal here not that big yet but it’s a good indicator for larger crystals looks good I would guess there are bigger ones further down but let’s leave it for today it’s a promising start they’ll stay here for a few days to recover some

More of the precious crystals their rock crystal necklaces are a Bestseller so we’ve cleaned this one up a bit and as you can see it’s super high quality the glittering brilliant white crystals it’s 15 million years old we’re the first humans to ever have seen it no one’s ever touched it before this beautiful Crystal has been forming underground for an eternity like

The Diamond set in Crown jaws and now gets its moment to shine in this laboratory in Switzerland the process of forming diamonds is a lot faster Fritz vites creates Treasures that take many hundreds of millions of years to form naturally is organ these are all organic products love letters dog hair horse

Hair that’s from the Bodywork of a Formula E car and it can all be processed into graphite graphite is the base material for the world’s most precious stone it can be made from anything organic even dried rose petals the precise method is a trade secret only a few have mastered

The many complex steps involved in the process it’s the same thing that happens inside the earth you need pressure and temperature in the right environment but once you know how it’s done the end result is a diamond vites has been making synthetic diamonds for industry for decades today

The quality of his diamonds is high enough to make jewelry diamonds form naturally under extreme heat and pressure in the Earth’s interior in the lab this huge hbt press which operates at a pressure of about 60,000 bar and 1, 800° C achieves the same effect in just

A few weeks most of the electricity he he needs comes from solar Power for jewelry designer Helga Mar and hman the synthetic gems are a perfect match for her company’s philosophy of Sustainability hello ha vaals hello welcome ready to see the diamonds happy to be here okay let’s take the rough Stone out of the cell we’ll open it and see what we get the Goldsmith has ordered a stone for a diamond ring we’ll get it cut and Polished in

Anor right has a brilliant cut yes exactly great for me this is definitely a great alternative to Natural diamonds because mining diamonds doesn’t just remove the gems but all the overburden as well and then there’s the shipping distances the carbon footprint includes all the steps in the process like water consumption

Etc so the environmental impact of synthetic lab grown diamonds is still smaller that’s a real diamond grown in the lab and the other is a naturally occurring Diamond visually physically and chemically you can’t tell them apart the authenticity is certified by independent gemstone Laboratories 3 weeks after being cut and Polished the

Diamond is finally ANM Goldsmith Helga Marin hman sets the finished Diamond to create an ethical and sustainable piece of jewelry a synthetic diamond costs 30 to 40% less than a natural one demand is growing particularly among younger customers we’ve got recycled 18 karat yellow gold and the synthetic lab grown

Diamond it completely eliminates child labor as well as mining so there’s no harm done to the environment and the end result is a totally sustainable product gemstones made by human hands rather than nature its own kind of Miracle the habitat of the fresh waterer PE muscle is under threat too few muscle lvi survive in a crossborder project Wulf gang deag man is breeding the protected animals and for that he needs brown trout without these fish there would be no muscles when a brown trout swims by the

Lari cling to the gills of the fish the ly grow there protected over the winter once they’re large enough the young muscles drop out of their host skills and on onto the gravel bed they’ll spend about 6 years buried here until they’re fully grown once they’re sexually mature the cycle begins

Again the trout isn’t really keen on being the host you can almost imagine them complaining about it it’s annoying for these fish because the muscle takes oxygen and food it’s a parasite but the symbiosis works even though it’s just once in a lifetime because the following year the trout

Will have developed a resistance to the muscle at the breeding station Daniel Hing and mikal Blaha check on the lari nestled in the trout Skills what we’re doing now is opening the Gill covering a little once it’s exposed we can see muscle larv clamped to the Gill then we can monitor what developmental state they’re at beginning with a larv to a juvenile muscle as soon as the young muscles drop

Out of the gills Daniel Hing passes the water from the fish tank through a SI several times to retrieve Them it may just look like dirty water but the treasure lies hidden in it there are hundreds of juvenile muscles in the C we’re just going to give them a rinse then examine them under the Microscope how’s it looking Daniel it looks really good around 300 in today’s Harvest Super Active vigorous this could be a good year in their natural environment the muscles would now be burrowing into the gravel in the lab they’re protected for a while longer in these special Punch

Cards and then it’s time to leave the lab the punch cards mean the conservationists can check on the young muscles at any time and move them if need be part of the project entails figuring out what is the optimal environment for the animals to thrive at another location mikal Blaha checks

On the batch of muscles they put out first that looks good they’re 5 years old now they’re in their sixth year and this year they could be transferred to the Open Water the winter survival rate this year was 100% Y super the foster parents have done a good Job it’s a huge success of course it’s extremely satisfying to have accompanied them over five Winters and to have proof that the system works from the egg cell to the juvenile muscle the work we’ve put in is bearing fruit and now we’ll be getting the first batch back into the stream which is

Great their most important goal is ensuring the survival of the species even if there will never again be millions of freshwater muscles producing pearls for jewelry in the Austrian Alps Gart and hesher are setting out early the crystal Hunters have a steep climb before they’ll reach the crevice where they

Hope to find a rich seam of rock crystal sometimes you go for days even weeks where all you take home are a few little slivers that’s when you tell yourself good ah I found a little sliver today that’s good too you don’t always go home with a full

Backpack will they find larger crystals than yesterday Gad haer squeezes himself down into the narrow cavity Again his 11-year-old son floran joins his father in the Crevice oh that looks good I’ve got a small one to send up a really nice one do you have it I’ve got it looks good let’s have a look now you get to see the light of day it looks good yes it’s a beauty the True Value won’t be revealed

Until the crystal has been cleaned the clearer it is the higher the price every hole they make in The Rock has to be closed back up and secured usually with larger Stones renaturing the site is as much a part of their work as extracting the crystals is anything else coming out or

Are we done for today yes hang on we’ll turn it over and then we’ll lift it out okay it’s a really beautiful collection it looks perfect look this could be a once in a decade find the mineral collectors can’t sell their rock crystals to jewelry manufacturers or at trade fairs until

The findes been properly documented perfect it’s about 40 by 30 and yes weighs a bit more than 20 kilos should be about right that’ll probably bring in a thousand maybe even a bit more ,000 the brothers sell the precious rock crystals in their store down in the

Valley the state gets 10% of any sale the national park strict mining regulations mean enthusiasts can purchase a beautiful Crystal here without pillaging the Mountain back in savu savu the vast underwater Farm extends across the bay jewelry manufacturer yura is taking a look at Justin Hunter’s Pearl cultivation program it’s harvest time the oysters are cleaned of parasites before before being brought to shore even in ancient times pearls like these were famous and particularly

Prized it’s said that Cleopatra’s earrings were made using pearls from this muscle Species for me for me it’s important to see that they’re produced in an environmentally friendly way in harmony with nature as far as I’m concerned this is the only sustainable Jewel there is Pearl farming has the to thank for its Treasures the delicate creatures need an intact marine environment to

Thrive but they also play a role in maintaining it each individual oyster can filter more than 100 L of water every day much like a sewage treatment plant where Pearl oysters Thrive the ecosystem is in balance and biodiversity reaps the benefits yeah yeah this is a natural

Habitat for a lot of marine life especially the younger stages of fish you know crabs you get C cucumbers in here it’s called ecosystem Services which is the technical term for what oysters do and when they’re they’re non non- selective feeders which means they’re taking in water they’re removing

Any kind of algae which is their predominant feet so they’re physically and chemically cleaning this this Bay every day Justin Hunter harvests around 20 5,000 PS every year it’s a business of give and take in the Marine ecosystem of savu SAU nature and humans exist in Harmony if we look after nature um it looks after us and it’s also a very important part of the story of pearls and what we bring to luxury because there’s simply no other product out there that gives back more to the environment I love what I I do I love

What I represent I love the fact that I’m in the environment that I love and treasure and um and that’s passion you follow your height the treasures of savu savu bay are recovered it’s Taken 2 years for a pearl to grow inside this oyster without harming the delicate creature the valuable jewel is Removed the pears are worth between 50 and $400 the bigger they are the higher the Price that’s a nice size H Justin 14 mm which is quite rare but I love these colors here it was worth traveling halfway around the world because it’s a privilege to buy these pearls no one has had to suffer to produce these pearls and they’re completely natural and very beautiful ethical and sustainable

Jewelry another gift from nature given when it’s treated with patience and care

Guilt-free precious gems — when it comes to jewelry, more and more people are checking the sustainability credentials. Environmentally friendly pearl cultivation and synthetic lab diamonds are helping make this possible — and minimizing harm to humans and the natural world.

For a long time, no one gave any thought to the ecological impact of jewelry. The river pearls used to adorn crowns were often taken from huge mussel beds in German rivers and streams. The species is now endangered and nature conservationist Wolfgang Degelmann is working to save it. “The mussel can look back on a 230-million-year history, when the conditions for it to thrive were just right. Then humans come along and after 100 years, that 230-million-year history was trampled underfoot.” Degelmann runs a mussel breeding program with the aim of reintroducing the creature to its natural habitat.

In the Fiji Islands off the coast of Savusavu, Justin Hunter runs a sustainable pearl farm in a bid to save the black-lip pearl oyster from extinction. He’s imposed strict environmental regulations here to create an intact underwater world, a prerequisite for naturally occurring pearls. For their part, the oysters also contribute to the marine ecosystem; each one filters several hundred liters of water every day. Hunter has in the meantime persuaded many locals in Savusavu to get involved in environmental protection — after all, most of the island’s inhabitants live from the fruits of the sea and from tourism in their South Pacific paradise.
In the Austrian Alps, twins Hannes and Gerhard Hofer hike through the mountains for days, venturing into unexplored caves to extract precious gems and crystals from the rock — in restricted quantities. Crystal collectors must adhere to strict environmental criteria.

Jewelry designer Helge Maren Hauptmann uses lab diamonds for her collection. “There’s no discernible difference, they’re genuine diamonds — just cultivated rather than naturally occurring,” she says. The synthetic diamonds do leave a carbon footprint, but it’s smaller than the natural gems, which are often mined in Africa using child labor. Lab-grown diamonds are also cheaper. All things considered, perhaps it’s no surprise that demand is rising.

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