mens ringDiamonds are a girls best friend. However they are not the best friend of the people of Africa, where millions of people have suffered and died over diamonds. The movie Blood Diamond showed the diamond conflicts in detail. Villages are raided, people are murdered, people are forced into slavery. Diamonds are still mined by hand in Africa. This means that workers who make less than a dollar a day, if they are paid at all, have to go deep into the earth and dig out those stones. The worst part? 90% of the diamonds that they bring up are rejected as flawed. Even the legitimate diamond sellers who do not use conflict diamonds still pay their workers low wages. The overseers and owners of the diamond mines live in luxury while the people who work the mine suffer in poverty and die hungry.

Why then do diamonds cost so much? When you go to the store they are the most expensive rings to buy. Even a ruby ring will cost at least 10 times less. Surely diamonds can’t be that valuable. They are, because people are willing to pay that price.

There is a new alternative to buying expensive diamonds: Tungsten rings. These rings are sleek, beautiful and are not nearly as expensive. They are durable. These rings will last just as long as diamonds. Tungsten is a very unique metal and is the new trend in wedding rings. A new trend that will help express you love in the modern world. Diamonds may be forever, but so is tungsten.