Olympians are held to the highest standards. And the Olympic
gold is the standard for excellence.
But no such standard of excellence applies to Rio Tinto, the
company that is providing the raw materials for the Olympic medals at the
London games, which begin this week.
The massive Kennecott Mine, just 25 miles outside of Salt
Lake City, UT, is the source of those raw materials and the mine has a long
history of polluting the air. It’s
so bad that WildEarth Guardians, along with a group of doctors, moms and local
environmental groups, have sued Rio Tinto for violating the Clean Air Act.
It doesn’t have to be this way, but Rio Tinto, which paid $16
million just for the privilege of participating in what the London organizers
have called the Greenest Games Ever,
can’t greenwash Salt Lake City’s huge pollution problem away or fool WildEarth
Guardians. Gold can be produced ethically and we’re asking you join us in saying
“no” to dirty Olympic medals.
Rio Tinto’s Kennecott Mine is the single largest polluter in
Salt Lake City, exposing nearly 190,000 people every day to tons of heavy
metals, leaving Salt Lake as the ninth most polluted city in the United
States.
Ironic that the suppliers of the metals for the medals are
permanently damaging the lungs of kids who will then never have the opportunity
to play sports, let alone become Olympians.
So what is the alternative for a responsible Olympic Committee?
They claim that, “no mining operation is great but the metals have to be
mined.”
Not so. Responsible consumers can recycle, repurpose and
reclaim finite quantities of gold, the most coveted metal of them all.
In fact, a company called Reflective Images does just that and then
resells jewelry to the consumer. Take our pledge to take a more sustainable
approach to your gold and other precious metal purchases by purchasing gold
from responsible companies like Reflective Images, which doesn’t greenwash the
ecological impacts of gold, and instead use reclaimed gold for their products.
Did you know the production of one
gold ring generates 20 to 60 tons of toxic waste and the dust raised by the
massive blasting, earth moving equipment and swarming trucks operating in enormous
open pit mines blankets surrounding areas destroying native vegetation,
wildlife habitat, and farmers’ crops?
Let’s have Olympic excellence also
mean environmental excellence. Take our pledge and be a champion!
