So, what exactly are lab-grown diamonds? They’re diamonds, plain and simple. The only thing that makes lab-grown diamonds different from Earth-mined diamonds is where they come from. Apart from their origin story, lab-grown diamonds are indistinguishable from traditional, mined diamonds.
Even though they look the same, that origin story matters. Environmentally, in the world of gemstones, you can’t do better than a lab-grown diamond. Here’s why:
Traditional, mined diamonds are deep within the earth, and that means you have to move a whole of lot earth to get to them. Try, thousands and thousands of acres. That’s a lot of natural habitat destroyed.
In fact, on average, 98 square feet of Earth is moved for every carat of diamond retrieved.
Lab grown diamonds, which are every bit as hard and long lasting, are made in a laboratory, and therefore require less than one square foot per carat of diamond.
Let’s talk water: Mining is a thirst operation. To retrieve one carat of diamond from the earth requires 127 gallons of water.
Labs have all kinds of ways to reduce water waste, meaning from start to finish, producing a one-carat lab-grown diamond requires only 18 gallons of water.
For some perspective, beef requires 106 gallons of water just to produce one ounce! Mangoes and Asparagus… they take over 20 gallons of water per ounce, and none of those things last forever the way a diamond does.
Mining is also a dirty business. In fact, 2011 ounces of air pollution are produced just to retrieve one traditional diamond.
Lab grown diamonds, however, produce negligible air pollution—.001 ounces per carat. (Yes, sticking with food, that is less air pollution than it takes to produce a single steak. It’s also less than it takes to eat mangoes, unless you are lucky enough to live with a mango tree, and therefore eliminate transit.) Did we mention lab-grown diamonds can be produced anywhere that there’s a lab?
If saving resources and natural habitats and reducing pollution isn’t a convincing enough reason to go for lab-grown diamonds, how about your wallet?
With lab-grown diamonds, what is saved in production costs is passed directly to you, the buyer, meaning lab grown diamonds cost 30-40% less than traditional diamonds, even though in every meaningful way, they’re the exact same thing!
Oh, and if all of this isn’t exciting enough, because lab-grown diamonds are grown in sterile, controlled environments, they often have higher clarity scores than traditional, mined diamonds.
So, celebrate Earth Month with one of Earth’s most extraordinary, sustainable treasures: a lab-grown diamond.
From tennis bracelets and solitaires to diamond studs and engagement rings, our incomparably beautiful lab-grown diamonds will have you looking and feeling radiant.
And just like every other piece sold by Wedding Day Diamonds, our lab-grown beauties are covered by our industry-leading lifetime warranty. Now that’s a win-win. Happy Earth Month! We are so proud to be the Twin Cities’ leader in lab-grown diamonds.
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