Ethics & Sustainability
The Colourful Dot is committed to showing deep care and respect for Mother Earth and all who call this their home.
Recently, there have been some really strong articles about the ethics of the crystal industry; about how crystals are sometimes extracted from the earth in unethical ways, one article referring to crystals as the new 'blood diamonds'. Some of these articles are strongly worded, but they are important in helping us to open up our eyes and hearts, to dig deeper and to find out where our crystals come from. The irony is not lost on me that we use and love our crystals for energy healing purposes, yet we don’t necessarily look into how these crystals are extracted, the working conditions of those who mine them, and the impact on the earth.
As a young girl, when I first started gathering my personal collection of crystals, I was a little naive, and didn’t question too deeply the ethics of the crystal trade. But as the years went by and I started The Colourful Dot, I naturally wanted to learn more about the extraction of crystals, and I knew I wanted to find crystals that were ethically sourced. In the words of Maya Angelou “When you know better, do better.”
So, now that I know better, I make sure my suppliers have visited the mines to see the conditions of the land, the people working there and so on. I trust my suppliers, having worked with them for over 8 years now. For example, my crystal supplier in India - who I’ve known for over 7 years - only supplies crystals from a small number of sources, which he visits regularly, often sending me pictures from the mine. I visited him recently in India and next time I go back he’s invited me along to join him. I work closely with him on particular crystal collections that he has unearthed by his own hands.
More recently I have added a section in the shop dedicated to British crystals. I have sourced many of these through older retired crystal dealers, many of them date back to 1960's. I also offer newer crystals that have been unearthed by hand through out the UK.
It's important to ask questions to the people/shops we are buying our crystals from.. Perhaps if regulations were put in place, it will help make sure that these precious gifts from Mother Earth are gathered and shared in a way that honours the divine in all beings.
My collection of Palo Santo Wood has been harvested by a group of indigenous people, authorized by the Ecuadorian government to ensure its sustainability. The wood only comes from fallen branches/trees.
I use recyclable packaging and I don’t use any plastic in my packaging, apart from the Sellotape which is made from 100% recycled plastic.
It's really important to me that I can give back through the work I do. In the spirit of ‘ayni’ (reciprocity), for every order placed in my shop, one tree will be planted. I will make a donation in aid of the Tree Sisters mission.
"TreeSisters is an invitation to everyone to do as much radical good as they can for the planet. Our global network of treesisters is transforming both lives and landscapes in extraordinary ways. TreeSisters offers unique global programs that focus on encouraging women's leadership, Nature-connection, and significant behaviour change as we make the shift from being consumers to restorers. TreeSisters is funding the restoration of environments, biodiversity and communities within more than 10 major ecosystems around the global Tropics, through a diverse portfolio of vetted, trusted reforestation projects and in the process, planting millions of trees."