Hi there!
It was great to see you in Colchester this weekend,  you are always so welcoming to one and all from pushchair to pensioner!  Even those with pocket money budgets get the same warm smiling treatment ~ and such wonderful & interesting information on where and how the crystals came from its a real treat to visit you.
Thank you!!!
Gill, Colchester 25th November

Hi
I would appreciate your opinion on the environmental impact of crystals. I have quite a few myself (some from you) and am starting to feel a little concerned as to how the earth is treated to obtain them. There is also the fair treatment of the workers to consider.
Crystals are so beautiful and so powerful I hope you can put my mind at rest.
Love, Light and Reiki
Kerry, Wolverhampton 1^st July
Steve Replies on 3rd July :-
Hi Kerry,
Many thanks for your email.
I'm going to tell you a story first - you can skip this if I have already told it to you !
A few years ago, I did my first ever crystal work shop, where people actually paid to come and listen to what I had to say !!
It was my very first time and I did it in a healing centre run by a lady called B------.
B------ and I agreed that she would do an introduction to her healing centre and then talk for 2 minutes on crystals and then introduce me.
What actually happened in practice was that her 2 minute introduction went something like this - "Hi everybody, welcome to _******** healing centre, we have Steve Sippitt here this morning who is going to talk to us about the crystals that we probably all have and own and which are blasted out of the ground and wrenched from the earth just so that we can leave them sitting on our mantelpiece's - over to you then Steve"
Bear in mind this was my very first ever workshop !!!

Now what her introduction did teach me (al be it trial by fire) was that the points you have raised are valid points that do need thinking about from time to time and that this is an issue that we just need to be aware of rather than shunt away to the background of our minds.

Before I tell you my feelings on the matter, and what I told the good folk on that fateful workshop, let me just say that I no longer deal with that particular healing centre any longer !!!!!!

So Kerry,

1) a lot of the crystals and minerals that you see for sale everywhere are not necessarily mined for exclusively - rather they are found as the by-product of mining for other elements, coal, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, bauxite (a major ore of Aluminium) Copper, Silver, Gold, etc etc so the Earth is not being "ravaged" to bring you sodalite, red jasper, bloodstone etc etc.
Now of course you could argue that human beings ought to be more careful and considerate when mining for Coal, Gold, Silver etc etc and that would be hard to disagree with. Many mines and mine owners these days employ conservationists, just as oil companies do, to ensure that environmental impact is kept to a minimum.
Has this always been the case? No.
Are there instances of bad mining practices? Yes
Pressure bought to bear by green parties and world opinion is having an effect on conservation though.

2) There are something like 3,000 minerals known to humankind. Of these something like 1,400 can be found in Brazil. Large numbers of minerals also exist in Columbia, Peru, Sri Lanka, and many African states. What do these countries all have in common? They are all poor.
Exporting minerals is a valuable source of income to them. If their exports generate income then their governments can provide a better standard of living for their people.
Do these countries have good governments with plans for civil regeneration? Some do some don't But if another source of income is taken away from them, then they probably never will.

3) Are the actual miners treated well themselves ? Probably not - not in any country. Think back to how miners in this country were treated say only 50 or 60 years ago. Sadly they probably never will be. It may well be a necessary job but is not a glamorous enough job to be treated well.

4) Are we using minerals without even realising it? Definitely yes !
Lepidolite is a source of Lithium - Lithium powers the Duracel batteries you buy.
You probably have miles of Copper pipes in your house and miles of Copper wiring in your walls.
Kyanite is sometimes used in the manufacture of sparkplugs in cars.
The aeroplanes you fly in to go on holiday are made from Aluminium and Titanium.
Carbon is used to add to iron to make all the stainless steel products in your house.
Graphite is used in pencils and in oils.
Nickel is used in coins
If this sounds like an argument to stop mining altogether - think how different our world would be with no iron, steel, copper etc.
I think that there are many more things that have an equal enviromental impact to the points you have raised. Think of air-travel and tourism. Think of car pollution. Think of deforestation. Think of greenhouse gasses.
I think that we have sort of "inherited" these things from the actions of our forebears and that we can put things right by "managing" things better.
The same applies (and it's taken me a long while to get to the point here ! ) in our use of the earths minerals. Maybe one day we will find, for example, a synthetic Copper and then we won't have to mine for it any longer.
In the same way as we can only try to "manage" the other world problems - we must try to "manage" our use of the earths resources.

5) Don't ever deal in "Conflict Diamonds" i.e Diamonds mined in Africa whose proceeds are used to fund the many civil wars in that continent.

6) So far I have only written from a scientific point of view, but there are many people out there who believe that so many crystals are being made available to us today, in order that those of us who work with them can use them to help heal the many problems that are facing our planet at the moment.
This seems like a perfectly valid argument to me.
Perhaps you could try to spend some time doing Earth Healing, healing areas of war and strife - to give back to the earth some peace and humanity in return for the treasures that it has given up to you.

7) So where does all of this leave us ?
In summary I'd say this.
You are perfectly correct to be concerned, but don't let your concern ruin the enjoyment of the crystals that you are presently safekeeping (I say safekeeping for no one "owns" a crystal)
By buying your crystals you are possibly helping the people in poorer countries to a (marginally) better standard of living. Can you be sure of this? Sadly no.
You will be bringing their healing power to many people in this country though.

However, if after reading through all of this incredibly long reply, you still feel uncomfortable with certain types of minerals - stick with Quartz.
Quartz is, in one form or another (such as mica, as quartz rock, as quartz points, as Aventurine, as Amethyst, as Citrine, and in a hundred other forms) is the most abundant mineral on Earth - even we human beings can't dig up the whole planet !!

Can I sum all of this email up in a single paragraph?

"Do be concerned but don't be put off. Crystals balance extreme beauty with extreme poverty, stunning colours with deep and dangerous mines, incredible forms and structures with the need to better manage the earths resources. In short - they are a balance. Exactly the same as the balance that they can bring to your life."

With lots of Love
Steve
xx