Sapphires

Sapphires

1. Mining

   • Labour
     • Exploitation of Workers
       • Child labour
         • Children not going to school
           • Continues the cycle of poverty
       • Low wages
         • Poverty
           • Which leads to
         • Little to no health insurance
       • Unsafe working conditions
         • Health problems for workers
     • Population increases around mines
       • Disrupts local economy as people abandon ordinary jobs
         • Increases health risks
   • Environmental Impact
     • Deforestation
       • Destruction of natural beauty
         • Decreases tourism oppotunities
       • Destruction of animal and plant habitats
       • Clearing trees encourages risk for erosion
     • Sedimentation and Silation
       • Pebbles and dirt from sieving and washing end up in waterways
         • Disrupts ecosystems
           • Reduces photosynthetic capacity
           • Clogging animal filters used for respiration and feeding
           • Plant and animal life goes extinct
         • Destroys natural beauty
           • Reduces tourism oppotunities

2. Transporting

   • Environmental Impacts
     • Creates air pollution
       • Contributes to global warming
         • Climate change impacts the entire planet
       • Lowers air quality
     • Noise pollution
     • Lowers water quality
       • Adversely impacts aquatic life
         • Ripple effect throughout the ecosystems
     • Lowers soil quality
       • Destroys plant life
         • Impacts animal life
     • Influences biodiversity
     • Land clearing to make room for roads
       • Tar to make roads impacts landscape
     • Fuel needed to power vehicles must be mined
       • Similar impacts to sapphire mining
   • Labour
     • Low wages
     • Mining is dangerous work