Hello,

My name is Michael Leonard, and I am on a mission. I know we hear this often these days, individuals wanting to change the world and such. However, I am here with a simple message – We as humans have to fundamentally change the way we live our lives on a core and daily basis – or else we are going to destroy this beautiful place we call home. Then all the small things we bicker and argue about will no longer matter.

Now, what does this have to do with crystals and jewelry you ask? Our Mother Earth has provided us with many great treasures, especially beautiful crystals and gems, we see people all around us wearing them, see them in shop cases – yet, we have so little connection to where they actually come from.

The stones in your jewelry – if they are real stones – came from inside the earth, and someone, somewhere had to dig or extract them. Who does this work, and where they come from, can play a major role in making this world a better place or damaging it for generations to come.

Let me give you a few examples: In Cripple Creek, Colorado there is a turquoise mine where they have been digging turquoise by hand for nearly one hundred years – and many more before that by the native peoples. In that time they have disturbed less than the size of a football field of land and will be able to dig for hundreds more. This Mine benefits the local economy and many artisans who make this fine stone into jewelry.

Also in Cripple Creek there is a gold mine – the second largest in the country – this gold mine has stripped nearly 4 miles of gaping scars into the land, as it is an open pit mine. In the United States there are strong reclamation laws that say that they have to put the land back to the way it was before – but can that really be done? This Mine is owned by a Canadian corporation and all the gold flows right out of our local economy.

In both the examples above the mines still employ and utilize well paid labor. Now lets contrast that to other places in the world. If similar corporations were to find a similar Turquoise deposit in India or Pakistan, among many other countries, they may tear the whole mountain down with labor that is barely surviving. And most definitely, there are no reclamation laws.

I am on a mission to make the world a better place by reconnecting people to where our jewelry, crystals, and gemstones actually come from. And in the process perhaps help people to think about what we are consuming and how it impacts the world around us!

Thank you for visiting Leonard Crystals and Jewelry. Please let us know how we can be of service to you!