People are PISSED

about an etsy blog about the horrors of coral. Personally, I think that the article should have run with a disclaimer that this is just one random person's opinion and not the opinion of etsy, but I don't think that this blog post will actually affect sales of coral jewelry much.(full disclosure- I am quite sure that I probably have some pieces with coral beads.) It is well known that diamonds fuel conflicts, that gold and silver mining aren't exactly environmentally friendly, and that mother of pearl is made from oyster shells, but sales of these items continue because they are lovely items and people want them.

I attempt to be more sustainable, but as a maker of things, the real way to be sustainable is not to make things, as we have enough items for everyone on earth to fill their abodes with them. This is the sort of moral issue that everyone needs to put on their waders and wrestle with themselves. Whether you want all your items to be sustainbly sourced, or you don't care, or any thing in between- for example, I like to use reuse old jewelry items in my designs and reuse packaging, but new items are used much of the time as well- there's something for you in this wide world.

I think the brou ha ha is not so much that someone said "CORAL IS BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT" it's that sellers aren't feeling the love, so to speak. Many sellers hunger for one of their own to be given a spotlight. Competition is fierce, and anyone who gets an advantage from etsy appears to be taking advantages away from others. This goes doubly for those who are not from etsy, and also, appear to be designers instead of makers.{The distinction is that there's a huge difference from designing a piece and sending it off to be made and making the pieces themselves.] The promotional tone of the piece may have also offended some, as it moves the piece from the realm of information to marketing. So lesson learned for etsy[or not]: don't let outsiders write promotional pieces on your blog.