may have come at a terrible human and environmental cost . Although the social and ethical issues associated with conflict diamonds were the impetus at the core of the DIAZ philosophy , the serious environmental impacts of the diamond industry could not be ignored . There 's an undeniable link between the degradation of our global environment and consumer culture . The trouble is that these days , things are so nicely packaged , presented and displayed that we hardly ever question how the raw materials used to produce the goods are extracted and processed . We rarely think of how it all affects the environment and humankind . It 's impossible to assess exactly how much devastation one single diamond could have caused before it was cut , polished , set and sold at a high-end retailer . It 's hard to imagine what a diamond mine looks like by looking at the `` stunning sparklers '' that are neatly displayed in shop windows . Somewhere along the way it became irrelevant to question the true cost of the stones . Diamond mining practices are not without huge ecological impacts . Whether extracted from a large-scale diamond mine using
During CNN 's `` Going Green : Green Light for Business '' coverage , we 've asked businesses to tell us how they balance the imperative for profit with environmental concerns . First up is the co-founder of Hong Kong-based DIAZ Fine Jewelry , Salina Khan Fuchigami , whose business packages cubic zirconia diamonds in an environmental wrapping . Growing up surrounded by generations of jewelry wearing tradition , I was drawn to the brilliance and transparency of diamonds from an early age . Later , it was the fact that diamonds are a unique resource , evoking beauty and eternal love that lead me to found DIAZ Fine Jewelry . Salina Khan Fuchigami co-founded DIAZ Fine Jewelry with her husband Takashi . However , as I began to learn beyond the basics and beauty of diamonds , I began to discover the many environmental and ethical issues related to them . And the once simple wish to create a line of exquisite diamond jewelry grew into a mission -- to create an ecologically and ethically correct jewelry brand . I was one of many who were understandably concerned to learn that jewelry they had as a symbol of love