All that glitters... (Advice and dissent: letters from our readers).

I was pleased to see "Diamonds Aren't Forever" (Consumer News, September/October 2001) on the problems and alternatives to traditional mining and trading of jewelry. My original wedding ring was lost, and I have struggled with how or whether to replace it ever since. I was surprised that even many of my "green" friends looked confused when I described my ambivalence in environmental and financial terms. I am intrigued by many of the alternatives you profiled, but I think it is unlikely most of us are ready to substitute for the traditions of important life events like marriage.

Then I remembered a maxim often cited by my husband, a recycling coordinator: reduce, reuse, recycle. Used jewelry, also known as estate jewelry, may offer an affordable and responsible option. It is widely available and can be bought as is or reset/recast. Metals and gems--even refined in jewelry--still tie us to nature's beauty in ways that human-made circuit boards and even glass do not. And they represent and withstand lifelong endeavors, like marriage, which natural alternatives like wood and clay cannot.

B. May
New Haven, CT