Greg Valerio, champion for traceability, transparency and ecological standards in gold sourcing, has been awarded The Observer Ethical Award for Global Campaigner.
As Greg himself says Maverick, pain in the arse, social entrepreneur, out of the box, radical, passionate, emotional, unmanageable, direct, to the point, breath of fresh air, rebel, visionary, scruffy, non-conformist and dangerous bastard have all been used to describe Greg and his commitment to human rights, ecological responsibility and fair trade in the jewellery sector.
Greg has been a great ally to the UK presence of the campaign to protect Bristol Bay – the world’s greatest wild salmon fishery – from the Anglo American proposed open-pit gold and copper mine. His organisation Fair Jewellery Action co-sponsored a screening of the film RedGold in November 2010, he has helped network the issues to other jewellers, organised for ethical jewellers CRED to work in partnership with the campaign with their customers, and most recently attended the Anglo American AGM to question the Board about the proposed Pebble Mine .
Livia Firth presented Greg with the award. Livia is another ally in the effort to protect Bristol Bay and recently signed the Bristol Bay Protection Pledge.
Greg’s success, which couldn’t have happened without Fairtrade International (FLO), the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM), artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM), and many, many more, is a great platform from which to reach more people with the message that we need to clean up the gold supply chain.
Read all about The Observer Ethical Awards.
Read Livia Firth’s review of the Ethical Awards ceremony.
Join Greg and Livia in protecting Bristol Bay by signing the petition.
Post by Lucy Pearce