Responsible Stone: Quality Beyond Beauty

   Of the 12 million slave laborers, about 60 percent are children. Asia accounts for much of this with 61 percent, followed by Africa at about 30 percent and Latin America with about 9 percent.
   These are appalling numbers … and may be of particular importance to the natural-stone industry.
   In the United States we’ve seen the impact that such labor has on such things as sporting goods, textile “sweatshops” and other various and sundry off-shore manufacturers employing child labor, slave labor and abusive labor practices. The American consumer flatly rejects goods made under certain circumstances.
   The globalization of trade has taken some of the rough edges off these topics, but only because we’ve focused what we sell on price. While the United States has quite clear guidelines about who works on what and under what conditions they work, there is strong evidence that some of the countries which supply us with stone have no such protections.
   At what price do you think the American consumer would place stone enhancements, if they knew that child labor, slave labor or abusive labor practices were employed in the manufacturer of the stone used in those beautiful new countertops?
   Today, we hear much about a level playing field in regards to global trade. In theory, as in practice, the level playing field and abusive labor practices, environmental degradation and ecological pillage are all mutually exclusive events. The predicate for the level-playing field was not to lower the standard of living for the American consumer, but to raise the standard of living for our global trading partners.
   I’m pretty much a market guy. I believe that, in most instances, the market will prevail. However, there are exceptions to unregulated market behavior.
    Is it acceptable to let an unregulated market deforest and strip our environment? How about using children to help quarry a stone block? Most reasonable people would answer no.
   So, how do you fix the situation, without a lot of regulatory oversight? The answer, I believe, is fairly simple: Inform the market, and they’ll regulate with their pocketbook.
   Let’s be honest about who fuels our industry today. Although there’s no formal research on the consumer market for stone, there’s enough anecdotal information to support the hypothesis that, generally speaking, the consumer market for stone is high-end.
   Characteristically, these people don’t drive 10-year-old Chevy Luminas or live in $75,000 homes. They live in communities easily identifiable from a demographic perspective: Chances are very good that they reside in the top 10 percent to 15 percent of household incomes.
   This market buys appliances with green energy stars; they drive hybrid automobiles; they consider green space an important element of any community. They support The Nature Conservancy, the Audubon Society, the local library and schools both public and private.
   But, most of all, they support their children in particular, and children’s issues in general. It would be a mistake to mischaracterize them as “tree-huggers;” in their minds, they’re conservators of the environment and custodians of their communities.
   It’s no secret that some of the stone that we sell is highly suspect for having used children and other nefarious labor in quarrying, mining and processing. Exploitive practices with human capital and environmental processes should be a concern to all of us.
   And, I can hear the defense in selling that stone is that, “we didn’t know.” I wonder: Did anyone ask?
   Likewise, there are areas in the world where the stone in the market has been ripped from the earth using technology that dates back to the 19th century – and older. The run-off of these processes has poisoned water supplies and defaced the earth. In some communities these processes have completely destroyed the ecological balance of the community.
   In many areas there’s no regulation to see that the environment is reclaimed in a meaningful and sustainable way. But, man, the stone was sure the right price.
   Global trade is not about buying cheaper. Global trade is about fair trade which, when reduced to its simplest common denominator, raises the standard of living for everyone.
   There’s a tremendous opportunity for the natural-stone industry to make some giant steps in advancing the concept of global trade, while simultaneously working to actually raise the standard of living for everyone.
   Further, our market is a market that would be quite-receptive to the concept, as well as actually understand it.
   The Hudson Economics Group Ltd. is pioneering a project called the Global Stone Project. It’s focused on an international consumer brand which whould warrant to the consumer three things:
   • The stone was produced without employing any child labor, or abusive labor practices;
   • The stone was quarried using current technology to support environmental sustainability; and
   • The quarry/mine will be, or has been, returned to an ecologically renewable state.
   This project can provide the industry with the opportunity to get their story out to the target consumers and provide the companies subscribing to the Global Stone Project a significant competitive advantage.
   The concerns expressed in this endeavor are concerns which to some extent, or another, also those of many governments, most notably in Brazil, India and Italy. The Indian state of Rajasthan recently introduced legislation which significantly cracks down on the use of human capital and also on environmental impact and ecological sustainability.
   These are serious problems worthy of serious consideration. The United Nations developed guidelines and proffered a treaty, dating back to 1986, which ostensibly protects child labor.
   Unfortunately, enforcing the treaty is almost impossible. The International Labor Organization developed criteria to sustain the rights of workers to be free from abusive and exploitive labor practices, but actual enforcement of the conventions, treaties and regulations is really up to an informed marketplace. The informed marketplace is up and down the supply-chain and certainly includes the consumer.
   In reality, there will always be people who attempt to abuse and exploit. However, there is every reason to expect that the stone we use should be certified to a minimum set of standards. I would argue that developing and enforcing those standards is the legitimate work of industry trade associations and organizations, world-wide. It is much better to negotiate these standards now, rather than have them regulated on us later.
   Finally, it is a win-win situation for everyone. It’s market economics at its finest, helping raise the standard of working and living for developing countries, while providing the U.S. consumer with the quality of materials found only in natural stone.
   Lloyd Henry is the senior consultant and analyst of The Hudson Economics Group Ltd. in Hudson, Ohio. He can be contacted at lgh@hudsonecon.com

 This article first appeared in the January 2007 print edition of Stone Business. ©2007 Western Business Media Inc.