The blight of illegal gold mining

If you want a shock, take 30 seconds to watch this video--filmed from a airplane flying over the Peruvian Amazon.  The narration is in Spanish but it won't matter...

Gouging the earth for gold... illegal miner in Suriname (photo by William Laurance)

if this were just happening in Peru it'd be one thing, but 'blood gold' has turned into a global crisis.  Especially in developing nations, the combination of high gold prices and too many poor people is creating almost unstoppable pressures for miners to invade parks, wildernesses, and anywhere else that alluvial gold occurs.

Mining moonscape... illegal gold mining in Sumatra, Indonesia (photo by William Laurance)

Completely unregulated, the environmental impacts of illegal mining are many--destruction of riparian habitats, massive increases in river sediment loads, and toxic mercury pollution among them. 

And that's not to mention the human toll that the miners take on indigenous groups and rural communities trying to survive in areas ravaged by mining, when the fish are gone and the only source of drinking water is now tainted.

The take-home lesson: Too much of the gold we buy comes with a big, hidden price tag...