ok please forgive me if i am too dense to get this one... but a pound (!) of gold (and no, not GreenKarat gold, the old fasioned arseniuc ladden kind that kills the planet) with alligator skin... and you call it socially conscious because Russel Simons is be careful not to use war diamonds? and because he wants kids in Africa to make "the bling" themselves (sure i guess that's nice... a living wage to make some american BBoy look like Liberace)and cause he wants African Ameican entrepreneurs to become what exactly? as wasteful and anyone else? PLEASE! ths should be in the not-even-close-to-treehugger category.

oh and don't even get me started on Coltran and PS2. Jeezuz! sure let the kids make my fatass jewels and get a 'living wage' while the rawandans wage a war and the congo is on fire all for stupid little gameboys (and cellphones, we're not innocent). Sure let the kids have a wage.. and the bonobos? since they (our closest living relative) are the ones that are getting evicted, maybe they will find solace in knowing that Russel Simmons has made life better for the blingepreneur! woo hoo! what a piece of shit!

How exactly do they inspect the diamonds to determine that they're conflict free? Investigators have outlined the difficult ethical aspects of the diamond trade because it's virtually impossible to trace the origins of diamonds, either by looking at it or trying to penetrate the complex web of intermediaries. No retail or major brand name company knowingly buys blood diamonds: wholesalers mix diamonds from varying sources, usually measured by character, not by origin. ie: not even a certification programme can solve the problem. Don't buy diamonds, or gold or promote wasteful crap like this.

At least it's a start. It's better than nothing. It's good to see such high profile designers (baby phat is a very prominent brand in the teenager world) putting in an effort. I think what they are doing is more about letting people know about conflict-free diamonds than about being completely treehuggerish.

"Bling" itself is anti-treehugger.

A $35,000 case for a videogame system?!

Gold-plated iPods?

Diamond-encrusted cellphones?

Those are obscenities.

By the way... what's the exact number on the "large percentage" that "benefits communities?" And who are these communities?

Most, if not all, of the social atrocities, injustices that are perpetuated against these communities are enabled by ambiguous language which promises a "large percentage" to "benefit communities."

There is no way, no how, no time, no place, no reason that spending $35,000 on something like that will ever, ever, EH-ver be remotely eco-friendly.

Ever.

I'm not suggesting that celebs, pro athletes, and music luminaries haul their PSPs around in a paper sack (god forbid), but let's just say somewhere between a paper sack and $35,000 aligator skin diamond case is eco-responsible.

And it's pretty damn close to the paper sack, jack.

That's living simply. And just because you have $35,000 to spend on a blingy PSP case, doesn't make it any less immoral. That's a hard lesson and largely alien to Americans weened on celebrity worship and reality programs that make billionaires into lovable sitcom characters. But as Robin Williams once said "cocaine is god's way of telling you you have too much money."

You can add a $35,000 PSP case to that list.

Bling is spending $35,000 on buying laptops for fifty low income high school students.

True "BLING" is the gold plated AK-47 that a guy carries around in Lord Of War. !Bling Bling!