What do Volkswagen Beetles and how much earth has to be moved to mine the gold and diamond for a 1 carat engagement ring have in common? You may never buy a ring again after seeing this...

I clipped this from a larger info-graphic on the economics of Gold Mining.

The amount of earth that had to be moved to mine a gram of gold kinda startled me.  Got me to thinking, How much earth, in terms of Volkswagen Beetles, has to be moved to produce a 1 carat diamond engagement ring?

To mine a 1 carat diamond requires the moving of 250 tons of earth (best estimate I could find Googling--could be more...or less). Using the numbers in the infographic, that is the equivalent of 218 Beetles (500,000lbs/2,295lbs per Beetle)

The gold portion of ring will only set you back a fraction of the Beetle (a fender?).

Next time you drive by a Volkswagen dealership think about this---all the cars in the lot represent the amount of earth that had to be displaced to produce the diamond ring on your finger.  Is it worth it?

Source: Business Insid