Why is Vetrazzo a better choice than granite?
People often have the misconception that granite is “green” because it is natural stone, extracted directly from the earth. Years ago, no one thought anything about clear-cutting a forest. Yet much of the granite quarrying worldwide follows a similar model. Almost 60% of all granite is shipped internationally at a tremendous energy cost. Many people are surprised to learn that quarry workers are laboring under abhorrent working conditions in India, China, Turkey and Brazil to provide cheap granite for the U.S. Conditions in these countries often include: • Unfair wages, and loans against future wages with exorbitant terms, that create the equivalent of bonded labor. • Weak worker health protections that subject workers to a variety of hazards, including a greater occurrence of accidents, inadequate access to health-care, a greater likelihood of lung disorders including silicosis and tuberculosis, and various spinal and other skeletal disorders. • Weak or non-existent environmental prot
