Olympic medals. Wedding bands. Modern dentistry. Those little stars we earned in kindergarten.

Gold symbolizes our greatest achievements, so it's no fun to realize that the world's most precious metal has lost its luster.

But the truth is that mining for gold takes a devastating toll on our planet. The facts are staggering: It takes 20 tons of waste to produce a single wedding band. Tons of cyanide are required to extract gold from ore. It pollutes water with heavy metals, making it about as safe as battery acid.

Enter No Dirty Gold, a national campaign designed to make consumers and jewelers aware of the enormous toll that gold mining takes on our planet. It was created two years ago by a coalition of advocacy groups, including Oxfam America and EarthWorks, to highlight the impact of gold mining.

One of the key messages in that campaign is that best alternatives to new gold are vintage pieces and jewelry made from recycled gold. Some of the leading earth-friendly jewelers include Green Karat and Leber Jewelers.

Meanwhile, jewelry retailers have been quick to realize that "dirty gold" is not a concept they want associated with their industry.

To ensure that gold maintains its reputation, several high-profile jewelers have signed on with Oxfam, including Zales, Cartier, Piaget, Helzberg Diamonds, Van Cleef & Arpels, and... (anyone hoping for a little blue box this Christmas can exhale now) Tiffany & Co. A complete list is posted at No Dirty Gold's website.

Meanwhile, I almost wish I didn't know that gold is not good. After all, I don't want to feel guilty about wearing the few (very, very few) pieces of gold jewelry that I do own. Because they're so personally significant, of course, I'll continue to wear them.

But I guess the upshot is that I have more (much, much more) of the fake junk, and suddenly all that fake junk looks kinda cool after all.