Blood Ivory
For National Geographic, Bryan Christy investigates the re-emergence of the ivory trade around the globe. Christy discovers that ivory’s ceremonial religious uses are the main cause of this recent uptick. “Because this is about faith,” explains Christy, “and because faith requires suspension of disbelief, ivory traded for religious purposes doesn’t garner the aggressive scrutiny it might if it were carved into, say, chess pieces. God’s ivory has its own loophole.”