Indigenous communities around the world resist threats to their sacred places—the original protected lands—in a growing movement to defend human rights and restore the environment.
This scene comes from the Pilgrims and Tourists episode of the four-part series, Standing on Sacred Ground. The episode also offers rare footage of traditional ceremonies of the Winnemem Wintu in northern California who are fighting U.S. government plans to enlarge one of the West’s biggest dams
Through scenes of traditional Winnemem Wintu ceremonies and steadfast statements of resistance, learn about the clear conflict between the Winnemem and those trying to enlarge giant Shasta Dam.
Witness the betrayal suffered by villagers in Papua New Guinea when their initial hopes are dashed by a Chinese government-owned mining company that doesn’t raise their standard of living but violently relocates them to a taboo sacred mountain.
Hear how one young man thrilled to work in the giant tar sands stripmines quickly learns the true cost as friends and family in his nearby village suffer and die from rare cancers. This scene comes from the Profit and Loss episode of the four-part series, Standing on Sacred Ground.
Watch five indigenous Q’eros pilgrims in the Peruvian Andes be driven from their ritual site by intolerant Catholics. This scene comes from the Fire and Ice episode of the four-part series, Standing on Sacred Ground.
Tensions explode in the Gamo Highlands of Ethiopia when evangelical Christians interrupt an ancient traditional ceremony and begin building a church in the heart of a sacred meadow. This scene comes from the Fire and Ice episode of the four-part series, Standing on Sacred Ground.
See Aboriginal elders practice ancient rituals and protest government collusion with mining companies that is destroying a sacred river in Australia’s Northern Territory.
Watch Native Hawaiians call back the rain, and use indigenous ecological and spiritual practices to restore the sacred island of Kaho`olawe after 50 years of military use as a bombing range.
Dr. John O’Connor is the family physician who documented several cases of a rare bile duct cancer in the small town on Lake Athabasca, downstream from the massive tar sands mines