How does one sacred site struggle affect another? When Ritz Carlton resort construction on Maui churned up the bones of 1,100 ancestors who were peacefully resting in sand dunes, seasoned defenders of Kaho`olawe island responded to the call. Here’s how two sacred places were saved.
In rural Papua New Guinea, the villagers of Bosmun revive a long dormant canoe ceremony along their sacred Ramu river.
In Standing on Sacred Ground’s second episode, Profit and Loss, we have a couple brief scenes featuring Mike Mercredi explaining a detailed map of the tar sands that he and Lionel Lepine created for their Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation tribal government.
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.