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. The episode also tells of a Chinese government-owned nickel mine that has violently relocated villagers to a taboo sacred mountain, built a new pipeline and refinery on contested clan land, and is dumping mining waste into the sea.

Standing on Sacred Ground chronicles indigenous people in eight communities around the world standing up for their traditional sacred lands in defense of cultural survival, human rights and the environment. Watch them stand against industrial mega-projects, consumer culture, resource extraction, competing religions, tourists and climate change.

Standing on Sacred Ground was produced by the Sacred Land Film Project, https://sacredland.org, a project of Earth Island Institute. To deepen public understanding of sacred places, indigenous cultures and environmental justice, the Film Project produces a variety of media and educational materials—films, videos, DVDs, articles, photographs, school curricula and other materials. The Sacred Land Film Project uses journalism, organizing and activism to rekindle reverence for land, increase respect for cultural diversity, stimulate dialogue about connections between nature and culture, and protect sacred lands and diverse spiritual practices.

If you enjoyed this clip, please consider supporting our ongoing work by visiting http://standingonsacredground.org/ and clicking Donate.

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