Each year the average industrialised person consumes up to 18 metric tonnes of materials from the Earth in order to sustain their lifestyle. In extracting these fossil fuels, minerals and metals, mining is not only destroying ecosystems and cultures but also contributing to climate change and mass extinction of species. Dr Vandana Shiva, May 2011

"All the knowledge of our people is based on a permanent relationship with the places in which we live. The Indian territories are not only physically but also culturally located. We live here with a magical perspective. The people who live in a valley see rivers and mountains in a very different way from a geologist or a biologist. A mountain for us has a name, has children, has loves. It has a history, a story to tell because it has witnessed life passing." .... Ailton Krenak, Brazil - from a Gaia interview, 1989