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Where are the Earth's Real Jewels?

A gold miner mixing muddy soil at a gold mining pit in Bugiri, Uganda. The miners pound the excavated soils, dissolve it in water and mix it with mercury to expose the gold. Photo by Edward Echwalu

Minerals are the Earth's jewels. But when they are exploited, they can be a source of misery.

Diamonds are among the oldest gems; they floated in grains of dust even before the formation of the solar system. Other minerals arose as the sun burst into being. Volcanoes spat out basalt. Plate tectonics ground out copper. As life arose on the planet, the new organic beings released oxygen into the atmosphere to form turquoise, azurite, and malachite. Fossils of those early lives compacted deep in rock and became oil, coal, and natural gas.

Yet when those minerals are discovered by those with money, equipment, and determination, nothing, absolutely nothing matters except getting them out of the ground and selling them. In communities around the world mineral extraction has caused massive problems, including loss of home, damage to health, birth defects, depression, child prostitution, alcoholism and domestic violence, and the erosion of traditional cultures.

On September 12, Radical Joy for Hard Times presents The Ground Beneath Our Hearts, a community-generated spectacle taking place in 15 communities affected by mining and oil- and gas-drilling. The event will both call attention to the hardships and celebrate the people who never stop loving and caring about their heart's home. And it's that unique relationship that's the real treasure. Click here to learn how you can participate.

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Radical Joy Revealed.

Radical Joy for Hard Times is a global community of people dedicated to finding and making beauty in wounded places. Reconnecting with these places, sharing our stories of loss, and making acts of beauty there, we transform the land, reconnect people and the places that nourish them, and empower ourselves to make a difference in the way we live on Earth.

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Join The Ground Beneath Our Hearts
September 12, 2015

There are three ways to participate in our global celebration of people in
mining and oil- and gas-drilling communities. Click here to learn how you can be part of #HeartGround.

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