While we all depend on this earth, do we really understand how nature sustains us, and what we are doing to it through mining? Out of This Earth answers these questions through a detailed account of the aluminium industry. Focusing on the Khondalite mountains in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, capped by some of the world's best bauxite deposits, the authors trace the roots of this industry, which promises prosperity to the most marginalised sections of the world’s poorest countries. Moving beyond Odisha, this book provides a macro-view of the aluminium industry, the complex web of interests it sustains, as well as a bottom-up view of how affected communities in east India and elsewhere are rising up and resisting their displacement.