Here's a scenario: oil is discovered under an old victorian seaport, with cultural and historical significance. There's a pretty good chance that there would be some kind of petition to get it saved, and it would more than likely work. More likely, oil companies wouldn't consider drilling there in the first place.
Now, what if those people have brown skin, live far away, and feel so strongly about the cultural significance of the place that they decide that mass suicide is better than watching their land be bulldozed? I guess there's nothing we can do, right?
Oh yeah, and here's another scenario: Al Gore, the presidential candidate, owns shares in the company that's doing the killing, and hasn't done anything to divest himself of this obvious conflict of interest, much less address it publicly. But he's the lesser of two evils, so we gotta vote for him anyway, right?