Media artist, educator and activist Carolina Loyola-Garcia is not suggesting that we return to pounding our clothes clean on river rocks and communicating through smoke signals.

"The bottom line is that we need, apparently, the minerals," she says while discussing global mining practices, the inspiration for "Deliciously Disposable Earth," an exhibition she curated that opens Friday night at the Three Rivers Arts Festival Gallery.

But she does think that it's time to ask questions about ways to extract those minerals that are non-destructive, non-polluting and sustainable, and she's hoping the exhibition will inspire a public debate.

"How do we want to develop as a human community, worldwide?" Planning has traditionally been done in a linear way, she says, but people need to begin thinking in a cyclic way. "Everything comes back."

The exhibiting artists have evidently been giving considerable consideration to a myriad of issues contained within the show's theme, and express their concerns through the unique language of visual art.

For example, Jane Rainwater, of Massachusetts, explores the history and human costs of gold mining through symbol-laden gold charm bracelets, and distributes rubber bracelets stamped in Latin and English with a line by the Roman poet Virgil, "O cursed thirst for gold."

Israeli Itamar Jobani's video installation "Blood, Man, Earth" -- a figure risen from the landscape looming over a blood-red holding pond -- grew from the root relationship of the title words in Hebrew, "Dam, Adam, Adama" respectively.

Pittsburghers Tom and Connie Merriman's "Cerulean Warbler" speaks to the endangerment of a species by mountaintop coal mining in West Virginia, while Clayton Merrell's intimately scaled paintings on copper are drawn from the immense mining operations he saw in New Mexico.

The cyberfeminist collective subRosa addresses mining from the body perspective, including the privatization of "discovered" DNA to profit the pharmaceutical industries. An earlier work by the group, "International Markets of Flesh," spoke to how the organ market has been commercialized legally around the world.

Canadian Eugenie Michelle Gasson critiques the status significance of jewelry, something intricately tied into the search for more bling material; Shelby Skumanich, the granddaughter of immigrant coal miners, photographs the culture of a Pennsylvania mining community; German Karin Bergdolt narrates the mysterious abandonment of a Canadian mining island through text, drawings and paintings; and Lucy Raven captures on video practices of a Kentucky copper mine that ships its ore to China for processing.

In most instances the connection to mining is paramount. In others, the artist responds to a broader cause and effect, such as that of large industries upon the global environment.

California performance artist Larry Bogad, working in the Yes Men tradition, created a corporation to profit from global warming itself. He served "ice cream made of glacial melt" at Friday's opening reception -- "take advantage of it before it all MELTS!"

Yi-Chuan Chen's "Shower" comprises fluffy cotton clouds imbedded with sewing needles that are held in place by a slowly evaporating material and periodically rain down as their fixative disappears. Her reference is to the acid rain of her native Taiwan where locals fret and protect themselves with thick raincoats during downpours.

Three films that are part of the exhibition will be shown at Pittsburgh Filmmakers' Melwood Screening Room in North Oakland.

"Tambogrande: Mangos, Murder and Mining," a story of resistance and struggle for justice that pits residents of a small Andes town against a global gold corporation, directed by Ernesto Cabellos, will be shown at 8 p.m. Saturday

"Pascua Lama: A contemporary quest for El Dorado," directed by Loyola-Garcia and her sister Gloria Loyola, will be screened Feb. 2. A two-year project completed in November, the documentary follows the confrontation between a Chilean valley farming community dependent upon glacial meltwater and the Canadian concern planning to mine the mountaintop above them.

The series ends Feb. 22 with Mimi Pickering's "The Buffalo Creek Flood," pairing the director's 1970s historical look at U.S. mining practices made in response to the Kentucky event with a sobering 1990s follow-up film.

"Deliciously Disposable Earth" evolved out of Loyola-Garcia's submission of her film to Tavia La Follette, director of alternative space ArtUp, who was considering a political show for the election year. The Festival heard about it and offered facilities and a budget.

It was Loyola-Garcia's artwork that was pulled from last summer's Three Rivers Arts Festival because of objections to the mild nudity it contained, so this exhibition has an aspect of fence-mending. Loyola-Garcia stepped in as curator after being assured that she could show whatever she felt appropriate in the Festival gallery.

Of the summer incident, Loyola-Garcia says, "At least something good [the exhibition] came out of it. I think it was a learning experience for everyone."

It's the kind of conflict resolution that would come in handy when addressing the issues raised in this timely exhibition.

"Earth" continues through Feb. 22 at 937 Liberty Ave., Downtown. The opening reception is from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday and Cultural District Gallery Crawl hours are 5:30 to 9 p.m. Jan. 25. Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Admission is free. For information, call 412-281-8723.