In Mexico, the world’s avocado capital, forests fall and fortunes rise as the ‘green gold’ rush fuels both prosperity and peril. As global demand reshapes two towns, they clash over what’s worth protecting: profit, people, or the land itself. In Madero, land defenders risk everything to resist organized crime clearing forests and stealing water for illegal orchards. Nearby in Tancítaro, avocado growers and workers ride the boom, even as it threatens the land and water they depend.