Teaching the Nation

Brad Powless left a good job as a teacher in a moneyed suburb of Rochester so that he could move to a place where median income is far less, and uneven roads disappear around wooded bends; a place, only five miles from the traffic hubs of Syracuse's city center, that struggles to keep a handle on its trash dump and maintains its fire department with proceeds from tobacco sales. The story of this place stretches so far into the past that human memory alone sustains it. Yet its future seems so ripe with potential that a growing body of people finds hope in its precepts. It's a place that Powless has always called home: the Onondaga Nation. Now he teaches 88 Haudenosaunee students in a K-8 school, reminding them of their heritage - a heritage Powless thinks will carry them far.

What do you see in the Onondaga Nation's future? What can we learn about conservation and a more healthy relationhsip with nature from native peoples' practices? What have we learned already? How can we help incorporate peoples like the Onondaga Nation into a society we hope to make more environmentally friendly?