Participant Biographies
Finding Common Ground
Two evening programs at Syracuse Stage and a daylong TEACH-IN at ESF
Sean Kirst, a journalist with the Syacuse Post-Standard will facilitate the conversation because as a journalist he knows how to ask questions and because be has proven to be an insightful writer on Central NY's Native history, contemporary Native issues and the efforts to restore the Onondaga Lake and its tirbutaries.
Joyce King (Mohawk) is the Director of the Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force (HETF) http://www.hetf.org/. The HETF was established by the Grand Council of the of Haudenosaunee Nations (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Tuscarora) and is made up of delegates chosen by each Nation to identify environmental problems and solutions in their communities. Joyce and the HETF are presently preparing an environmental protection process based on traditional perspective on our relations with the natural world. She will speak about this developing process in her keynote at the lunch.
Ross Whaley is the Chair of the Adirondack Park Agency and former President of ESF. A natural resource economist by training, he came to deeply question the economic models that assume self-interest guides all decisions. And so he turned to studying and teaching environmental ethics while he was leading our environmental science college. His pursuit of a "right" relationship with the Natural World and as a leader of a "Western" science-based college and agency make him a perfect choice for this search for common ground. Ross will lead a workshop on Environmental Ethics during the morning workshop period.
Chief Irving Powless, Jr. is a traditional leader or Chief of the Beaver Clan of the Onondaga Nation. Irv is the quintessential teacher, asking questions, telling stories, sharing his wisdom. Chief Powless has represented his people in many places around the world, reminding everyone about our caretaker responsibilities for the gifts of the Creator. He will lead a workshop in the morning session titled, "Apologies to Mother Earth."
Robin Kimmerer (Potawatomie) is a Professor of Botany at ESF, a poet and wise woman who shares with her students her scientific knowledge of plants along with a deep knowledge of plants as unique beings of the Natural World. Immediately prior to this Cirlce, she will give the morning address ititled, " Restoration and reciprocity: Finding common graound between scientific and traditional ecological knowledge." Her words will be serve as the starting point for your conversation.
David Carpenter is the Director of the Instiitute for Health and the Environment and host The Health Show a nationally syndicated radio show produced by Northeast Public Radio. He is also a member of the Great Lakes Science Advisory Board of the International Joint Commission, For many years he led a major study in collaboration with the Mohawk Nation on the health effects of toxic contaminants from industries and waste sites adjacent to the Mohawk community at Akwesasne.
Joel Potash, M.D. is a professor of Bioethics and Humanities at Upstate Medical University. As a family physician he has headed the medical team at Hospice of Central New York and has worked with the Onondaga Nation Health Clinic. Joel has spent the equivalent of many careers expanding our understanding of medicine beyond a narrow "scienficic" model to incorporate physical, social and spiritual well-being.
