My remarkable ninth-grade biology teacher, Beverley Hathaway, encouraged her students to explore the outdoors. As I try to do with my students, she had us questioning and appreciating all that was begging to be noticed, that life right in front of our noses. In addition to quadrat studies in which we'd observe and record in a 10 x 10 m natural area of our choosing, she taught through several projects. In the fall, we'd gather leaves off trees, while noting their trunks and textures and smells. In winter, she had us observing birds at the feeder, where we'd draw their shapes and colors, admire their vitality, and hypothesize as to the nature of their incisive behavior. In the spring, her wildflower project asked that we lie beside our subject, so that we might enjoy the fragrance and better appreciate the perspective and, say, the faint pink of spring beauty, a tiny treasure that we later learned figured into the diet of a rather large bear, the grizzly. As we continue to move into the 21st century, the times challenge us to better acquaint our students with nature, so that they better appreciate it, not only for its beauty and intrigue, but in knowing we're a part of the natural world, one which sustains us, one which nourishes our bodies and spirits. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Sustainability can be defined as responsible use of resources over an indefinite period of time; the Iroquois seem to well appreciate this notion as they make decisions on how they'll affect their people seven generations hence. Responsible resource use has become increasingly important as the human population continues to grow and consume natural resources at unprecedented rates. In the late 1950s, after hundreds of years, the world's population was nearly three billion; today, in less than 50 years, the world's human population has doubled to nearly seven billion. The demands of this ever-growing population increasingly have harmed the Earth's natural resources, its water, soil, and air and the natural communities they support (Ehrlich, 2008). Recently, more than 1000 of the world's eminent ecologists reported that over the past 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period of time in human history... resulting in a substantial and largely irreversible loss in the diversity of life on Earth. ... (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report, 2005). Extinction rates are 100 to 1,000 times natural background rates (Wilson, 2006). One of every four species of the world's mammals (our closest relatives) is threatened with extinction, and 50% of them are declining (Schipper et al., 2008). Nearly 50% of our pharmaceuticals come from naturally-occurring plants and animals (Wilson, 2006), and ecosystem services (the renewal of our soil and water and air) are valued in the trillions of dollars (Costanza et al., 1997). Data from 2,500 of the world's leading climatologists reveal that human activities have altered the composition of the atmosphere, causing climate changes unmatched in the climate record of over a half million years (IPCC, 2007). The data show that, as the world warms, glaciers and other ice masses melt, causing sea level rise which then threatens much of the world's population. A warmer world includes jeopardized fresh water supplies, more heat waves, more intense hurricanes, and other extreme weather events. The effects on human and natural communities already are being felt. …