The Indians of this area adapted agriculture to the desert and developed a culture that enabled them to live in what is, by any account, a hostile environment. Modern desert cities are colonial outposts that depend on the outside world for many of the things that support life. Unless there are dramatic changes in lifestyle, modern desert cities will disappear if the wider system of support declines. Civilization is always in danger of extinction, even civilizations that have lasted thousands of years. This seems to be one of the messages of the Hopi philosophy of history.
Modern civilization is no exception.
The idea of purification may be archaic, but it has its appeal. If global warming continues, the Arctic and Antarctic ice will melt, ocean levels will rise and the waters will inundate the cities that dot the coasts on every continent except Antarctica. That sounds like purification. For about 20 years, they were joined by delegations from the Six Nations Confederacy. In 1992, a decade of indigenous peoples was declared and on a December afternoon Banyacya was, at last, invited to address the United Nations.