@ Syn7-
I agree we need to be progressive. We need to work together. We can keep our identities and still move forwards. No problem there.
What I would be concerned about is this, for example (getting off the original topic a bit but whatever)-
In Central and North America there are a lot of old ruins- temples, cairns, walls, effigys etc. etc. In Midwestern USA they simply call them "mounds" but they are really earthern pyramids (refrence the Cahokia Mounds). A lot of times these are not protected in any way from development and being destroyed. In some cases these places are even more massive than the highly publicized pyramids in Egypt, to give one an idea. Just as the Chinese had the concept of Feng shui, these places were designed with the same pattern of thinking and sophistication. You may look at a city skyscraper and think that's more impressive- in some ways, yes. But these old sites that are still around have that Feng shui-like element worked in with the landscape that our modern works do not.
And hey, my grandfather was a steel worker, so don't get me wrong- I'm not pointing fingers at anyone (you could say he was a stereotype Native who was not afraid of heights). I feel as much at home in the city as I do the country.
But lets say we are building a new highway- and we discover a cave. Do we blow it (the entrance) up, or do we find a new way to work around it so we can preserve this historical "national treasure."