Our bags were packed, the car was cleaned out and we were on a mission. We woke early in the morning and watched the sun rise before beginning our long trek. We drove from the White Earth reservation following the sun from the east to the west where we arrived at the Yankton Sioux reservation just in time to watch the sun set over the gorgeous green hills.
Then Yankton people experience cold winters with frigid temperatures while also receiving an average of 8 inches of snow per month. The already high costs of fuel have constantly posed serious problems for tribal communities, but the rising costs have forced families to choose between keeping their homes warm and buying food or medicine. No family should be forced to make these types of decisions. Therefore, Honor the Earth and Lakota Solar Enterprises have partnered with the Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center to perform a training and installation of two solar heaters on women’s transitional housing.
These solar heaters can be expected to reduce their average heating bills by up to 35%. Manufacturer and leader, Henry Red Cloud, spoke with a group of some 30 tribal leaders and members throughout the region about the importance of energy efficiency. Henry provided the community with a hands-on experience of how to install a solar heater, but moved their emotions by speaking about our culture. Through this, the community followed his excellent leadership and we were able to successfully install two solar heaters powered by the sun.
All eyes are quickly focusing on green jobs during this critical time where climate change is being felt as a reality. As a response, much discussion about alternative and clean energy has been prompted, but the phrase is merely a misnomer. Solar energy and wind energy are clean energies, but they are also natural and therefore should not be considered an alternative at all. The wind and the sun are natural energies and their powers can be captured to cut the legs out from under our addiction to fossil fuels.
Henry talked about the sun’s natural energy as he worked with other tribal members to install the solar heater. He stood up and spoke to the Native community saying, “Everything is in this cycle. As the Mother Earth spins, she spins around the sun and the sun creates evaporation. She pulls up water and then throws it back down. Within all that is lightening and that’s where we are at. We’re in this natural realm.” Solar heaters use natural energy and can be used to help revive our traditional ways through natural living.
As the sun traveled across the sky that day, many young men, women and children watched the installation and tried to find out more about how they can help their communities through this knowledge. The two heaters being installed were wonderful, but the real success was the community coming together. The event was celebrated with a feast where a drum played to commemorate our good work and prayers were said to honor the sun and those involved in the process.
That night we packed up our bags once again and waited for the sun to rise in the morning where we drove back to the White Earth reservation and rested knowing that good knowledge was shared with the Yankton community and to those others that traveled to be a part of the occasion.
