Renewable Energy
Along with huge coal, uranium and other energy reserves, it turns out that tribes possess immense renewable resource potential. Native communities in the Great Plains have the wind capacity to produce up to one-third of present U.S. installed electrical capacity. Solar potential, particularly in the Midwest and Southwestern United States, is tremendous—there is enough sun on reservation land to power the entire U.S. 4.5 times over. Abundant renewable resources on reservations mean many tribes have power export potential. The Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, for instance, which is one of the poorest and least electrified reservations in the country, has the capacity to produce 4,000 times more wind energy than it can use – and, the reservation has more solar energy potential than Mexico City.
The winds that sweep the reservations and ranches of the Great Plains, the sun that bakes the Southwest, and the grasses and grains of the prairies -- all of these bioregional resources lend themselves to safe, just, and locally-controlled power production.
Centralized, polluting power production has served to centralize political power, to disconnect communities from responsibility and control over energy, and to create a vastly wasteful system. Renewable energy has the opposite effect. This transformational movement democratizes power production and seeks energy sovereignty. As the power comes from the Creator, renewable energy is a necessary adaptation tool for building resilience.
Energy Efficiency
Saving energy is as critical as producing our own power. Reservation communities suffer from the long-term problem of “fuel poverty,” where approximately one-fourth of individual income is spent on fuel. A good portion of this energy income is spent on heating, and families cannot afford the rising cost. Nationally, tribes spend almost a hundred million dollars in fuel assistance to support our low income tribal members. The reality is that the need for assistance far outstrips tribal resources and the resources of government subsidy programs combined. This situation is unsustainable in a climate and petroleum challenged world.
Our homes and buildings waste about a third of the energy we pay for because of inefficient construction and appliances. The first step we must take is one toward energy efficiency. With energy efficiency and renewables, utility expenditures could be significantly reduced and the remaining funds could stay in the community. Closing the loop on utility bills, money that now leaves the reservation to pay an off-reservation provider, would boost internal reservation income for tribal members and tribal organizations.
Traditional Food Economies
Our traditional seeds and foods were produced in a pre-fossil fuels world. That means that our traditional foods do not need fertilizer or irrigation systems and do not need to be transported across the country. Our traditional foods need to be restored to feed our people. Re-localizing our traditional food economies will build resilience in Native communities.
Along with the fact that traditional foods are not addicted to petroleum, research has shown that an indigenous diet of minimally processed, locally produced foods has a positive affect on Native peoples’ health in contrast to the “reservation diet” of white flour, sugar, and processed food. In particular, studies on traditional diets at the Tohono O’odham (Pima) communities found that “The traditional high fiber-complex carbohydrate and low fat diet resulted in a slower release and uptake of sugars”, while the convenience store diet “soon produced higher blood sugar levels”, severe enough to trigger diabetes.
Our foods are just healthier for us. Studies on the traditional foods grown in tribal gardens found the following: Hominy corn is high in carbohydrates and protein. One serving of hominy yields 47% of the DRV for fiber and 33% of the B vitamin Thiamine and has half the calories of market corn; Arikara squash has 13% of the DRV for fiber, 64% for vitamin A, and half the calories and double the calcium and magnesium of the market equivalent; Potawatomi lima beans are low in fat, and high in carbohydrates and protein. B vitamins are found in abundance, including thiamine, pantothenic acid, niacin and B6. Potawatomi lima beans also provide 24 grams of fiber per serving, and 21 times the anti-oxidants found in market beans.
Producing organic traditional foods not only addresses physical health but also environmental health. Studies at the Rodale Institute compare organic and conventional farming. The Institute found that organic farming can sequester carbon by using composting, cover crops and crop rotation, pulling carbon dioxide from the air and storing it as carbon in the soil. Simply stated, if the world's 3.5 billion tillable acres used biological, regenerative practices, this would sequester up to 40 percent of current carbon dioxide emissions.
Education, training and outreach in Building Resilience
Honor the Earth is directly involved in creating political will for change in our communities and supporting the creation of the indigenous intellectual capital to carry on a renewable and sustainable food and energy economy. We are doing this through a multi-pronged strategy that includes: education of tribal governments, Native community institutions and tribal groups through the creation of a new set of handbooks and workbooks on energy and food sovereignty, presentations and workshops, and the actualization of indigenous paradigms through pilot project renewable energy installations. Through this work, we are developing knowledge, providing tools for action and training a tribal membership in carrying out sustainability plans.
