Hey y’all, and welcome back to one5c. This Thanksgiving holiday (with all its joy and pain), we’re taking a li’l beat to remind us all that this sumptuous day originally came about because of Indigenous peoples’ reverence for the Earth. Nowadays, remembering that also means recognizing their voices as a key part of the renewable transition. With that at the tippy top of our minds, I decided to dig into how we can all help make that happen. Please share these tips, and one5c, with someone who’s as thankful for the planet as we all are. —Sara Kiley
How you can support Indigenous energy efforts
By Sara Kiley Watson
Karuk Tribe Community Solar Project in California. Corrina Ikakoula/DOE
Renewable energy projects are pretty darn awesome, but the resource pinch they create is no great secret. Clean energy requires land and raw materials, and in many cases it’s Indigenous people who end up making concessions in the name of climate progress, often without a proper say in the matter. A study in the journal Nature found that more than half of the efforts to extract the minerals necessary for clean energy happen near or on Indigenous or other land-connected peoples’ steads. At the same time, a National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) report shows that solar and wind projects offer a host of opportunities for tribal communities—from sustainability and economic security to energy independence.
Anyone–no matter where you live—can help ensure these efforts succeed, and empower Tribal communities make projects financially and environmentally worthwhile for everyone involved. This is your guide to helping that happen.
What’s at stake
When it comes to building a solar farm or a pipeline, you’ve got to understand the land. Even though renewable energy helps with big-picture climate goals, it can be a detriment to local ecosystems. Just a few examples: Hydroelectric dams can cause migration issues for fish swimming to and fro from their spawning grounds, wind turbines can be a death trap for birds, and solar farms can have a hefty toll in terms of water use and habitat loss.
Bringing local tribes into the development conversation, experts say, is one of the best ways to undertake any of these big infrastructure projects and ensure that existing ecosystems remain protected. “We have a … foundational understanding of nature,” says Monica Paradise, a tribal liaison at the nonprofit Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy. “We really respect water, land, air, all of our creatures, and it is very vital.”
Paradise, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, adds that renewable energy projects can serve a dual benefit for Indigenous people. Not only do they allow for climate stewardship, but they can also be an incredible tool for energy sovereignty. This concept—analogous to food sovereignty—means that communities are able to make decisions about their own power supply. That includes influence over the pricing, ownership, and of course the climate footprint of the energy system.
In the case of the renewables transition, that brings a multitude of benefits, from protecting people from pricing surges to using income generated to support the community. “It’s another sector that we can really leverage for getting back a lot of our autonomy,” Paradise says. In Native American households, energy costs make up an outsized portion of household income. Energy independence via microgrids and renewables can help remedy that, and provide a steady source of power to those relying on carbon-intensive methods like diesel generators.
How you can help
According to NREL, the potential for around 6% of total national renewable energy capacity exists within tribal lands. There are ways to donate and financially support nationwide initiatives such as the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy or GRID Alternatives’ Tribal Solar Accelerator Fund, but you can probably have the biggest impact by paying attention close to home. Paradise recommends getting to know the tribes in your region and what they are doing or working towards.
- Find local tribes: This map is a great place to identify the communities close to you.
- Get updates: Subscribe to newsletters and social-media feeds for local groups—as well as national or international orgs.
- Be active: Look out for calls to action on those channels, and do what you can. Protesting, speaking out, sending emails, and voting can send powerful messages.
Active communities have already shown influence over new projects—both supporting and rejecting them. Earlier this month, for instance, the SunZia transmission line, a $10 billion project set to shuttle energy across the Western U.S., was paused because Native American tribes voiced concerns about impacts on O’odham, Apache, and Zuni religious and cultural sites.
No two tribes have the same goals or values, and being part of the energy conversation is just one piece of tribal sovereignty. Putting (literal) power back into the hands of people, especially those with incredibly rich knowledge and ties to the land, is about as sustainable as it gets.