Sustainable Enterprise Drives MBA Students from Colorado State University

Solar lights are illuminating the homes of families in rural areas of Latin America.

Passion for a business venture that meets the triple bottom-line – people, planet, and profit – is what really drives a team of students at the Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise MBA Program at Colorado State University. Working with Trees, Water & People, the group of four students are helping to develop Luciérnaga, a social enterprise that commercially distributes solar lighting products through networks of community-based organizations (CBOs) and agricultural cooperatives in Honduras.

Luciérnaga (“firefly” in Spanish) has a strong sustainable mission: “use an extensive network of agricultural cooperatives to provide 2.2 million Honduran families without electricity access to affordable, efficient and environmentally friendly solar lights that can be used for educational, household, and economic gains.”

This summer, the GSSE team will be traveling to Honduras to conduct in-depth research on Luciérnaga’s business operations such as the supply chain distribution, cooperative functionality, and customer service. They will use the information learned in the field to close Luciérnaga’s business gaps and increase scalability in Honduras and throughout other countries in Central America.

The diverse GSSE team, composed of Alicia Prusinksi, Magaly Mori, Kevin Rodriguez, and Trang Tran (pictured below from left to right), is currently fundraising for their trip by participating in a business competition, pitching to social and sustainable businesses, and crowdfunding.

Check out their website, meet their team, and consider funding their project. Remember that with one good deed YOU can make a change in the world!

Notes from the Field: Solar Trainees Bring Renewables to KILI Radio

by Lacey Gaechter, National Director

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A wonderful group of students came out for last week’s Solar Electric Training at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. We had two repeat trainees, both of whom are in the process of starting their own renewable energy business: Leo White Bear, owner of Off the Grid, and Kale Means, budding proprietor of Indigenous Renewable Energy.

Since Leo Bear left his internship with Lakota Solar Enterprises, I have missed him so much, and it was great to visit with him again and to hear that he is doing so well back home in Idaho. Leo says of this course, “It will have a big impact for my renewable energy business!”

This course represents the Tribal Renewable Energy Program’s first “Trainer in Residence” project, featuring guest instructor Jeff Tobe of Solar Energy International. Thanks to a grant from the Department of Energy, Jeff was able to spend one week at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center co-hosting this training with Henry Red Cloud. Solar Energy International’s ultimate objective was actually to propagate skilled instructors for future solar electric courses, so this was a training for the trainer (Henry Red Cloud) as well.

Thanks to Trees, Water & People’s donors, including a very generous grant from the Arntz Family Foundation, we were also able to offer this training opportunity to seven students from the Shoshone Bannock, Oglala Lakota, Cheyenne River Sioux, and Northern Cheyenne tribes. The 2 kilowatt photovoltaic array was donated by Namasté Solar, which allowed us to offer scholarships to all seven students. In addition, we are also happy to contribute free, clean electricity to the KILI Radio Station in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. KILI is “the Voice of the Lakota Nation,” and is listened to online by tribal people throughout the contiguous United States and Alaska.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this training a success!

Native American trainees from 4 different tribes joined us for a Solar Electric Training, hosted at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center in South Dakota.

Notes from the Field: Solar Heat Arrives to more Southwest Tribes

by Jordan Engel, Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center Intern

Emily White Man stands next to her new solar heater on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation in Towaoc, Colorado.

In the past couple of weeks, the Tribal Renewable Energy Program and Lakota Solar Enterprises (LSE) had the chance to meet up with folks from the Ute reservations in southwest Colorado and give the gift of renewable energy to two families. Henry and I loaded the van with the pre-assembled heater kits (thank you Heart of the Rockies Church) on Sunday, July 22nd, and installed two units in two afternoons.

The first heater was installed at the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe’s demo home in Towaoc, Colorado – where the Colorado Rockies meet the Great Basin Desert. Emily White Man, who lives in the home with her children and grandchildren, told me that the cold desert winters put a strain on her wallet as her heating bills were beyond what she could afford. The 1950’s-era, one story house is partly heated with butane, and partly with portable electric heaters in the bedroom where the butane heat can’t reach. With her new solar air heater, Emily can be comfortable this winter without burning as many fossil fuels or paying outrageous sums to the energy companies.

At the Southern Ute Reservation, a large group of neighbors, volunteers, and tribal employees came out to help with our installation at the Cedar Point Public Safety House in Ignacio. Though a much more modern house than the one in Towaoc, it was still heated with fossil fuels, though this time with natural gas. As pressure builds to frack Colorado’s natural gas reserves, this solar heater sends the message that there is another way.

Thanks to our donors, Trees, Water & People donated the two heaters to the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute tribes, the first step in spreading family-scale renewable energy to this part of Indian country. Now there are two more communities that have clean heat that will last for decades and perhaps a few people will see the units and be inspired to take our training class at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center in October.

“We do not want riches, but we want to train our children right.” Those were the words of Maȟpíya Lúta, Chief Red Cloud, whose name we honor at the Renewable Energy Center. The Solar Warriors we train here have the same priorities: to return to their communities and help their people, their children, and generations to come.

And with that, we’d like to welcome one more generation to our Solar Warrior community. Tashina New Holy, the first daughter of our own Delbert New Holy. She was born Saturday in Pine Ridge at just under 6 pounds. Yawášte!

More photos from the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute solar heater installations:

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Tribal Program Competing for $50,000 grant

The Give hosted by Cultivate Wines

The Prize: A $50,000 grant from Cultivate Wines to build solar heaters on the homes of Native American families. The 2nd-6th place each receive $10,000 grants.

How can you help? Visit www.cultivatewines.com/cause/27616/ and cast your vote for our project. You may vote once per day so please bookmark the page and make your votes count each and every day of the contest!

2012: The International Year of Sustainable Energy for All

We are proud supporters of the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All because we believe that every human being on Earth deserves access to the energy needed to live a healthy and prosperous life.

“Energy is the golden thread that connects economic growth, increased social equity, and an environment that allows the world to thrive.”

-Ban Ki Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, January 2012

View this document on Scribd

To learn more about the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All please visit the official website: http://www.sustainableenergyforall.org/

Photo of the Week: Honduran Clean Cookstove Factory Goes Solar

TWP's clean cookstove factory in Honduras, managed by our partner organization AHDESA, had a 2 kW solar electric system installed this week. As part of our work with the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA), we are working to improve access to clean energy in Latin America. This is just the beginning...stay tuned!

 

“Native Rhythms for Native Energy” to Support Renewables on Tribal Lands

You are invited!

Please join us for a night of cultural exchange and education to support Trees, Water & People’s Tribal Renewable Energy Program.

When: Thursday, September 15^th

Where: Global Village Museum
200 W. Mountain Ave.
Fort Collins, CO

Cost: $10 suggested donation

Yellow Hair Family to Receive Solar Air Heater and New Pallet Home

TWP’s Solar Air Heaters, like the one pictured here at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center, reduce a family’s monthly utility bill by 20-30% for up to 25 years.

Thanks to TWP’s supporters on Causes.com, we far surpassed our $2,800 fundraising goal to provide solar air heaters to Native American families. To date, we have raised nearly $7,000 from 322 donors!  With these funds we will provide three different Native American families with solar air heating systems, giving them free, clean heat for years and years to come.

Walter and Alison Yellow Hair watch the construction of their new house on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

The Yellow Hairs are one of these families.  Right now, our partner organization, Earth Tipi, in partnership with Texas Natural Builders, is constructing Walter and Alison Yellow Hair a new pallet home from reclaimed materials.  This new, sustainable house will provide much better protection from, and insulation against, the harsh South Dakota winters than their current mobile home, which was originally headed for the dump when they inherited it.  With huge holes in its walls, such a poor structure can be deadly in the extreme weather of the Great Plains.  We believe that every family is deserving of dignified and comfortable housing that is properly heated and we are so lucky to have supporters who feel the same way.

Now, Walter and Alison will enjoy a new home and a new source of clean, free heat with a TWP solar air heater.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the fundraiser and helped make a significant improvement in Walter and Alison’s lives!  Your contributions mean so much to the Native American families who are struggling each day to survive. Stay tuned to learn more about the other families who will receive solar heaters.

Interested in contributing to the building of Walter and Alison’s new home? Please click here to learn more about how you can help!

Click here to join the Solar Energy for Lakota Families cause on Facebook and help us spread the word about solar energy for Native American families living on tribal lands.

Notes from the Field: The Gift of Heat, The Preservation of Culture

By Lacey Gaechter, Assistant National Director

Pine Ridge, South Dakota

“The heater works great,” says Leonard Littlefinger of the solar heater that Trees, Water & People supporters donated to his Lakota language school. Our partner, Henry Red Cloud, installed the heater in the school’s meeting room, which Leonard said came in handy this winter as he consulted with tribal elders who are helping him establish his curriculum’s vocabulary and grammar. In Leonard’s words, the heater “did the trick.” “It just quietly did its job,” he added, “you know, when you get to be our age, you need a good heater.”

Leonard is the founder of the Sacred Hoop (Cangle’ska Waka’n: “chan-GLAY-shka wah-KAHN”) School, which is a part of the efforts on the Pine Ridge Reservation to preserve traditional Lakota culture. Part of learning a language, says Leonard, is understanding the way a society’s culture is integrated into its words. For instance, the Lakota word for hoop carries with it undertones of “the circle of life”. It is for this reason that Leonard chose the word hoop instead of circle for his school’s name.

The Sacred Hoop School’s first group of students is scheduled to arrive this June. Currently, Leonard is finalizing his curriculum with, as he puts it, “the combined knowledge of over 500 years of Lakota language and culture” between himself and the other elders. At this inaugural two-week immersion program, Lakota students, parents, and siblings will be invited to bring traditional language back into their home.

Leonard is truly a leader in his community and has been selected for an honorary Doctorate of Humanities from the College of Mount Saint Joseph in Ohio, where he is delivering this May’s commencement address. We hope all Trees, Water & People supporters take the same pride that we do in playing a small role in the amazing endeavor of preserving the Lakota language.

To learn more about TWP’s Tribal Lands Renewable Energy Program please visit http://treeswaterpeople.org/tribal/tribal_intro.htm .

Help Raise Funds for Straw Bale Homes on the Pine Ridge Reservation

The Pine Ridge Reservation, home to the Oglala Lakota, has a major housing crisis. It is common place to have Lakota families living in conditions of extreme overcrowding, with 3 to 4 families inhabiting one three-bedroom home. Many of the families have no electricity, telephone, running water, or sewage systems; and many use wood stoves to heat their homes, depleting limited wood resources. The Lakota people are living in third world conditions, right in our own backyard!

Straw bale Home + Solar Heat = Sustainability

In partnership with Henry Red Cloud, Pine Ridge resident and owner of Lakota Solar Enterprises, we are working to bring sustainable housing solutions to reservation communities and we need your help!  We will begin by constructing a straw bale demonstration site at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center (RCREC), complete with solar heating and lighting. This demonstration site will be a place to conduct workshops, share knowledge, and pass on green building skills throughout Indian Country.  This will be the beginning of a long-term project to bring 600 straw bale houses to the Pine Ridge Reservation, providing families with dignified living conditions that every human being deserves.  Please join us in this effort and consider a donation to this important fundraiser.

How can you help? Make a donation, share this with a friend, donate your birthday (click here to learn how), join us for a FREE straw bale home workshop on Pine Ridge.