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.

Henry Red Cloud Finalist in American Dream Photo Contest

Help our partner Henry Red Cloud, owner of Lakota Solar Enterprises, win the American Dream Photo Contest!

This summer, CFED asked Americans what they’re saving for by challenging them to send in their savings stories and photographs as part of the American Dream Photo Challenge. Over 60 entries from contestants all over the country were received. Henry is a top finalist and needs your help to win!

Let CFED know Henry’s photo is your favorite by tweeting the following message: “We love Henry Red Cloud’s photo! #ALC2012 #Savingsphoto”

Henry’s essay for the American Dream Photo Challenge:

“We are Lakota Solar Enterprises, a Tribal Renewable Energy company! Our van’s transmission is in need of repairs. We rely on our van to carry out our projects, bringing solar air heaters to Native American families in need. The functionality of our van is vital to our work. $500 will be a huge help for us to safely transport systems to homes! Our solar heaters provide affordable heat sources to families living at life-or-death poverty rates, and help to reduce the dependency on polluting and destructive sources of energy. Make a difference; choose Lakota Solar Enterprises!”

Learn more at http://cfed.org/blog/inclusiveeconomy/announcing_our_photo_contest_finalists/

Notes from the Field: Solar Heating Arrives to the Navajo Nation

by Lacey Gaechter, National Director

Eva Stokely inspects her new solar air heater outside her home in Shiprock, NM.

Eva and Lacey outside the school named for Mrs. Stokely.

Last week I traveled with Henry Red Cloud – our Tribal Renewable Energy Program partner – to Shiprock, New Mexico, for Trees, Water & People’s (TWP) first ever project with the Navajo (Diné) Nation. TWP donated and installed a solar air heating system on Eva and Pete Stokely’s home, two retired Diné teachers, home. It turns out that Eva and Pete were the first Navajo teachers hired in the Shiprock district of the reservation. It was really an honor to meet people who played such an important role in that turning point in history – when education returned to the Diné people. Eva actually ended up becoming a school principal and was eventually honored by having a school named after her – Eva B. Stokely Elementary School. While I was sitting with her at her kitchen table, hearing a little bit about her background, she surprised me by offering a tour of the local schools. “I like to show them off.” She explained. And so it was that I had the opportunity, along with my amazing trip photographer and intern, Christy Proulx, to see not only Eva B. Stokely Elementary, but also Shiprock Associated Schools, for which Eva now serves as a board member. Something to be proud of indeed; both of these schools offer hope for the next generation!

To many people, Eva serves as a community leader, and we are very excited to have a solar air heater saving her $20-$60 a month on her heating bills, not to mention reducing her fossil fuel use by 20-30%! With Eva to spread the word, we look forward to bringing many more heaters to the Diné people. To learn more about TWP’s Tribal Renewable Energy Program click here.

Photo of the Week: The Future of Tribal Renewable Energy

Lydia Red Cloud helps install a solar heating system with her grandfather, Henry Red Cloud, owner of Lakota Solar Enterprises and TWP's program partner.

YES! Magazine Honors Henry Red Cloud—One of the “YES! Breakthrough 15″

Henry Red Cloud- One of YES! Magazine's "Breakthrough 15"

Henry Red Cloud, TWP’s Tribal Program partner and founder of Lakota Solar Enterprises, has been named one of the “YES! Breakthrough 15”—a group of people who are “tuned in to the deepest needs of our time,” says YES! Magazine executive editor Sarah van Gelder. YES! asked heroes from the grassroots—such as Pete Seeger, Naomi Klein, Wendell Berry, and Eve Ensler—to name 15 people whose work is creating the most important solutions and transforming the way we live.

YES! recognizes Red Cloud’s leadership in bringing renewable energy, sustainable development, and cultural renewal to some of the lowest-income communities in the nation, on reservations.

“Tribes are under intense pressure to allow their lands to be punctured by fossil fuel development. Red Cloud is showing that there is another path out of poverty,” says award-winning journalist Naomi Klein, who selected Red Cloud for the issue.

The newly released winter issue of YES! Magazine marks the publication’s 15^th anniversary as an ad-free, independent magazine. To read the full article please visit http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/the-yes-breakthrough-15/henry-red-cloud-solar-warrior-for-native-america

Congrats to Henry! We are honored to work with such an inspirational, forward-thinking person. Was-te!

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.

Journey to the Home of the Oglala Lakota

Join Trees, Water & People on a journey to the home of the Oglala Lakota for the 2011 Lakota Adventure.  From September 11th-17th we will be taking guests to the Pine Ridge Reservation to experience the strength, pride, humor and enduring culture of the Oglala Lakota. Despite hardship, the Lakota have nourished and preserved their spirituality, culture and ties with their land.

Learn about TWP’s Tribal Lands Renewable Energy Program, help build solar air heaters, and plant trees for wind breaks and shade at a local families home.  In addition, we will travel to Wounded Knee and other cultural and historical sites to learn about the Lakota culture, past and present.

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Solar Women Warriors Scholarship Fully-Funded

Kayenne, a participant in the Intro to Small Wind Turbines Workshop, learns how to use remote-reading software at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center. (Photo by Dan Bihn)

Thanks to the generosity of many friends and supporters, we have fully-funded the Solar Women Warriors Scholarship!  With these funds, Trees, Water & People (TWP) will provide a $1,000 scholarship to a Native American woman interested in becoming a renewable energy leader in her community.  The scholarship will pay for a 10-day training session at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center (RCREC) located on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.  This intensive workshop provides tribal members with Solar Technician I certification, allowing them to return to their reservations equipped with the expertise to begin assembling and installing solar heating systems within their own communities.

Training sessions at RCREC are led by Henry Red Cloud, owner of Lakota Solar Enterprises (LSE), and his experienced staff.  Henry teaches the step-by-step process of assembling solar air heating systems and offers hands-on practice installing the systems on tribal family homes.  Funds raised will pay for lodging at the RCREC dormitory, food, training, and certification.

Thank you again for your generous donations; together we are working to change the tribal energy approach!

Highlights from Lakota Adventure 2010

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Henry Red Cloud on Democracy Now

Henry Red Cloud, owner of Lakota Solar Enterprises, was interviewed Thursday, Sept. 30, by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now.  Congrats to Henry for his Nuclear-Free Future Award!  We hope you enjoy the interview.