Jack Loeffler

Western science is a “culture of practice” comprised of many diverse specific disciplines whose common thread is pursuit of provable knowledge that cannot be refuted. Indeed, the pursuit of science is a fundament of global culture, a cornerstone of modern civilization. That science clashes with systems of belief such as fundamentalist religion reveals a perilous realm of “conflicting absolutes” that defies reasonable resolution. Science, or evidence-based knowledge and belief-based social consciousness may remain at loggerheads until humankind refines its collective consciousness to integrate science, intuition of the great mystery, and coherence of collective mind, recognizing that we are a member species of an evolving biotic community that inhabits a living planet, and that if indeed we have a purpose, evolution of consciousness lies at the heart of it.

Over the last half-century as an aural historian, I’ve followed my microphones throughout the western United States and Mexico as far south as Chiapas. This is the patch of our planet Earth that I dearly love, a large mosaic of habitats that contains an enormous amount of biodiversity, cultural diversity and cognitive diversity—fertile turf for one who remains endlessly fascinated, even after many decades of deep listening to the ever-murmuring mystery of existence.

The Seri Indians of Sonora, though influenced by global econo-techni-culture, remain hunter-gatherers fishing the Sea of Cortez, gathering edible native plants and hunting wild game. Their songs reflect their profound understanding of topography and species native to their homeland, their mythic history, the shamanic prowess revealed by gifted members of their community.

On one occasion I visited my Seri friend, Jesús Rojo Montaño in his cottage in Punta Chueca, Sonora to record part of his repertoire of traditional songs. He told me in Spanish that he was going to sing the song of the leaf-cutter ant. He sat in front of my microphones and began to assume an entirely different countenance. Although he was still embodied in human form, he had become a leaf-cutter ant. He sang the Seri ant song four times, and when he was finished, after a period of 15 or 20 seconds he gradually regained his humanness.

By now, I’ve witnessed this shape-shifting phenomenon on several occasions while recording Seri Indians and others. The music is sung from within a trance-like state wherein the singer is literally empowered by the subject of the song. The Seri singer who knows the complete repertoire of animal songs has an uncanny understanding of the regional fauna. Over a period of a dozen years, I’ve recorded several different musical forms of Seri music, including what I call geo-mythic mapping songs, wherein the singer recalls a point in the landscape and extols its characteristics, both natural and supernatural. By knowing the entire repertoire of geo-mythic mapping songs, the singer has a multidimensional map of homeland and seascape embedded in her or his psyche. For the Seris, their mythic process and their shamanic practices bind them to homeland and explain their presence within the flow of Nature. The force of the Seri shamanic mind is formidable.

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North of Seri country is the land of the Tohono O’odham, formerly known as the Papago Indians. Their culture evolved in the Sonoran Desert, where water is scarce, and the biotic community is a realm in which to participate with fellow species and maintain balance within the flow of Nature. My friend Camillus Lopez characterized Tohono O’odham perspective regarding cultural relationship to Sonoran homeland:

“Each place has a place in the natural order. To do something with that place, just to take something out from the natural order would cause disturbance to the rest of the order. I guess like the river, how it kind of went into the ground because the farmers were taking from the water below, and the river disappeared in Santa Cruz. That makes the water table go down. Therefore it doesn’t rain so much here because there’s no natural water coming from the ground evaporating into the sky to cause the moisture that we need up there for the clouds to come through in the same way.

“The mountain holds a special place in history or time. There’s a reason that it’s put there. Nobody owns it, it owns itself. In O’odham, it’s a strange thing to own land because the land was there for everybody. It was placed there by I’itoi [an O’odham Nature deity] to serve a purpose so people could live there and do what they needed to there. You take over and you call it yours without the respect that it should have. It was there before. When ants are living in a place and you’re coming for a picnic for one day, you put out ant repellent. You destroy the ants; you destroy the natural flow. So when the ants are gone, you need to replace it with something, but you’re just taking off and the ants are gone and you’ve only used the place for one day or for a few hours. You don’t think of what’s going to happen 10 years from now.

“Community is everything. It’s the stars. It’s the ground way under. It’s the little ant that comes across. It’s coyote. It’s the buzzard. The actions and stuff, it reflects who you are. And if you can see yourself in it, then you’re there. But if you can’t look at Nature and see yourself in it, then you’re too far away. I think one of the things people need to do is go out and look at the mirror of Nature and try to see themselves in it, because if they can see themselves in it, then they can help themselves by helping the environment.”

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The Colorado Plateau is a bio-geographical province that is situated north of the Sonoran Desert. It contains the most intricate system of canyons in the world and is regarded by many as one of the most beautiful places on Earth. It is home to many indigenous cultures, including the Ute Indians, the Navajo Indians and the Hopis, whose villages are situated on the three southern promontories of Black Mesa, a deeply sacred landform that lies in the heart of the Colorado Plateau.

Lyle Balenquah is a Hopi man who is both a trained archaeologist and a traditional culture bearer. His perspective is invaluable as he gazes into the deep past to prehistoric cultures whose ruins provide major insights into the relationship of culture to habitat.

“We’re all a part of these landscapes whether we’re Hopi or Anglo or Walapai or Navajo or Zuni,” he says. “We all have impacts in some ways on these landscapes.… Chaco Canyon has been used as a prime example of landscape change initiated by human interaction on a wide scale and how the impacts that prehistoric populations were having on the landscape led to their demise, so to speak. What can we learn from that and how do we view our place in the world today, and are we going to learn from those lessons of the past?

“I think that one of the things that Hopi stresses in a lot in our teachings is that there are a lot of good things that came from our ancestral history, a lot of positive values and philosophical ways of thinking. But there are also some negative lessons that we have to own up to. We have to take responsibility for them.

“How are we as modern Hopis and as a society going to interact with our environment? For me, that’s where culture as part of homeland comes in. I get to see this huge landscape across the Southwest. I get to see how prehistoric peoples were living in landscapes two, three, four hundred miles separated. But they all had to understand that they had to live within their means to some degree. And in some instances they didn’t live within their means, and that caused turmoil, that caused chaos, that caused things to go wrong for themselves, for their society. You tie all of that together, you bring all of these different examples within the Southwest of prehistoric cultures experiencing good and bad changes, and I think that’s what Hopi is, is trying to remember. In our modern way of thinking, we’re struggling to maintain those good positive things, and some people might not want to remember the bad things, but I think we have to because those are the things that are going to teach us—not only this generation but those that are coming.

“So there’s a lot tied into that idea of culture as part of homeland. What is the common foundation that we all have to live by?”

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East of Hopi country on the other side of the Continental Divide is the watershed of the northern Río Grande. Scattered along the banks of the Río are Indian pueblos long nurtured by the sustaining waters as gardens of human consciousness. My old friend Rina Swentzell was born in the Tewa pueblo of Santa Clara and possesses as refined a mind as I’ve ever encountered. We had been talking about the concept of the commons as it applies to natural resources shared by all. Rina Swentzell provided her invaluable insights.

“From a Pueblo point of view, the commons is everything. It is the context that we live in. When I talk about it, it’s the old Pueblo thinking. The community was always thought of as being whole. Everything was interconnected. There was always a center to it as well, and I was a center and you were a center. There were many centers as a part of the whole thing. And we think that a whole has one center. In a way it’s true. But with the Pueblo there are so many simultaneous things that can happen at once, which is all part of the commons. …The wind is blowing, the water’s flowing, and we’re actually walking around and talking. It’s all part of this idea of what we all share. It’s that notion of sharing.

“In that Pueblo context, then, the focus was always, what is it that surrounds me? Who and what surrounds me, and who do I work with and around all the time? The primary thing is that we felt that is was the Earth, the Sky, the Clouds, the Wind, and that incredible term that we have that for me says it all: it’s the Po-Wa-Ha, the water-wind-breath. It moves through our entire world in such a way that it connects everybody and everything. That becomes the commons in a sense. …What is that blowing through the window right now that’s giving us all vitality, actually? That’s the flow of life. In the Pueblo it really was that thing that swirls around, that moves, that creates that sense of commons. It’s the ultimate of what is common to every living being. What do we have with the trees, with the rocks, with all of that that makes our life what it is today?

“We live in a space. You’re asking about a kind of a responsibility that we have for that space, I think. What can we conceive and what do we feel ourselves responsible for? I think as a group, as a village, as a community, the Pueblo people defined it very carefully with the four mountains around. And anywhere you stand in the Southwest you see 360 degrees around. And anything within that, within what we describe as our world, within that mountain or that mountain, is our responsibility. And it becomes a very spatial thing.

“At the same time it’s not an exclusive world. Just because we see that this becomes our responsibility doesn’t mean that we don’t really acknowledge what’s out there. But there’s recognition that we are limited in our capabilities. We don’t see ourselves as gods.

“I think that notion of center is so important to the commons. Because it’s around the center that energy swirls. If you have a center, it swirls around that place. It is a visual, spatial thing, for the Pueblos anyway. They accept it that this place right here—the Pueblo on the hill here—was a center and it had its own particular kind of swirl and particular kind of energy. Its people were slightly different than the ones that were living down by the river. Their swirl was different because they were close to the water and they took in more of the water energy.

“We are who we are because of that tiny place on this Earth we choose to be a part of. Really just an amazing thought to me is that I can choose a place that will affect me and affect who I am.”

*****

As water-wind-breath is part of the commons, so is consciousness. While we are shaped by the habitat we select as homeland, we are also shaped by how we choose to comport ourselves. Science in its various disciplines provides an adventure of extraordinary magnitude for its practitioners. But science is not the only culture of practice that exists within the sphere of human consciousness.

I have learned an enormous amount from my traditional Indian friends over the last 50 years. Perhaps the most profound knowledge that has been imparted to me is that to secularize then commoditize land and water is wrong-minded. I have also learned that cultural attitude, collective will is a part of consciousness, and that unless cultural attitude is deeply aligned with a sense of being kindred with all fellow creatures, with our sustaining planet, we are collectively awry. We are out of balance with the flow of Nature. My traditional Indian friends invariably understand this. Indigeneity to homeland greatly strengthens that sense of being kindred, that intuition of the sacred nature of life and consciousness as well as the mystery of existence.

Metaphorically, human consciousness peers through a vast crystal of many windows, and just as the Sun’s ray casts a rainbow hue, so does human consciousness portend an extraordinary evolving coherence of potential.

Jack Loeffler is the author of numerous books, including Healing the West: Voices of Culture and Habitat. He is the recipient of the NM Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, and the Edgar Lee Hewett Award for Writing from the NM Historical Society. For more info, visit www.loreoftheland.org.

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An Innovative Approach to Address the Digital and Media Divide in Indian Country

Media has a vital role to play in supporting tribal economic and community development and is tied directly to the nation-building efforts of sovereign tribes. Native Public Media’s name reflects the Flagstaff, AZ-based organization’s explicit vision to empower Native people across the United States to participate actively in all forms of media and to do it on their own terms.

Native Public Media’s programs are rooted in Native American history, arts, language and culture. Members represent a cross-section of broadcast facilities, both terrestrial and digital, serving Indian Country and Native media-makers whose voices are increasingly being heard across tribal communities and throughout the world.

NPM’s mission is to promote healthy, engaged and independent Native communities through media access, control and ownership. The organization is achieving this through partnerships with Native media makers, tribal leaders, industry, government, allies and the corporate and nonprofit sectors. NPM’s mission focuses on four competency areas:

• Community Engagement—providing Native communities with access, knowledge and resources to ensure they have a voice to fully participate and benefit from the Information Age

• Digital Ecology—creating a digital footprint for media growth in Indian Country

• Storytelling— providing information, technical support and training to build a solid national communications system in Indian Country

• Policy/Advocacy— producing proactive programs of policy analysis, representation and education to secure a voice for Native America among policy-making bodies and among the media democracy movement, promoting greater access and larger audiences for Native American voices.

Last month NPM hosted its annual Native Media Summit on the campus of its partner, the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe. The summit followed NPM’s first Digital Journalism and Storytelling Intensive, which was also based at IAIA. The tribal college provided a unique learning environment to support focus, reflection, critical dialogue, skill sharing, culturally-relevant teaching and the development of a Native, peer-to-peer network. Native American academic professors created the course; curriculum was rooted in an understanding of the challenges and barriers tribal communities face in bridging to digital technologies. Students earned college credits and learned to apply media and journalism skills in ways that benefit Native communities.

The students came from 12 diverse tribal communities, including Tlingit (AK), Nez Perce (ID), Hopi (AZ), Tohono O’Odham (AZ), Southern Ute (CO), Confederated Tribes of Umatilla (OR), Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs (OR), White Earth Band of Chippewa (MN), Chippewa Cree from Rocky Boy (MT), Leech Lake Band of Objibwe (MN), Pascua Yaqui (AZ), and the Chickasaw Nation (OK).

The students learned both theory and practice—from journalism ethics and story construction to equipment and software use. NPM provided industry-standard equipment for the course: a Macbook Pro, iPod Touch and a Tascam digital audio recorder.

Ohkay Owingeh leaders invited the class to apply their skills by working with the Pueblo’s elders and youth. Students learned firsthand about cultural considerations that may impact storytelling with regard to tribal communities. Through personal interactions and interviews, the students learned how new digital storytelling tools can help tribal communities preserve tribal languages, culture and history.

The students are now ambassadors of the Native Media Network. Part of their responsibility is to ensure that the network is accountable to their tribal relations. Through their work, the voices and intellectual capacity of Native people will add to the discourse on the economy, climate change, health, education, public safety, the electoral process and much more. The stories they help share, once untold or underappreciated, can provide a window into Native cultures and lifeways, help place the significance of Native people on the historical timeline and symbolize the freedom of Native people being who they are.

For more information, to donate equipment or funding, call 928.853.4562, email info@nativepublicmedia.org or visit www.nativepublicmedia.org

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Ben Lewinger

2011 was a year that severely tested a number of communities in northern New Mexico. With the coldest two weeks in memory, a natural gas shortage and the second most destructive fire in the state’s history (only to be trumped by the Little Bear fire this year), New Mexicans came together to support each other and work toward widespread recovery.

West of present-day Santa Fe, tribal ancestors of Santa Clara Pueblo lived at Puje Owinge, near the Puje Cliff Ruins, until about 1300 CE. At that point a village was established seven miles east, which is where Santa Clara Pueblo remains today. Having been continually inhabited for hundreds of years supporting dozens of generations of men, women and children, the area is considered sacred.

The Las Conchas fire decimated 17,000 acres of stunningly beautiful Santa Clara Canyon, nearly 80 percent of the Pueblo’s total land. Santa Clara Pueblo Governor Walter Dasheno describes the canyon as the Pueblo’s “Church.” “It’s where our culture tells us we’re from,” he says. Subsequent severe flooding, as was feared, further decimated the canyon and additional pueblo lands.

As the wildfires raged, the Pueblo, in a dynamic alliance with the New Mexico Community Foundation (NMCF), established an emergency fund that was able to provide flexible resources for immediate needs and for long-term costs of land rehabilitation. Within a month, the fund had collected over $6,000 in contributions. NMCF also facilitated a program at Santa Fe Indian Market that provided a space for people from the Pueblo to share their stories of tragic loss and personal recovery.

In November, Santa Clara Pueblo benefited from national attention through an article in Parade Magazine’s annual Giving Issue. Contributions to the We Will Heal Fund began to come in from across the country, making a large-scale seedling project possible.

Everyone knows it will never be as it was; however, Santa Clara Pueblo has begun to heal, pull together and recover as a community.

There is still much restoration work to be done. Just last month, 1½ inches of rain fell in about 30 minutes, sending a wave of water through Santa Clara Creek that reached 6 feet in places, exposing a gas line that feeds the tribe’s government building and senior center. A state of emergency was again declared.

The New Mexico Community Foundation, founded in 1983, has always placed an emphasis on the philanthropic impact possible in rural parts of the state, with a special focus on developing relationships with Native communities. NMCF was able to act swiftly to raise funds and provide crucial support to aid the healing efforts of Santa Clara Pueblo. “As the state’s ‘Philanthropic First Responder,’ we have placed ourselves in a unique position,” says Jenny Parks, NMCF President and CEO. “We are able to respond to a wide variety of needs. Our mission guides us to walk alongside our nonprofit partners, working together towards better outcomes for New Mexico.”

If you would like to help with the ongoing restoration efforts at Santa Clara Pueblo, call the New Mexico Community Foundation at 505.820.6860 or visit www.NMCF.org

Ben Lewinger grew up in the village of Tijeras, NM. A religion teacher by training, he now uses words to further the mission of the New Mexico Community Foundation.

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We find this truth to be self-evident: that we and the Earth are interdependent. That our Mother Earth has furnished us with livelihood, and many have taken her gifts and left her behind; that we have hurt her, and all beings, with our neglect.

We recognize that we need to acknowledge Mother Earth’s right to our respect and reverence.

We recognize the rights of plants and animals to our respect and reverence because they are our older brothers and sisters.

We recognize that we all contribute to the balance of life; that all beings in this miraculous world are valuable and worthy of care and protection.

We recognize that we, as humans, need to be responsible. We need to change here, so we may inspire change when we go elsewhere.

We recognize that we need to let go of the things that hurt Mother Earth and her children, and begin to love, respect and care for our family again.

We vow to go outside, to walk, to commune, to play, to be present, to give thanks.

We vow to turn off lights and faucets, to reduce, reuse, recycle, to be responsible.

We vow to make our own change, our own commitment, our own promise to Mother Earth. That intention will grow with this garden, will be nourished by the Earth like this garden, and will bring beauty and kindness back to the Earth.

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The University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning has established an Indigenous Design and Planning Institute, iD+Pi, to provide greater awareness, understanding, appreciation and adaptation of design and planning techniques that have long served Native communities. The director of the institute, Ted Jojola (Isleta Pueblo), describes indigenous planning as “a worldview constituted from people who live successfully over generations in the same place, who understand a really important sense of self and meaning. That’s very different than what you find in urbanized communities where you use it, abuse it, you leave and then go somewhere else. The indigenous focus emphasizes community sustainability over short-term solutions.”

Jojola began teaching at UNM in 1980 and was named a distinguished professor last summer. He said that iD+Pi will be a resource to tribal communities. “We are already discussing projects with the Red Pond Road Community near Church Rock as well as the pueblos of Santa Clara, Taos and Ysleta del Sur. Others are clamoring for our assistance in technical issues, as well as aid in doing planning and design in a culturally informed way,” he said.

Jojola received a $70,000, two-year Surdna Foundation grant that, together with $30,000 from the Office of the Provost, allows him to hire a halftime program coordinator and a faculty member. The program can also tap into a special fund of $1.6 million endowed in support of regionalism and the Indigenous Design and Planning Institute.

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Bennie Francisco

Currently, efforts to build sustainable housing focus singularly on “green” design and technologies to alleviate emissions and overuse of energy, water and other natural resources. While this marks an important shift in design thinking and planning, achieving true sustainability requires a more holistic approach. Truly sustainable developments must encompass cultural, ecological and economic concerns of a given community. This is especially important in Native American communities.

In Native American communities the federal government has historically been, and continues to be, the primary funder of housing developments. Housing units built in Native communities by the federal government were typically modeled after Euro-Anglo (suburban) communities. Federally funded programs created single-family ranch homes in communities where communal, inter-generational housing had predominated. The cultural changes these non-indigenous designs brought, in effect, were a form of further colonization, which added to the destruction of indigenous cultural patterns. For example, in Zuni Pueblo, maternal grandmothers historically lived with their daughters and cared for the children in the daytime, teaching children cooking, language and art skills. The housing units built in the 1970s did not accommodate grandmothers, and as a result, indigenous language acquisition rapidly deteriorated, cooking traditional foods went by the wayside, and children were soon cared for in daycare centers, never learning to create traditional arts or other cultural expressions.

Tsigo bugeh Village (Ohkay Owingeh), completed in 2003, is an award winning residential rental community development that combines traditional living with modern design and conveniences.

Today federal policy leaders, tribal housing authorities and architects increasingly recognize the ramifications of cultural disintegration caused by community and housing designs. Across the country there is a burgeoning interest in developing truly sustainable housing that incorporates ecological, economic and cultural concerns. For example, in 2009, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded Navajo architect David Sloan the Cultural Design Award in recognition of his contemporary architectural designs that integrate energy efficiency, water reuse and Navajo design traditions of the hogan, which embody indigenous concepts of directionality, balance and harmony, expressed through eastward facing doors and open vistas to “watch the weather roll in.”

The Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative (SNCC) is a group of tribal leaders, community designers, entrepreneurs and sustainability advocates who are collaborating to provide communities with technical and design assistance, workshops and training focused on culturally and environmentally sensitive housing.

In a new partnership with the Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship (GCCE), SNCC is beginning to develop a national network and technical assistance plat­form to assist tribal leaders in building a more sustain­able community while protecting natural resources and cultural values. GCCE’s focus is on fostering entrepreneurship based in cultural values and on helping Native entrepreneurs build culturally grounded businesses in the “green economy.” This initiative requires exploring the internal and external challenges that cultural entrepreneurs face and understanding the ways in which their skills and crafts can be brought to market to strengthen local vernacular traditions and local economies, thus providing stable lives for skilled artisans and laborers. This partnership with GCCE is funded through the New Mexico Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), a program of the National Science Foundation.

The partnership is in the midst of researching and documenting case studies throughout NM that highlight the concept of cultural entrepreneurship in built environments. We hope to learn from these studies, and we expect that they can provide inspiration and educational opportunities for other tribal housing authorities to envision and build healthy, culturally relevant, green homes.

Our team has identified 88 tribal projects across the nation working to design and build green housing units. Many of these are working to integrate cultural aspects into the developments. Additionally, we are working to integrate small business development and entrepreneurship planning into the framework of housing development projects. Federally funded housing projects often invest $10-30 million in the planning and building, yet fail to couple this investment with small-business training and capacity building for local entrepreneurs. Our overall goal of this multi-year project is to shift tribal housing planning and building to include and reflect cultural considerations and leverage the substantial investments to support local small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Bennie Francisco, Jr.—or Jayare—is Diné (Navajo). He is originally from Prewitt, NM. Bennie graduated from the University of NM with a B.A. in Native American Studies with a concentration in Leadership and Building Native Nations. He is currently a graduate student at the University of Tulsa—College of Law, in a dual Master of Jurisprudence in Indian Law and Juris Doctorate program.

Bennie is also a program manager for the Santa Fe-based nonprofit Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship, which is working to create the world’s first network of community cultural entrepreneurs, cultural investors and cultural entrepreneurship educators. In partnership with the Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative, Bennie is leading the compilation of a nationwide network of tribal and non-Native leaders, architects, builders and designers. 505.948.1504, bennie@culturalentrepreneur.org , www.sustainablenativecommunities.org

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Op-Ed by Sam Kessler

In early May 2011, as spring was beginning to make itself known, the finishing touches for the new solar installation at the communal Crownpoint Chapter House were underway. The visible solar trackers were ceremoniously recognized by the Crownpoint Navajo people and by the organizations and individuals that had worked in conjunction with the community’s residents.

Reflecting on the day’s events, Mariel Nanasi—a key figure in helping make the solar installation possible and executive director of the Santa Fe-based nonprofit New Energy Economy—said, “It was a significant effort made at a necessary time. Already people of Crownpoint are realizing the benefits of localized renewable energy and many are excited that their initiative has inspired other solar development projects.” Of those benefits already being felt, health and energy costs were paramount on people’s minds.

Crownpoint is located in the shadow of PNM’s San Juan Generating Station, an 1800-megawatt, coal-fired power plant. Residents’ daily struggles include asthma, lung disease and heart failure. But these symptoms are not unique to those living near coal plants. According to a 2009 New Mexico Department of Health survey, nearly one in five middle school students and one in four high school students in the state report that they’ve been told by a doctor at one point in their life that they have asthma or other lung-related health issues.

Unlike fossil fuels, the production and burning of which release greenhouses gases, carcinogens and hazardous air pollutants, solar systems don’t release toxins into the air.

Recognizing the need for change in order to improve this situation, both Tesuque Pueblo and the Tohatchi Community Chapter House have signed on to localize their energy use in the form of solar generators. Thanks to a partnership with New Energy Economy, Tesuque Pueblo and Tohatchi Community Chapter House solar power systems will be established this year. Tesuque’s plan is to place solar generators at the Tesuque Pueblo Day School. Because of its location, students at the school and members of the communitywill likely start asking questions about how the photovoltaic system operates, how much electricity it generates, how much carbon pollution it avoids, etc. These discussions will hopefully bring into view the benefits of a local energy economy.  In addition, as a result of using the solar generators, their energy costs will drop significantly, allowing, as Tesuque Pueblo’s resolution states, “Monies that would be previously allocated for energy expenditures to PNM to be diverted back into the community.”

Over the next 25years, the Crownpoint solar trackers are expected to save $114,115 in energy costs, 139,000 gallons of water, and reduce nearly half a million pounds of carbon dioxide pollution from the atmosphere. One can hope that similar or better results will be seen at Tohatchi Community Chapter House and at Tesuque Pueblo. And then from there, imagine the power of thousands of localized solar generating stations devoted to clean energy production, and infuse of all the energy money saved back into the community. Just think: better health, education and safety services, and definitely better and lots more local jobs.

These are model projects with tangible results. If you would like to contribute to these projects, please visit: http://newenergyeconomy.org/native-power/ If you want to join us for the solar green-ribbon cutting, sign up at: http://newenergyeconomy.org/sol-not-coal-sign-up/

Sam Kessler, a student at United World College in Montezuma, New Mexico, is an intern this summer with New Energy Economy.

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In April, the US Department of Energy’s Tribal Energy Program awarded $6.5 million for 19 renewable energy projects. About two-thirds of the funding went to tribes in the West, mostly Arizona and New Mexico. This year’s grants came as the Obama administration has been seeking to empower tribal nations in the US and strengthen their economies by speeding up the leasing of land for clean energy projects.

It has been projected that Indian lands have the potential to supply more than four times the electricity needs of the nation from solar systems and another 14 percent by harnessing wind resources.

A portion of the DOE seed money will go to To’hajiilee, a sparsely populated impoverished Dine community west of Albuquerque, which has no means of economic development. To’hajiilee does have a major transmission line running through it, and is now planning to erect an expanse of solar panels that will power more than 10,000 distant homes.

After an environmental assessment approved by federal officials, To’hajiilee Economic Development, Inc. signed an agreement with SunPower Corporation to develop the $124 million project, called “Shandiin Solar.” Shandiin is the Dine name for sunlight.

Tribes, since they don’t pay federal taxes, may not be eligible for federal subsidies for renewable energy projects, but they are good candidates for alternative financing structures such as the new market tax credit for “economically disadvantaged” communities. To’Hajiilee is working with an investment bank to develop a financing model and has formed a limited liability company. First American Financial Advisors, Inc. is one of the groups consulting on the 200-acre project, which is expected to break ground in the fall and take no more than nine months to complete. The 30-megawatt array will likely become the largest utility-scale photovoltaic power plant on tribal land in the US.

In northwestern NM, the Navajo Nation is using its seed grant to develop a 4,000-megawatt solar project. The tribe is also exploring the potential for several major wind projects, and may become a partner in the Tres Amigas electrical grid, which is being promoted as a way to expand the transmission infrastructure to provide renewable energy projects access to multiple power markets nationwide. A tribal spokesman has said that the Navajo’s investment in Tres Amigas may increase their incentive to further develop green energy projects. In association with Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, the Navajos are also looking into carbon capture and sequestration and “clean coal” technology.

Jemez Pueblo in NM’s north-central mountains received over $300,000 to complete a 4-megawatt solar project on 30 acres and acquire a power purchase agreement. With DOE support, the tribe has also been drilling and doing seismic monitoring to assess potential geothermal resources. The grant funding to Zia Pueblo will allow that tribe to analyze the integrated development of solar, geothermal and wind resources. A couple of tribes in the state are reportedly also developing algae biofuel projects.

In most cases, the tribes are seeking to become equity owners, partners and producers, rather than just landlords collecting royalty fees, as has been the case with outside oil, gas, coal and uranium companies. Tribes also want to control the pace of the development and have a say on the environmental impacts.

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MoGro, is a mobile grocery. Its mission is to provide healthy, affordable food to underserved communities, sometimes referred to as food deserts, where healthy food isn’t readily available.

The new initiative is a collaboration between founders Beth and Rick Schnieders, Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health, and La Montanita Co-op. It is a holistic attempt to reduce epidemics –obesity, diabetes, heart disease – related to poor diet and lack of exercise. MoGro offers community exercise programs, free samples, food preparation classes and scheduled visits by the mobile grocery to each participating community.

Curently, MoGro serves four Pueblo communities in northern New Mexico – Kewa, Cochiti, San Felipe and Jemez. The response has been enthusiastic and the operation may expand to other sites.

This project may be the first of its kind in the world, in that the giant, walk-in truck is large enough (49 feet) to accommodate temperature requirements for a wide range of products – fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables, frozen meats, dairy and a wide assortment of staple items.

MoGro aspires to become a for-profit business. The founders hope that investment by participating communities will drive demand.

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Building Green Economies in Indian Country

Dave Castillo and Dana Lanza

The beauty of the land and inspiration for the green movement stands in stark contrast to the state of housing and public infrastructure on tribal lands. The fact that more equitable access to capital and green technology can help enhance both tribal communities and the green economy inspired the establishment of the Southwest Native Green Loan Fund.

Banks typically will not make loans for public projects on tribal trust lands. Moreover, available grant funding alone is insufficient to cover the costs of the development needed on Indian reservations. Yet there remains significant unmet need for funds, as reflected in the lack of safe, decent and affordable housing, as well as modern public infrastructure to safeguard the health and livelihood of tribal citizens residing on Indian reservations. In the words of Aneva Yazzie, Navajo Housing Authority CEO, “There is an immediate need for over 65,000 units of new and rehabilitated housing on the vast Navajo Nation. The estimated total development cost stands at over $8 billion—more than 10 times the amount of federal housing funds available for all tribes nationally. Moreover, due to a severe lack of bank financing in general—and particularly on Indian reservations—an innovative approach is needed.”

Although public sector program regulations now incentivize sustainable design, too many tribes still lack the resources to plan for and incorporate sustainability into their projects. The US Department of the Treasury has confirmed that Native American communities generally lack access to credit, capital and financial services. Moreover, compared to other communities, Indian Country receives a disproportionately low amount of philanthropic support. Globally, Indigenous peoples receive less than 1 percent of all grant dollars.

The Southwest Native Green Loan Fund is a direct response to the need to overcome the barriers that have kept American Indian communities from fully participating in the green economy. The Fund is a partnership between the public sector and philanthropic entities based in the United States. It seeks to leverage some $10 million in state grant funds appropriated annually for tribal infrastructure projects (i.e. electricity, water, wastewater, etc) with a below-market rate. In addition to augmenting existing grant programs, the Fund provides financing options that favor green tribal community development projects.

The Loan Fund is housed and managed by Native Home Capital, a Native Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) selected through a competitive process. A consortium of foundations led by the nonprofit Confluence Philanthropy constructed the Fund. Confluence is a membership-based association that helps foundations create innovative solutions to intractable social and environmental problems by leveraging the millions of dollars in their endowments.

The Fund is also partnering with the public sector and other grant programs. The model involves assembling disparate funding and financing sources that individually either lack an understanding of how to effectively work with tribes or lack financing products that fit the needs of tribes. Working together, tribes can be offered a combined grant/loan option.

Due to the inequity in access to capital, tribes are typically overly dependent on public sector funds alone. Even before the reduction in federal grant funding, tribes were generally underfunded – recall the Navajo need for $8 billion in comparison to the approximately $750 million available in annual funding for tribal housing nationwide. The Native Green Loan Fund seeks to stretch existing tribal funds so that the majority of the award continues in the form of a grant and an additional low-interest loan is made available to cover green project components. Native Home Capital staff works in partnership with grant-making agencies to conduct due diligence on the loans, outreach- and technical assistance to applicants. Local nonprofits and other partners aid in green design elements.

To learn more about the Native Green Loan Fund contact Dave Castillo, CEO, Native Home Capital. www.nativehomecapital.com

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