Solar energy alone on tribal lands could generate up to 4.5 times the United States' total energy consumption of 17.6 TWh.  With tribal lands making up 5% of the United States with 10% of the country's renewable energy resources the role of tribal nations will continue to expand along side the country's clean energy growth scenario. 

The importance of tribal government involvement is outlined in a new report released this week by a group of collaborating organizations including the National Tribal Environmental Council, Native American Rights Fund, Intertribal Council On Utility Policy, and the National Wildlife Federation. 

Indian Tribes are disproportionately bearing the brunt of climate change says the report, The New Energy Future in Indian Country: Confronting Climate Change, Creating Jobs, and Conserving Nature.  But the huge potential on tribal lands to generate clean energy from renewable resources presents tribes with the opportunity to be a significant part of the solution through climate policy that creates green jobs and protects natural resources, detailed in a new report.

“Tribal households pay significantly more in home energy expenses than other Americans,” said Bob Gruenig, senior policy analyst, National Tribal Environmental Council. “The vast potential on tribal lands to generate clean energy from renewable resources means that Indian Tribes can help to provide for their own energy needs, generate clean power for a new energy future in Indian Country, and put American on the path to energy independence.”

“With 95 million acres of land under their management and centuries of experience conserving the natural world, Indian tribes can play a significant role in protecting natural resources from climate change and coping with a warmer world,” said Steve Torbit, director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Rocky Mountain Regional Center and Tribal Lands Conservation Program.

As soveriegn nations, tribal energy has long been a focus for tribal governments.  However, now as the demand for clean energy grows and involvement of the public and private sectors increases, tribes are in a advantageous position to provide sustainable energy opportunities and benefit from the economic development associated with clean energy. 

In addition to the Department of Energy and NREL's work with Tribes and a handful of other organizations, my colleagues at Northwest SEED (Sustainable Energy for Economic Development) have been working along side tribal governments to develop energy planning scenarios and in the last couple years have released a number of community and tribal renewable energy best practice resources. Download a relevant guide from Northwest SEED; ENERGY PLANNING: A Guide for Northwest Indian Tribes

ENERGY PLANNING: A Guide for Northwest Indian Tribes

This guidebook, created by Northwest SEED with funding from the Bullitt Foundation, is a new tool to help Native American Tribes develop a plan to achieve energy independence. The guide contains information and resources to help select and implement projects to conserve energy, generate clean, renewable energy, construct efficient and environmentally friendly buildings and other energy related community or business projects --- all tailored to the geography of the Northwest and the people of its Tribes.

For generations, the Zabaleen people have hauled away Cairo's refuse and lived on the fringes of society. But thanks to an enterprising recycling school, the poor and mostly illiterate inhabitants of "Trash City" are receiving education and job training for the first time. Fred de Sam Lazaro reports from Egypt.

 An exciting public radio project is blending new and traditional media systems to highlight the important concept that environmental issues are vital to people irrespective of the governing lines we draw on maps. 

Tackling River Traffic Pollution
Report by Ann Murray (Listen Below)

Shared reporting planned for Ohio Basin ecosystem from Current.org reports on Louisville's Public Media WFPL the driving force behind the Ohio River Radio Consortium.  Additionally the article reviews how the Consortium is incorporating public education, conference events, and stories to tell the stories of the Ohio river ecosystem.

“What we’re trying to do is raise awareness of the fact that environmental issues don’t stop at state borders,” said Kristin Espeland Gourlay, managing editor at WFPL. “What we put into the air from power plants in Louisville flows north and east, and run-off from a farm in Pittsburgh runs down stream to Cincinnati and Cairo, Ill.”

The project, which was turned down for funding by CPB’s initiative supporting local journalism centers, is moving ahead after securing grants from three foundations. It will produce on-air and online reporting from journalists throughout the watershed that reaches from New York to Tennessee.

I've featured video from Ever Green Films before in a previous post, and their series of videos from Copenhagen continues to showcase the quality of their production and the interesting angle on the Pacific Northwest's leadership to create a regionalclean energy economy.  This video features the conference of Mayor's at COP15.

The opening line of this video says it all. "Next up, a major environmental dilemma...".  For quite some time I've considered the potential communications conundrum presented by the clean technology economy's need for raw resources, and the very clear fact that many clean energy advocates don't consider the supply chain of natural resources for building wind turbines, solar panels, and hybrid cars.  I've always asked, what will environmentalists do when they realize what kind of process and materials are needed for producing a clean energy infrastructure? While triple-bottom line systems, closed loop manufacturing, and sustainable design and materials sourcing have been a major part of the sustainability movement as brought forward by leaders such as Bill McDonough, these principles have primarily taken a back seat in the manufacturing of new clean energy technologies. 

So it was only a matter of time that the media considered the contradiction that could provide a dilemma for environmental advocates. This report on PBS News Hour is the first I have seen that provides a in-depth look at the environmental impact of the critical rare earth elements that are the natural resource supply for clean energy manufacturing in China. 

While a strong report and a very important one to consider, this story could have been more comprehensive by examining the percentages of rare earth metals used in manufacturing of non-clean energy products.  Additionally, the report doesn't fully expand on the lack of environmental regulations for manufacturing facilities in China. While very hard to quantify at this stage, the counter point that was not leveled in this report is the consideration of the environmental benefits gained by decreasing our carbon emissions and the impacts of industrial process used in developing conventional energy sources. 

If it is inevitable that we use rare earth materials in our production of the items needed for society, there is an argument to be made that while we switch other process toward more sustainable materials, the clean energy economy may demand less and impact fewer than did previous systems of production in the industrial revolution.  The verdict is still out whether or not there is a balance to be achieved. 

None the less, I predict that clean energy companies will be pushed more in the new decade to begin sourcing their materials from recycled and reprocessed sources, rather than building the new green economy on the very philosophy that moved our society toward our current dilemma; progress is worth the cost we pay both in human and natural capital. Hopefully we won't have to re-learn that lesson again.

Ok, well, maybe not. I'll be enjoying Copenhagen's two weeks of events from afar and hoping for a collective direction on climate solutions. But the See You in Copenhagen ad campaign sponsored by the UN Foundation give you a sense of the momentum going into the Conference.  See You in Copenhagen is a campaign of short films and ads produced by Found Object Films, in cooperation with the UN Foundation and tcktcktck.org to raise public awareness and support civic engagement in advance of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 15) in Copenhagen, Denmark.

In the video featured above, Shai Agassi, founder and CEO of Better Place, introduces us to the prototype electric vehicles that will be part of the sustainable transportation infrastructure his company is building to replace the world's dependence on conventional fossil fuels. He speaks of the importance of the world agreeing to carbon cuts, and his company's potential role in creating the technology that will help move transportation away from carbon emissions.  Read more about the business model of Better Place from Earth2Tech and from Better Palce's website.