There is a movement within the Navajo tribe to stray from using coal for power on their land and use renewable sources such as wind and solar. Earl Tully, a current Navajo housing official, ran for election for Vice President of the Navajo Nation on November 2nd. Mr. Tully was the first environmentalist to run for Navajo office. Tully represents a growing population of the tribe that favors a shift in focus from coal to a more sustainable source.
This movement is caused by financial, environmental, and tribal beliefs. While coal has been a great source of income for the people, it has been reported that their coal industry has declined 15% since the federal government has started to regulate emissions more closely. The Navajos also realize that coal pollution is harmful to their environment and their people's health. Also, some Navajos hold the belief that digging into the earth to harvest coal to burn is like cutting one's skin and is a "betrayal to the duty of protecting one's land".
The Navajo reservation in the southwest spans some 187 million acres of land and is home to north of 300,000 people. Provisions are already being made for a wind farm on the land to begin shifting from coal and on to renewables. It will be interesting to see how successful the Navajos are in this large task.
Even though I doubt the Navajos will be successful in creating such a large transition, I applaud them for wanting to make a change from burning fossil fuels to using renewable energy sources. Coal is a very dirty energy source, and one of the leaders in CO2 emissions, but we already have known all of this information. What we need is action. Policy has to be created to encourage the entire country to make a change toward using more renewable energy sources.
ReplyDeleteThis is really cool of them! I mean they have all that land, so why not try and use it for good rather than evil! Yeah, it is kinda government driven because of the whole regulations thing, but hey, it's still a good outcome! Maybe the government should keep up the policy/restrictions-making and then we can really get this green energy movement rolling!
ReplyDeleteI think that the Navajo will have a good chance of being successful in their quest to switch to renewable sources of energy rather than burning coal. There are several reasons why. First, the Navajo lands are on the Great Plains, a region of the U.S. that is rich in wind. Also, the Navajo might even be able to fund their own wind energy projects by allowing utilities to use their lands for other wind installations. Because of this, the Navajo might be able to finance the installation of wind turbines to power their needs. If they cannot find some sort of help financially, I think this could be an issue, as wind energy on a scale of supplying power to 300,000 is very expensive. But, they could have ways to pay for future projects. It depends on that. Regardless, I think it is a very good change that the Navajo are trying to make and I hope that they set an example for others to follow.
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