If you've ever looked to drive across the United States in an electric vehicle, then you know that there are challenges that come with it. One of those is finding charging stations, particularly in places like North Dakota.
That's where the Standing Rock Nation, which straddles the border between North and South Dakota and is home to the Lakota and Dakota peoples, comes in, according to the New York Times. They have started a program called SAGE. This focuses on clean energy and has installed 13 EV chargers across Standing Rock land, mostly in North Dakota.
Steve Sitting Bear, the tribal chairman, is emphatically in support of all clean energy projects. "I want us to be a self-sufficient, sovereign nation leading the way, whether that's with wind or solar," he said.
That's good news for EV owners, too, because solar power is a great way to further lower charging costs. If you're interested in solar for your home and EV, TCD's Solar Explorer is a good way to get the best value from the best installers in your area.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of electric vehicles on the road grew from 22,000 to more than 2 million between 2011 and 2021, underscoring the need for these chargers. More and more people will be traveling cross-country in these vehicles, and having more chargers also opens the possibility of upgrading to an EV to people who wouldn't have been able to do so before.
Native people are often at the forefront of green technology. Some have taken delivery of EVs to use as tribal vehicles, while others are transitioning to cleaner energy. On Standing Rock land, SAGE is also working on a wind farm and a community solar project.
This pattern likely happens because native people have different ways of valuing the planet. Fawn Wasin Zi, the project director for SAGE, put it this way: "The traditional way is to live with Unci Maka, Grandmother Earth, not against her." All of these projects are ways of doing just that.
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