Forests Forever

The newsletter of Trees, Water & People

Photo By Pete Iengo

From Survival to Success

By Lacey Gaechter, Assistant National Director

Whats Inside
From the Board Page 2-3 Friend of the Trees Page 3 A Cookstove Revolution Page 4 Bricks and Mortar Page 5 The Wealth of the Lakota Page 6 Expanding Our Reach Page 7 Waffles Plant Trees Page 8

FALL 2011

I got the phone call one Sunday afternoon from Alexis Bonogofsky, our partner who runs the Tribal Lands Program for the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). Her voice was ever so slightly shaky with emotion. I just wanted to let you know, she explained, that the training was amazing. She was referring to the solar air heater installation training that we provided to the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, thanks to a generous grant from the NWF. Henry Red Cloud, our friend and partner at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center in South Dakota, traveled to Lame Deer, Montana to teach 16 Solar Warriors how to install solar air heaters on their own reservation. Alexis was deeply impacted by the change she witnessed in the trainees over their two weeks with Henry. By the end, they all looked up to him so much. They wanted to help other people and help the planet like he does. They saw a way they could be powerful and successful for their community.
Continued on page 2

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Photo:
In August, Trees, Water & People held a straw bale workshop at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center. Volunteers like Landon Means came to get hands-on experience in building the energyefficient housing.

From Survival to Success Continued...

One of the most enthusiastic training participants, Landon Means, grew up on the reservation in Muddy Creek. His father worked as a mechanic for the nearby coal strip mine, and Landon couldnt help but notice that, It looks like an energy intensive way to get energy! I think theres a better way. There has to be a better way, says Landon of I think theres a better way. coal-fired electricity. Together, Trees, There has to be a better way. Water & People, donors like you, and our Native American partners are creating that better way. We are working with Landon and his fellow trainees, Kale Means and Leo White Bear, to help them establish Innovative Indigenous Industries Incorporated, a new Native-owned renewable energy company. This process represents an exciting evolution for Trees, Water & Peoples Tribal Renewable Energy Program. With five years of building an effective and powerful training program, we know that the need to cultivate not only technical skills but also livelihoods is crucial to spreading sustainable technologies to communities that need them most. Now, we look forward to providing not only sustainable energy solutions, but also sustainable economies for our Solar Warriors living on reservations, moving them beyond survival and into success.

From the Board

By Jeremy Foster, Trees, Water & People Board Member There has been much hard won success on the Pine Ridge Reservation since my first visit. In 2004, Henry Red Cloud and his crew had begun installing the first solar air heaters, but they were manufactured elsewhere. Henry and his family lived nearby, a quiet place by a creek. A very different scene greeted me when I visited there this past June - a large Quonset hut had been purchased and moved onto the property. Powered by sun and wind, it is now home to Lakota Solar Enterprises (LSE) and the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center (RCREC). A well-equipped shop manufactures the redesigned solar heaters from scratch and is selling and installing them on Pine Ridge and six other reservations. Upstairs are two dormitory rooms where tribal trainees stay while attending workshops on solar air heating, solar electric, wind energy, straw bale construction, and more. Though more than 300 trainees from many tribes have attended workshops through RCREC, facilities are cramped. So I was pleased to be present when Henry formally dedicated and blessed the site of the new Red Cloud Training Annex. This new building, which will provide needed living, dining, and classroom space, has now been delivered and construction has started. Much work and funding will be needed

On the Cover:

Straw bale homes are an energy-efficient and affordable way to provide shelter. Here, Leo White Bear works on the frame of the straw bale demonstration building at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center. To learn more about the building, please visit http://bit.ly/ pKOYzp

to erect it and to finish and furnish the interior, but hopefully by next year it will be ready to welcome a new group of trainees. This dramatic transformation, This dramatic transformation which is bringing hope and jobs to is bringing hope and jobs to some of the poorest people and places in America, is the result of close some of the poorest people and collaboration between Trees, Water places in America. & People and Henry Red Cloud and is made possible by hundreds of volunteers and supporters. Wont you join my wife and me by adding your support to this very successful and important project?

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When you donate to Trees, Water & People you can be confident that your hard earned money is used responsibly to bring about real, sustainable change.

Friend of the Trees

By Sebastian Africano, Deputy International Director The Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI) at Santa Clara University (SCU) is a yearly fellowship program for social entrepreneurs who have innovative solutions for the worlds most pressing problems. Now in its ninth year, the GSBI has become a world-renowned program for developing sustainable business ventures, with the belief that organizations and businesses can contribute positively to society, local economies, and the environment. This year I was honored to be selected by GSBI to represent the Zanmi Pye Bwa Haiti Cookstove Project currently being developed by Trees, Water & People (TWP) and International Lifeline Fund in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Zanmi Pye Bwa means Friend The Zanmi Pye Bwa has a 40% of the Trees in Haitian Creole. It is the saving in fuel costs for Haitian name for the cookstove weve designed families. This translates to to be produced by Haitians, for Haitians, creating income for metal workers, roughly 25% of their annual revenues for small businesses that sell household income. the cookstove, and a 40% savings in fuel costs for Haitian families. This translates to roughly 25% of annual household income for the average family dependent upon charcoal money that was previously going up in smoke. My days in the GSBI Program were spent in class gaining important insight into the process of building a sustainable enterprise, led by faculty and professionals from a wide variety of fields. The experience was intensive, thorough, and timely, as we needed the rigor of this program to ensure that we will successfully implement our ambitious and impactful project in Haiti. To see more of our work with the Zanmi Pye Bwa, please visit www. treeswaterpeople.org/stoves/programs/haiti. Photo:

The Zamni Pye Bwa clean cookstove, built in Haiti by local metal workers, is a collaboration between Trees, Water & People and the International Lifeline Fund.

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A Cookstove Revolution
By Claudia Menendez, International Project Coordinator After a hot and bumpy two and an half hour drive up a steep, winding road we reached the community of La Cuchilla (The Blade), El Salvador, a reference to the mountain ridge that it sits atop. Weve come to visit Alicia Cock, a Peace Corps Volunteer whos been living here since August of 2009. Around the table, Alicia shares with us a list of this years projects, including promoting economic opportunities for women and the introduction of Justa cookstoves to La Cuchilla. While only 80 families live in this tiny community, 65 of them now cook their meals on clean Justa cookstoves, an accomplishment that Alicia speaks of with great joy. The remoteness of villages like La Cuchilla can be a challenge for coordinating a clean cookstove project. Some supplies like wood ash and clay can be contributed by the locals, but the griddles, combustion chambers, and chimneys must be supplied by Trees, Water & Peoples Salvadoran partner, rboles y Agua para El Pueblo. When extra funding was needed, Alicia raised an additional $2,000 through the Peace Corps Partnership Fund by asking her friends and family to donate. Once the supplies arrived, she provided training to a father and son team who became the resident cookstove builders (tecnicos). Blanca Lilian Ebarr is one of those cookstove beneficiaries. Shes a bubbly young woman who was happily making tortillas when we arrived to say hello. When asked how she liked her new Justa I dont breath in smoke anymore cookstove, she cheerfully shared with us all the benefits and ways her and I can cook rice, stew, and make life has improved. I dont breathe in tortillas all at once. smoke anymore and I can cook rice, stew and make tortillas all at once. The griddle heats up really well, cooks fast, and my pots stay clean. When asked about firewood consumption, Blanca said she noticed right away that she was cooking with about half of what she habitually used. She said that she doesnt have to buy firewood because her husband goes up the hill and prunes the trees instead. But now with this stove he goes less often and hes very grateful for that! Alicia returned to the United States in August. She happily reported the 15 families, who originally werent interested, are now asking to be included in the project. The families we visited said that theyll be sad to see Alicia go, but will remember her fondly as they cook on their much appreciated, clean and economical Justa cookstoves.

Photo:

Beneficiaries like Blanca Lilian Ebarr can use the plancha (griddle) on her Justa cookstove to make tortillas. The rocket elbow, an L-shaped combustion chamber, allows wood to burn up to 70% more efficiently, using less wood than a traditional stove.

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Bricks and Mortar

By Jonathan Freedman, Trees, Water & People Supporter Our Honduran tecnico, Victor, was keeping a fast pace as several of us assisted him in building our first Eco-fogon. He wanted to make a lot of progress by lunch time, but knew we were also there to learn. It was mid-morning, but in the corner of this room with adobe walls, the light was dimming as the sky clouded over. Victor showed us how to mix concrete on the dirt floor by making a volcanic calderalike cone in the middle of the mixture to pour the water into. He used a sawed-off two-by-four to make sure the angles on the stove base were straight. If a cinder block dipped slightly to the right, he taught us to press gently on the left side to compact the damp mortar rather than using the level too much. Meanwhile, the Seora of the house, a single mother with three boys, was outside collecting rocks and dirt to fill the spaces in the cinder blocks. Eco-fogones cookstoves are built with materials available most anywhere in Honduras (cement, cinder blocks, bricks, dirt, rocks, and a sheet metal chimney), using simple tools (trowels, shovel, and a level). But it can improve a familys life immediately. Now, they can spend a lot less time in the forest gathering firewood, and they breathe cleaner air. The tree planting activities of Trees, Water & People (TWP) is just as important. Replanting forests restores watersheds, improves soil, and stores clean water, making a sustainable future for people living on the land. What the work tour shows best is the simple power of the TWP programs. You roll up your sleeves with the tecnicos and the families, talk with them, build and plant with them. You feel the work in your hands, arms, and legs. You take muscle memory back home with you, the kind of memory that really sticks. The memory of having made a contribution, and with the cookstoves, really building with bricks and mortar. It isnt always comfortable or easy. Part of what sticks with you is what life might be like for poor rural Hondurans. They are very reserved people, probably a little nervous around these trained builders from the city, and the people Their gratitude is quiet, but they bring from far away for a day unmistakable. or two. Their gratitude is quiet, but unmistakable. Now it is early afternoon. The light in the room has shifted. Soon, thunder will sound. The final touches are going on the plancha (griddle) atop the cookstove. Victor is pleased as he goes over instructions with the Seora. Tomorrow, there are more cookstoves to build and more trees to plant, but today has been a success.

Photo:

In August, Trees, Water & People took 18 people to Honduras for a work tour. In just 10 days, the group planted over 300 trees and built 12 cookstoves for beneficiaries like Ad Amador Sunig and her father Alfredo Sunig.

The Wealth of the Lakota

By Lacey Gaechter, Assistant National Director In the Lakota culture, wealth is measured not by what a person has but by what that person can give to others. It is in this spirit that Trees, Water & Peoples Tribal Renewable Energy Program ventures toward collaboration with some of our Colorado neighbors. The partnership began, thanks to our generous donors, with a gift from Trees, Water & People (TWP) to the Smith* family; the gift of a solar heater. John and Jane Smith are currently living at the Colorado Homeless Families facility in Arvada with their three children. Moving from the Ukraine to the Denver area in 2009, John has been working as a carpenter. Yet, like so many Americans, Johns income could not pay his bills, and the family soon found themselves without a home. Luckily, the Smiths found Colorado Homeless Families (CHF). Under the guidance of Executive Director Connie Zimmerman, the organization transitions working families out of homelessness by providing them with housing and community support as well as resources for career development. The Smiths will stay in the home provided by CHF until their oldest daughter finishes school and can earn a second income for the family. Our organization, explains Zimmerman, is not designed to give people a hand-out. It is really meant to move people out of homelessness. We just give them the opportunity to get their feet on the ground. As such, no one at CHF has a free ride. Like the other CHF residents, the Smiths are responsible for paying the utilities for their house. Winter heating costs about $300 each month, and is a major financial challenge. The Smiths can expect to save about $100 each month with their new solar heater! Zimmerman has no plans of stopping with just this one family; she hopes to outfit most of the 40 residential units on her property with solar air heaters. Even more impressive are her plans to incubate a renewable energy business as part of CHFs career placement program. The company will start as a solar air heater installation business, and TWP and Lakota Solar Enterprises (LSE) will train its first employees to become skilled solar technicians. Its nice to go off reservation for We have a choice to let our this project, jests Henry Red Cloud, the Oglala Lakota owner of LSE and TWPs struggles in life make us bitter or primary Tribal Program partner. We make us better. are used to working in Native American communities where the need is great. But we have a lot in common with the people having a hard time here in Colorado. We have a choice to let our struggles in life make us bitter or make us better. We are all choosing the better path.

Photo:

Trees, Water & Peoples solar heaters can reduce a familys heating bills by up to 30%. Here Lydia Red Cloud, granddaughter of Henry Red Cloud, helps to install a new solar heater onto a Colorado Homeless Family house.

*Names have been changed to respect the privacy of the family.

Expanding Our Reach

By Lacey Gaechter, Assistant National Director With the tremendous success and popularity of our renewable energy training program comes the need to expand our facility and our offerings at the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center (RCREC). In August, we invited Native and non-Native people from all over the country to our Straw Bale Construction Workshop and volunteer trip. Participants came from as far away as North Carolina, and joined us from four different tribes Oglala Lakota, Cheyenne River Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Shoshone Bannock. Together we built a straw bale house in a week. In the process, Henry Red Cloud showed his fellow Native Americans how to build extraordinarily efficient and sustainable housing for less than $3,000, funded mostly through generous donations to our Facebook Cause (http://bit.ly/oGNJlK ). This building will serve as a demonstration of a better way to live on reservations, an alternative to reliance on poorly made government housing. Now, the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center is equipped with a 24 straw bale demonstration home, which will allow us to launch our Trainers in Residence Program. By constructing this building, we have created the opportunity for experts in a wide variety of renewable energy fields to stay at the RCREC, providing training that we could not otherwise offer and connecting our Native trainees with influential thinkers in their fields of interest. At the same time, we are addressing an increasing need to expand and improve our training facilities. With a generous gift from a supporter, we have purchased a building to serve as the Red Cloud Training Annex. When completed, the Annex will be dedicated solely to renewable energy education and training. The new building will be complete with dormitories, a commercial kitchen, a classroom, and a demonstration room. We are very excited to see our new buildings coming to fruition but our The Tribal Renewable Energy true excitement comes from knowing Program operates with a vision what potential is contained within their walls. The Tribal Renewable Energy that the power of nature can, and should, be used to improve the Program operates with a vision that lives of Native Americans, and all the power of nature can, and should, be used to improve the lives of Native of humankind. Americans, and all of humankind. Now as we expand, we hope to make bigger strides towards our goal of harnessing the power of Mother Nature for the First Peoples of this country.

Photo:

The new straw bale demonstration home and Red Cloud Training Annex will add much needed space to the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center campus. Here Henry Red Cloud (left) works with volunteers to begin construction on the Annex.

Waffles Plant Trees

By Heather Herrell, Development Director On October 2, 2011, nearly 200 friends and family of Mike Ray gathered together to celebrate his life, share memories, and of course, eat waffles. In its 11th year, the Waffle Feed is a labor of love hosted by Stacey Baumgarn and his wife, Jennifer Davey, at their Fort Collins, Colorado home. Stacey and Jennifer held the first Waffle Feed the year after Mikes death, providing food for 45 friends and family. All that they asked in return was a contribution of $1 per person. The first year, the couple matched each donation, and raised enough money to plant 90 trees. The Waffle Feed has now raised over $11,000 and planted more than 11,000 trees in the Mike Ray Memorial Forest in El Salvador. Reflecting on his ongoing project, Stacey muses, When I think of Mike and forests I think of vibrancy and the many layers of life... One tree or one person is not enough to make a forest or a community but, when you have a bunch of trees or a group of people, then you have something special.

One tree or one person is not enough to make a forest or a community but, when you have a bunch of trees or a group of people, then you have something special.

633 Remington Street Fort Collins, CO 80524 877-606-4TWP www.treeswaterpeople.org Board of Directors
Jon Becker, President Jim Volpa, Vice President Kevin Shaw, Treasurer Adele Dinsmore, Secretary Jenny Bramhall, Gerry Conway Jr., Patrick Flynn, Jeremy Foster, Kathy Cosgrove Green, Mona Newton, Garth Rogers

Trees, Water & People

Program Partners

Staff

Stuart Conway, International Director Sebastian Africano, Deputy International Director Claudia Menendez, International Program Coordinator Richard Fox, National Director Lacey Gaechter, Assistant National Director Diane Vella, Finance Director Pete Iengo, Office & Facilities Manager Heather Herrell, Development Director Amanda Haggerty, Data & Mailings Manager Megan Maiolo-Heath, Communications Coordinator Anibal Benjamin Osorto, International Regional Coordinator

Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team (AMURT), Haiti International Lifeline Fund (ILF), Haiti Leonel Jarqun, Guatemala PROLEA, Nicaragua rboles Y Agua Para El Pueblo (AAP), El Salvador Honduran Association for Development (AHDESA), Honduras Lakota Solar Enterprises (LSE), South Dakota Wildlands Restoration Volunteers (WRV), Colorado

Consultants and Interns

Aprovecho Research Center Birch Hincks, Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center Intern Jessica Jackson, International Development Intern Edmee Knight, National Program Intern Kari Lamphier, Development Intern Benny Mosiman, Tribal Development Intern Connor Shank, Tribal Development Intern Daniel Sidder, International Development Intern Teri Tracy, SunMobile Intern

Forests Forever is published by Trees, Water & People. If you know someone who cares about the environment and should be added to our mailing list, please contact us at 877-606-4TWP or email us at twp@treeswaterpeople.org. Printed on recycled paper and 100% Replanted. To find out how you can be 100% Replanted, please visit www.replanttrees.org.