Envisioning Futures of Indigenous Sovereignty Within Renewable Energy Projects Through Solar Storms by Linda Hogan

With Western countries’ increasing consumption of energy, their industries and governments are seeking to find methods of energy generation separate from fossil fuels due to the environmental impact of those technologies (namely climate change). In response, many research communities have posited that renewable energy technology should be developed to close this gap between energy goals and current energy creation. Namely, the development of hydropower technology and implementation to create baseload amounts of power for their nation. However, in many of these situations, the implementation of hydropower dams and pollution cause the displacement of lower income populations and people of color. More specifically, historically, these developments have caused Indigenous Nations to be displaced with minimal allowance on their input with these projects’ developments. Through focusing on Indigenous feminist environmental ethics and the connection of Indigenous peoples to their Land and water, new futures can be envisioned where Indigenous populations are involved in major changes to their environment and experience. Solar Storms by Lind Hogan portrays the practice and experience of Indigenous environmental ethics and worldview in conjunction with the construction of a hydropower project. In the aspect of activism, Hogan depicts how understanding Indigenous ethics and worldviews can decolonize mindsets around energy through Indigenous feminism and connections with water. Decolonization and understanding of kindship worldview and interconnections inherently question the basic assumption for needs to produce these projects. At the core, Hogan poses why these projects are necessary in the first place and its applications to the current day. In the last decade, Indigenous activism has risen to prominence with the rejection of projects such as the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Manitoba Hydropower plants. The logic used within these activist movements is prevalent in the novel which centers Indigenous thought with current issues facing the environment. From these experiences, it is clear that perspectives other than Western-centered mindsets must be included within renewable energy projects and posits the need for other groups to be included as stakeholders with some decision power.

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