(shondiin mayo)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nalthough his work is mostly contained in data sheets, numbers and equations, his ancestral ties to the land, and the lifelong connection to his indigenous identity make this work important. by looking at different communities along the coast of alaska, he makes the determination of, \u201c\u2026whether or not if (the communities) would be a good candidate for something like wave or tidal energy and determining what size of technology would work for that community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
bond continues to explain that much of this decision-making entails energy balancing modeling, as he usually receives data, \u201c\u2026.from a community looking at their need versus what\u2019s available to them in renewable energy resources such as solar, wind, wave, anything else.\u201d with this amount of responsibility and community trust that is placed into bond’s hands, it\u2019s his unique approach to stem that allows him to navigate this space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
bond describes this method as being a community focused stem approach \u201c\u2026that includes being mindful of listening to whatever community that we’re working with, making sure that we don\u2019t make uninformed assumptions.\u201d much like indigenous communities elsewhere, this is strongly reinforced when cultural sites and traditional gathering areas are brought into the picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
this also includes being aware of the indigenous knowledge that people in the area have, as this form of expertise represents the ancestral ties to the land. bond puts it this way: \u201ci view it as indigenous people were doing science before it was formalized. what my job is now i\u2019m doing all the formal things. i am finding the efficiency of this turbine given these flow parameters those are even standardized. i have to follow a certain equation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
with the onset of western knowledge, indigenous people have formalized their own form of knowledge by its ancestral tongue. bond defined it as “word of mouth and by trusting what the elders say to do, because they learned from their elders and that knowledge has been tried and trusted and true over thousands and thousands of generations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a community endeavor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n the second part of this method also includes the community itself as they belong in the process as well. by adding different but impactful perspectives to each project, people, such as community leaders, can express what they know from their lived experience. bond explains that they, \u201c\u2026know so much more about their community then we do, and they can give us feedback. we know all the science and math, we know things like power factor, and we know things about efficiency, but the ultimate goal is for the community to benefit the most with both of our shared knowledge bases.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
it\u2019s this communal approach to energy development in rural communities of alaska that will go farther than any imposed climate solution that doesn\u2019t include the people living in that particular area or have traditional ties to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
both the environment and people benefit from this approach as communities have the possibility to enjoy a reduced cost of living. bond references a study that was completed on a \u201c\u2026community in southwest alaska where individuals reduced their spending on heating fuel. because of a thermal battery technology, they were able to spend more time and more money living a more traditional gathering lifestyle.” he continued to explain, that they were \u201c\u2026able to go out berry picking or go out hunting more and living in a way that aligns with their cultural values.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n(shondiin mayo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nthis is most important when climate change is \u201c\u2026changing the energy environment that people live in,\u201d said bond. “it\u2019s changing the way resources are up here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
because climate change is so heavily researched by western science, which has experienced continued reinforcement of indigenous knowledge, the phenomena, at its core, can bring people back to their universal values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
as bond says, \u201cwe have what\u2019s important to us. many indigenous people have very strong cultural values. we should be able to live out those cultural values, right? one of those things that impede people\u2019s cultural expression is cost of living. why does it matter? shouldn\u2019t we try to make our lives and other people’s better? shouldn\u2019t things get easier as our humanity ages? and that is based on the fact that we should care for other people. at the end of the day, we should care for other people just as much as we do for ourselves and our family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
as climate change impacts the price of energy in alaska, indigenous researcher bax bond abides by his heritage while using modern-day equations to help the rural communities that he once grew up in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11452,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4905,4897,4916,4894,4917,4910,4930,5034],"tags":[],"storyfest_categories":[],"class_list":["post-27051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adaptation","category-biofuels","category-climate","category-efficiency","category-energy","category-renewable-energy","category-science-communication","category-storyfest-2023"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
indigenous energy and equations - planet forward<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n