This Changes Everything

“The Atmospheric Commons and the Power of Paying Our Debts” (Pages 388-393)

Klein tells of the struggle of the Northern Cheyenne tribe in Montana against plans to expand the coal industry in that region. A rich belt of coal lay under and near their reservation.

The Northern Cheyenne had been fighting off the mining companies since the early 1970s. They had broken legal ground by arguing that part of their treatise rights to maintain a traditional way of life included breathing clean air, but by 2010, things weren’t looking good.

Otter Creek was the biggest new coal mine under consideration in the U.S. and it seemed certain to go ahead, as did the railway lines along the side of the reservation, built to transport the coal.

The problem was also internal. With poverty, unemployment and substance abuse high on the reservation, some of the tribe were arguing that it was time to do a deal with the coal company and use the money to support the community.

Charlene Alden, director of the tribe’s Environmental Protection Office, thought otherwise. She argued taking the coal money would only drive their people further away from their identity and cause more misery. 

She knew they needed another way out of poverty, other than coal money, and started investigating greendevelopment projects that might provide jobs and essential infrastructure for the community, including building energy efficient housing and installing renewable energy alternatives.