There is little doubt that environmentally conscious enterprises are a growing trend in today’s business market. But questions remain about what businesses might be the most beneficial to Mother Earth and Native communities, while still managing to be profitable for the green business or franchise owner. That said, there is another question to ask: what exactly is green? Certainly “green” would include any Earth-friendly practices that serve a potential consumer while maintaining a light footprint or minimal drain on nonrenewable resources. But in 2016 the definition of green is constantly shifting. A decade ago, green businesses might include solar or wind power, recycling, and perhaps ethanol-based fuel companies. But now we have a much wider range of candidates for green practices, such as Earth friendly and nontoxic cleaning supplies, vegan and animal friendly cosmetics, nontoxic plastics, and the burgeoning world of organic foods. According to the Organic Industry Survey of 2015, U.S. sales of organic food and non-food products in 2014 were record-breaking, totaling $39.1 billion — that’s an 11.3 percent jump from the previous year. Organic sales are now close to 5 percent of the total food market, and organic non-food product sales account for 8 percent of the total organic market. Beyond organic products, the possibilities for green businesses are increasing in a plethora of markets. FranchiseHelp.com, a site dedicated to helping thousands of prospective business owners get a start in the most lucrative markets, reports glowingly about the outlook for environmentally friendly strategies in its Green Industry Analysis of 2016. The report concludes that trends in consumer choices, increased cost savings, and government policy point toward growing opportunities and profits in green business. It should be no surprise that Native American entrepreneurs are flourishing in eco-friendly enterprises. After all, there is substance to the stereotype that Native Americans are much more in tune with the environment — the idea that Native people must serve as stewards to Mother Earth is a cultural teaching. Taking this sentiment to heart, who better to serve as green business owners who care about their company’s impact on the planet?
Pollution Control
Lynn Piwonski, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, is a co-owner of Global Refractory Installers and Suppliers in Green Bay, Wis. As a supplier of air pollution control equipment, the company provides solutions to a variety of potentially polluting industries. A winner of the Wisconsin governor’s 2010 Rising Star Award and a participant in the Small Business Administration’s Native American e200 Emerging Leaders Initiative and Green Bay Packers Mentor-Protégé Program, Piwonski says she and her company are focused on serving as protectors of Mother Earth. “We always look at the next seven generations and make sure Mother Earth is being protected for them,” she explains. “We look at our waters and our medicines. Our plants need to grow and be healthy because those plants are traditional medicines.” Keeping the seven generations in mind, her company does business with big players like corporate powerhouse 3M, a leader in the printing industry that once released caustic by-products into the atmosphere. But for 3M today, Global Refractory is making a difference. “At 3M printing,” she says, “air going back into the atmosphere needs to first go through an oxidizer, which we install and service.” Piwonski points out that the focus of the business has shifted from its previous work with boilers and furnaces to combating air pollution. “For us, we are helping to protect the air,” she says. “We do not want pollution — we want the air to be cleaned. Some companies will use this air to heat, and that is a contribution we provide.”
Native American Natural Foods
In 2007, Karlene Hunter, Oglala Sioux, launched Native American Natural Foods with associate Mark Tilsen. In the years since its inception, the business has developed an extended product line, including the nationally renowned buffalo Tanka Bar. Lauded all over Turtle Island, Hunter’s efforts have energized her company’s mission of spurring economic development on the Pine Ridge Reservation, promoting healthier eating habits and restoring the connection between Indian people and the sacred buffalo. After winning the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade’s Leadership Award in the “Vision” category, Hunter shared that vision with Indian Country Today Media Network. She explained how her company contributes both to the sustainability of our world and the well-being of Native people, pointing out that beyond fostering economic development through job creation, she works to inspire a healthy lifestyle. “Forty four percent of our adult population has type 2 diabetes,” she said in the interview. “To eat healthy, we really have to get back to eating traditionally, to become the nation we once were before we were put on the reservation.” Hunter’s popular Tanka Bar fits this goal. “It’s great for diabetes,” she points out. “It gives you sustainable energy. A lot of our diabetes programs provide it as a snack to their patients. Head Start programs across the country are giving it to their children instead of a sugary snack.” Last April the company became the first Native American recipient of a low-interest loan through the Whole Foods Market Local Producer Loan Program. Designed to help small, independent companies grow their businesses, the program allows Native American Natural Foods to further expand its line of Tanka products.
Renewable Energy
As the founder and sole proprietor of Lakota Solar Enterprises (LSE) on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, Henry Red Cloud created one of the first 100 percent Native American owned and operated renewable-energy companies in the nation. Thanks to his efforts, Red Cloud has not only earned his place in the green business world — he has his own page on the White House website and is listed as one of the celebrated Champions of Change. According to the White House, Red Cloud is offering Native Americans “a new way to honor the old ways.” The site explains that he has made a remarkable impact, employing tribal members to manufacture and install the company’s solar heating systems. Red Cloud also manages the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center, an educational facility where Native Americans from around the country are trained in renewable-energy technology and sustainable business practices. His most ambitious dream is for tribal communities to be energy independent before mainstream America. He thinks LSE can realize that dream one house at a time. Since Pine Ridge is one of the country’s poorest communities with some of the most frigid winters, poorly insulated homes quickly inflate utility bills. It’s a good place for LSE to start realizing the goal of energy independence. According to the company website, “Our solar furnaces reduce a family’s monthly utility bill by 20–25 percent, leaving money for important items like food, medicine, and clothing. These supplemental solar air heating units are an inexpensive, simple to use, and environmentally sound way to bring comfort to families struggling to heat their homes during the bitter winter months.”
Tribal Partnerships with Green Companies
In 2011, the Onondaga Nation and EcoLogic Solutions, a manufacturer and distributor of environmentally preferable cleaning products based in Brooklyn, N.Y., announced a green alliance that gave the Onondaga Nation status as the company’s second-largest shareholder. Though the Onondaga Nation was not directly responsible for the creation of the products, the move underscored the tribe’s role as environmental stewards and served as an example other tribal nations could follow. This was not the first time Onondaga Nation members asserted themselves as protectors of the environment. The previous year the Onondaga and others, including Onondaga County Executive Joanne Mahoney, the Partnership for Onondaga Creek, and Atlantic States Legal Foundation, were honored with an Environmental Quality Award by the Environmental Protection Agency for their efforts in updating the City of Syracuse’s antiquated century-old sewer system, which had been dumping untreated sewage into Onondaga Creek. Jake Edwards of the Onondaga Nation Council of Chiefs described EcoLogic Solutions as a company that shares the tribe’s goals of a more sustainable planet, and a more holistic way of doing business. He sees the partnership as one way for the nation’s leaders to fulfill their duty of working to heal the Earth and protect it for future generations. EcoLogic CEO Anselm Doering, whose clients include Whole Foods Market, the Statue of Liberty, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group, the Durst Organization, and NBCUniversal, has said that he is proud to partner with the Onondaga. “When I founded EcoLogic Solutions, I looked to Onondaga values and sustainability as paragons for our business,” Doering explains. “It’s the fulfillment of a dream within a dream.”
